Beauty e-tailers come in many shapes and sizes, so if you’re wondering who’s doing it best, it’s wise to look beyond the obvious choices, i.e. Sephora and Ulta Beauty. Below, a list of some of the e-tailers we think are carving a differentiated place for themselves in the online world by creating unique content, inspiring trust and offering highly sensorial experiences—all at the click of a fingertip.

Violet Grey

www.violetgrey.com
Positioning: Violet Grey offers a highly-curated selection of luxury, prestige beauty products. Known as the industry’s beauty edit, the site combines old Hollywood glamour with high fashion sensibility, showcasing products used by leading makeup artists and hair stylists.

Content: The website is presented like a magazine, with highly stylized editorial shoots and credits given for hair, makeup and photography, plus shoppable tutorials.
Interactive/immersive elements: Ultra-lavish photography creates a highly sensorial experience.
Building trust via expert advice: Violet Grey cultivates a community of contributors who know beauty best – the artists themselves

How the site engages: With its community of industry experts, the site makes visitors feel like a Hollywood insider.
What makes the site experience distinctive: Violet Grey elevates the beauty shopping experience online, combining advice from the best artists with the convenience of e-commerce.

Beautylish

www.beautylish.com
Positioning: Beautylish started as an online community of beauty enthusiasts in 2010. Two years later, after gaining hundreds of thousands of members, Beautylish launched e-commerce, partnering with brands that are a favorite with the site’s community.

Content/editorial: Beautylish’s content is primarily generated by its beauty community, and supplemented with premium editorial. Content includes makeup reviews, tutorials, selfies and the products and techniques used to achieve various looks.

Interactive/immersive elements: There are a huge number of user-friendly tutorials posted by members.
Building trust via expert advice: Beautylish’s ‘community first’ approach is a key part of building trust with visitors, and achieving its goal of being a part of people’s daily lives.

How the site engages: Beautylish’s online community lets members create an account and profile, share opinions, watch videos and read reviews. Members can use the Talk feature to post a new conversation on a particular topic.

What makes the site experience distinctive: Beautylish’s core differentiator is its community of beauty lovers.

Content

www.contentbeautywellbeing.com

Positioning: Content is an organic skin care site specializing in emerging niche brands and cult natural beauty brands from around the world. The site covers product categories such as organic hair care, organic perfume, organic makeup and organic skin care.

Content: Typical stories would be on botanical perfume, organic lipstick or vegan beauty. Other categories, such as Content Kitchen and Content World,discuss healthful eating and lifestyle tips, respectively.

Interactive/immersive elements: Brand videos allow visitors to “meet” a collection.
Building trust via expert advice: Products bear badges, like quality stamps, such as Content Approved, Certified Organic, Vegan, Gluten Free and Cruelty Free.

How the site engages with its community: Visitors can ask questions on Content’s Community section.

What makes the site experience distinctive: Content offers a streamlined way to shop for organic beauty. In particular, filtering products by Ethos effortlessly addresses customers’ miscellaneous beauty concerns.

Cult Beauty
www.cultbeauty.co.uk
Positioning: Cult Beauty features prestige brands and harder-to-find luxury brands. The site’s tag line, Intelligent Beauty: The insider’s guide to the world’s best beauty buys, explains their mission.

Content: Within Trends, there’s a blog, beauty news, seasonal colors and the latest beauty tips. The TOP 10 section features best sellers, as well as Unsung Heroes.

Interactive/immersive elements: Beauty-savvy customers contribute helpful and precise reviews.

Building trust via expert advice: Each product bears an explanation for Why It’s Cult.

How the site engages with its community: Video presentations by brand founders provide detailed explanations for the efficacy of their products.
What makes the site experience distinctive: The site dovetails emerging trends and companion products seamlessly.

Soko Glam
www.sokoglam.com

Positioning: Soko Glam features the best of Korean makeup and skin care, beauty trends, products and innovation.

Content/editorial: There is a huge range of products, reviews and video tutorials. A section called Collections filters products based on Bestsellers, 10-Step, Best of K-Beauty, Newly Curated and Winter Skincare.

Interactive/immersive elements: The site offers lots of accessible how-to videos that explain Korean beauty, as well as a video series showing regular people incorporating Korean products and rituals into their every day.

Building trust via expert advice: Soko Glam Best of K-Beauty Awards are approved by Korean locals and Soko Glam’s trusted beauty influencers and editors.
How the site engages with its community: There are a huge number of product reviews.

What makes the site experience distinctive: Soko Glam offers a comprehensive range of products, an engaged community, and The Klog serves up accessible content on Korean beauty and culture.

Beauty Bay 
www.beautybay.com
Positioning: Beauty Bay offers a range of international brands, from in-the-know dermatologist skin care, to fun, trendy brands.
Content/editorial: EDITed by Beauty Bay is a comprehensive blog that covers the latest trends, beauty news, color trend reports, tried and tested reviews and tips on how to achieve certain looks.
Interactive/immersive elements: There are videos throughout the site, explaining how to use products correctly and achieve desired looks.
Building trust via expert advice: Makeup artists share their expertise and tips in easy-to-follow videos.

How the site engages with its community: Beauty Bay’s community is present throughout the product descriptions in the Shared by You section where users can upload a photo featuring the product.

What makes the site experience distinctive: Beauty Bay’s community is present throughout the site, making it an accessible and user-friendly experience.