These days, it is hard to tell what is genuine and what an influencer is just getting paid to market. It seems every influencer is promoting a new brand every other month depending on who will pay them the most. As an influencer myself, I understand that this is how most influencers make a living so I do not blame them, but I wish their was more transparency. Earlier in my career as a model I marketed products that I had never even used, some I even despised (fast food companies etc.) because my job/career depended on it. Luckily I am now in the position to choose what I promote and would never promote anything that I didn't actually use, love and believe in.

When I was making a living as a model, I would get paid to hold a beauty product and make it appear that the product was why I looked a certain way, even though I had never even seen the product until arriving on set. The bottom line is, I know how the industry works and it is run by money.

At The Golden Secrets, we take immense pride in our health-conscious community, who have experienced transformative results firsthand. Our testimonials come from real users, not paid actors or models—even our models are genuine TGS fans.

Every single supermodel, celebrity and influencer you see sharing our products are doing so because they genuinely love and adore them, not because they have a paid obligation to do so. Then we have a whole handful that share other products because they are getting paid to do so, but really use ours.

Most well-known companies have a huge budget for public relations to get featured in the biggest magazines in the world, increasing brand awareness and notability. With a big enough budget, you can be voted 'Best in the World.' Similarly, you can secure endorsements from celebrities or major influencers. Unfortunately, this often has little to do with the product's efficacy and more to do with the money spent on ads and the PR team's relationships and connections with beauty editors.

Our growth has been organic, driven by authentic love for our products. Although we’ve started running paid ads to expand our reach, our foundation remains grassroots.

So the next time you are influenced, here are some ways you can legitimize the products being pushed, in particular, skincare:

1. Check the companies website reviews. This is a great way to see real, verified buyers testimonials. Reviews speak for themselves and far exceed any other validation of a companies products.

2. See who is running the company. Check out their creation story and who formulated/created the products. Do you admire their approach? Fortunately these things are becoming more important to the conscious consumer.

3. Do they have surveys to testify to the products efficacy? Customer surveys are another great way to really see the true results of a product. We just did our first customer survey on product results with 25 verified customers and the results speak for themselves. They are listed underneath each product.

4. What does the owners skin look like? Do you want skin like theirs? This is a huge one that most people forget because quite often the owner hides behind paid models. 

5. What are the companies values? Do they align with yours. At TGS, from seed to skin, every step of the way is to make you and the planet a brighter more beautiful place. transparency in truly clean ingredients, sustainability, and creating safe effective products that promote an overall well-being.

6. Do they give back? RESPONSIBILITY. This day and age it's every companies responsibility to do their part, no matter how small or large they are. Since the beginning TGS has made it our mission to use our platform to help create positive change and create products that go way beyond the skin. 

Want to see what all the hype is about? Check out our Best Sellers!

Check out the work of four of the biggest celebrity makeup artists whose clients just can't get enough of the TGS Glow! @jey_ventura @leahdarcymakeup @jocelynjohnson_ @valentyna_pushkarenko