Affiliate Disclosure
SkincareTopic is supported in part by affiliate commissions. This page explains exactly what that means, what programs we participate in, and our editorial policy around affiliate relationships.
What is an affiliate link?
An affiliate link is a special URL that includes a tracking code identifying SkincareTopic as the source of a referral. When you click an affiliate link on our site and make a purchase from the retailer at the other end, that retailer pays us a small commission — usually between 1% and 10% of the purchase price, depending on the program and the product category.
You do not pay any more by clicking an affiliate link than you would by visiting the retailer directly. The commission comes out of the retailer’s marketing budget, not your wallet.
Amazon Associates disclosure
SkincareTopic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Our Amazon affiliate tag is skincaretopic-20 (US). When you click an Amazon link on our site, this tag is appended to the URL, which allows Amazon to attribute the referral to us.
Other affiliate programs we participate in
In addition to Amazon, we earn commissions through:
- Dermstore (via Rakuten Advertising) — commissions on dermatologist-recommended professional skincare brands
- Sephora (via Rakuten Advertising) — commissions on mid-range and luxury beauty products
- Ulta Beauty (via Impact) — commissions on accessible mainstream beauty brands
- iHerb — commissions on Korean, Japanese, and clean-beauty international brands
- LookFantastic — commissions on European and luxury skincare
From time to time we may add additional affiliate partnerships when they offer products our readers would genuinely want. We disclose any new partnership here and will note it within any article that uses links from that program.
Our editorial policy on affiliate links
This is the part that matters most:
Our recommendations come first
We choose what to write about based on what is genuinely useful to our readers — not based on which products pay the highest commission. Many of our top recommendations are inexpensive drugstore products (Cetaphil, CeraVe, Vanicream, Panoxyl) that earn us very little. We recommend them because the evidence supports them.
Commission rate doesn’t determine ranking
When we recommend a specific product in an article, that recommendation is based on ingredient evidence, formulation quality, real-world reviews, dermatologist consensus, and value — never on which retailer pays the highest commission.
We don’t take payment for reviews
We do not accept payment from brands for editorial coverage. We do not accept “sponsored post” arrangements, “promotional considerations,” paid product placements, or any form of compensated review. If a brand sends us a product unsolicited, we are not obligated to write about it — and if we do, we will note that it was provided for review.
We disclose, every time
Every article that contains affiliate links includes a notice at the top informing the reader. We never bury this information or use deceptive link formatting.
We will tell you when we don’t recommend something
If a popular product is overpriced, poorly formulated, or simply not the best in its category, we will say so — even if it’s a high-commission item. Negative recommendations are part of how we serve readers.
Why affiliate commissions support better content
Independent skincare media — meaning sites that aren’t owned by a beauty conglomerate, retailer, or large publisher — survive almost entirely on affiliate commissions. The alternative is sponsored content, which inherently distorts editorial judgment, or paywalls, which exclude the readers who most need accessible information.
Affiliate revenue lets us spend the time to do this well: read the research, fact-check carefully, write at length, and publish things that we’d want to read ourselves.
Questions
If you have any questions about our affiliate relationships, editorial policy, or how a specific recommendation was made, please contact us. We’re happy to explain.
Last updated: 2026