The Guru Index collates what the most trusted skincare experts actually say about products, so you can see it in one place instead of scrubbing through hours of video.
It started with a familiar mess: fifteen browser tabs open, three dermatologists quietly disagreeing, and no easy way to tell whether a product was genuinely worth buying.
The people we trusted most were the skincare experts on YouTube, the dermatologists, cosmetic chemists and honest independent voices who say what they really think. Their verdicts were already out there, just scattered across hundreds of hours of video. So we gathered them into one place and turned the noise into a single honest score.
We read what the experts say about a product, in their own public videos, and add it up into the Guru Score: our read on how warmly the gurus actually talk about it. We hold no opinion of our own, and we never add a verdict that no guru gave.
Each one links back to the video it came from, at the timestamp, so you can hear it for yourself.
When the experts disagree, we show the split instead of hiding it behind one number.
The index is updated on a daily basis as new videos land.
Long-form video is where the real reviewing happens. A creator with twenty minutes can take a product properly apart: what is actually in it, who it suits, how it behaved after a month of use. That depth is also why their audiences trust them. People come back week after week to a voice that has earned it, and a voice that has earned it has far more to lose by overselling a mediocre serum than an anonymous write-up ever does.
Every take on this site links back to the moment in the video where it was said, so you never have to take our word for it.
Long-form creators come back to the same product months later, and sometimes change their minds on camera. That is a signal a single written review can't give you.
A sponsorship has to be disclosed on the video itself, so we can see which takes were paid for, label them on the page, and weigh them at half the strength of an independent opinion.
We don't sell products. There's nothing to buy from us.
We don't review anything ourselves. The Guru Index holds no opinion of its own; every verdict belongs to a guru.
No one pays for placement. Being featured, ranked, or approved is not something a brand can buy.
No guru is paid by us, and no guru pays us. We simply collate what they have already said in public.
Independence cuts both ways. The experts don't work for us: they're not our reviewers, our employees, or our partners, and most don't know we exist. And we don't do their job. We collate, the gurus opine.
If we ever earn an affiliate commission on a shopping link, it never sways a score or a verdict, and we say so plainly. You can read the full detail in our editorial standards and sponsorship policy.
We're a small, independent team. We aren't owned by a brand or a retailer, and we built The Guru Index because we wanted it to exist.
If you're a skincare expert we feature, or you manage one, our contact page has everything you need, including how to correct a quote or ask to be removed.
What the gurus praised, panned and argued about this week, in one short email.
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