We all know the gruelling few hours that happen right before purchasing a new make up product. You scroll through reel after reel of everyone raving about how good “this new foundation” it makes their skin look. You check product reviews on the website: five stars with no explanation and one star attached to a blurry photo of the bottle reading “brokin bottil.”
On the flip side, there’s that go-to lippie you always carry in your purse, the one you first tried from your friend’s makeup bag. The one you “borrowed” so much it became yours.
In the age of sponsored videos and influencer marketing, studies are finding that Gen Z trusts their friends over big name influencers and celebrities. Those reels with raging reviews and hidden #ad tags aren’t cutting it anymore.
Twenty-seven-year-old Michelle Anderson saw this disconnect. When her sister texted asking if she’d tried a product, she found herself thinking, “Why isn’t there a way for her to just see that? I wanted to share the beauty products I liked (or hated) with people I trust, and I wanted the same in return.”
And so Rayna was born, a ranking app for popular makeup products where users can add honest, unfiltered reviews for their favourite (or least favourite) makeup and skincare products. Like Letterboxd, but for makeup.
We sat down with the Palestinian-Egyptian founder Michelle Anderson, based in Canada, for a chat about authenticity, de-influencing, and trust in the beauty industry.
CosmoME: What was the moment that made you want to build Rayna?
Michelle: There were a bunch of small frustrations that built up. My friends would recommend a beauty product they loved and it would get lost in our group chat. When looking to buy a product, I’d look up reviews online and it all felt like slop…anonymous or incentivised. It was a mess. I started researching and found Reddit threads with hundreds of people saying the exact same thing, looking for a place to track what they’ve used and see what their friends actually think. My initial intent with Rayna was just to build it for my friends and I, that was it. But the more people heard about it, the more they wanted in.
CosmoME: Do you think Gen Z trusts their friends over influencers?
Michelle: I’m 27, and I think most people my age have a sixth sense for inauthenticity. We’ve grown up watching influencers push products they clearly don’t use, and it’s made a lot of us hyper-aware of what feels real and what doesn’t. There’s a reason the #deinfluencing trend has racked up over a billion views, we’re over the fake hype influencers.
There’s nothing better than when a friend says, ‘I’ve actually used this, and it’s good’. From the start, we built Rayna to feel like that, like a shared trusted space where you can see what your friends are actually using and what they actually think.
CosmoME: The beauty industry is saturated with sponsorships and ads; what does ‘authenticity’ actually look like for you in this space?
Michelle: To me, authenticity = honesty. It means no one’s trying to sell you something, they’re just telling you the truth. When I look at my friends’ rankings on the platform, I know they’re not being paid to say something nice. That’s what makes it feel trustworthy. It’s beauty talk without a hidden agenda.
CosmoME: Finally, if Rayna could spark one big shift in the beauty industry, what do you hope it would be?
Michelle: I hope Rayna helps young women feel more comfortable being opinionated. I hope that by ranking the products they’ve tried, they get used to owning their voice. Maybe that starts with lip gloss, but hopefully it expands into other areas of their life too.
And, I hope brands start listening to the people who are actually using their products, not just the ones with the biggest following. Right now, a lot of products are being made for virality, not for real people. I want Rayna to shift that. I want brands to look at what real women and girls are saying, and use that to make more thoughtful products.
Download the app for yourself here.