Beauty product reviews are the bread and butter of this blog – people love reading them, and I love writing them.

Here are my top seven tips to make that review impartial, relevant and super shareable.

1. Be honest and impartial
The most important thing to remember when writing a review is that it should be your honest opinion.

Anyone can read the sales patter about a product on the company’s website – readers are coming to you because they want to know what the product is really like – does it sting when you apply it? Does it only come in shades of beige? Does it get all over your teeth when you drink coffee? Tell us.

2. Use the product
Duh! It sounds simple, but don’t just use the product once and then review it – or never use it at all.

Use it over an extended period of time and your opinion of it will change. I often find completely different uses for products because I use them for weeks before reviewing them, for example Nip and Fab body creams are divine for using after shaving because they cool and smooth the skin.

Also, have the product in front of you when you write the review so you really focus on everything about it from the packaging to the ingredients.

3. Use concrete examples
When do you use the product? How did you find out about it? How do you apply it? Paint a picture for the reader and your piece will be much more engaging.

I also always disclose where I got the product from; first of all because it adds integrity if you are clear about what you get for free, and secondly because if I go out and buy something it means I REALLY want to try it, it didn’t just plop through my letter box.

4. Use pictures
This is really important when reviewing beauty products and I’m quite bad at it if I’m honest.

People do want to see the product in use – so if it’s a lipstick they want to see it in the box, out the box, on your hand, on your lips and maybe even cut up like the magazines do. Pictures also break up the text and bring people into your world.

5. Have criteria
I find it a lot easier to write reviews if I have a checklist, so ever since I wrote my first ever review I have used five categories; smell, effectiveness, convenience, ingredients and the ‘R’ factor which stands for recommend.

Of course I had to adapt these slightly when I started doing restaurant reviews and not all categories apply to all products, but it’s a good place to start.

6. Know your audience
You should have an idea of who your audience is so you know what to include in your review. Will they be interested in a current offer going on in UK stores? Will they be more interested if Jourdan Dunn is the face of the product? Will they want to know that the brand doesn’t cater to darker skin tones? Tailor your review to your audience as much as you can.

7. Include other people’s opinions
Once you’ve written your review have a look at what other people are saying about the product – but don’t change your opinion based on what they say!

I always add links to other blogs about the product or brand I’ve reviewed – it’s a good way to connect with other bloggers and provides the reader with other reviews they might not have seen yet. They’re probably going to read more than one review of the product, so why not make it easy for them?

And there we have it! Do you have any other top tips? Leave them in the comments section below.