These are two different documents with two different evidence bases, and conflating them is how reviews end up describing textures nobody felt.
What a Formula & Specification Review is
It is an assessment built from what can be read and verified: the ingredient information the brand publishes, net contents, price, directions, warnings, packaging details where stated, and comparison against other products on the same published attributes.
It can establish quite a lot. Whether a concentration is published. How the price compares per millilitre. Whether the brand's own pages agree with each other. Whether a claim is a formula-level statement or a narrower one. Whether a product is documented well enough to make an informed decision at all.
What it cannot establish is anything requiring the product in your hand.
| Question | Formula & Specification Review | Hands-on review |
|---|---|---|
| What is disclosed to be in it | Yes | Yes |
| Net contents and price per unit | Yes | Yes |
| Whether the brand’s pages are consistent | Yes | Yes |
| How it compares on published attributes | Yes | Yes |
| Texture and how it spreads | No | Yes, with documentation |
| Scent | Only if the brand states it | Yes, with documentation |
| How the packaging dispenses | Only if the brand states it | Yes, with documentation |
| How it layers with other products | No | Yes, with documentation |
| Whether it worked for a specific person | No | Only for that person |
What a hands-on review requires
A hands-on review is only worth the name if it documents the testing. Our standard requires all of the following before we will publish one:
- The real identity of the tester, or an accurately described editorial team.
- Testing start and end dates, and the duration.
- The method — what was applied, where, and how it was assessed.
- The rest of the routine used alongside it.
- Amount and frequency of application.
- Relevant baseline information about the starting point.
- Original photographs we own, where photography is used at all.
- Limitations — what the test could not establish.
- Any conflicts of interest.
Without those, "we tested it" is an assertion rather than a finding.
Why every review here is currently a formula review
Our reviews are based on published product information rather than hands-on testing, so we focus on what a product is and who it suits, and leave feel and scent to a hands-on review. Every review page shows its type with a badge at the top.
Which one should you read?
Both, if both exist. A specification review tells you whether a product is worth considering — whether it is documented, priced sensibly, and formulated the way it claims. A hands-on review tells you what living with it is like.
If only one exists, know which you are reading. A review that reads like a hands-on account but never documents its testing is the one to be careful with.