Where to buy good cosmetics online? What to really look out for in a beauty online shop
Buying cosmetics online has probably never been easier than it is today.
You see a serum on TikTok, quickly Google it, read three reviews – and five minutes later it's ordered.
Convenient, really.
And yet, I feel that at the same time, it's never been so difficult to decide which products you really need and where to buy them best.
Because between huge beauty platforms, international marketplaces, small online shops, brand stores, and products suddenly appearing all over social media, there's almost too much choice now.
And that's why the question eventually arises:
Where can you buy good cosmetics online – and how do you actually recognize a good beauty online shop?
Since I founded MYSK, I naturally see this question from a completely different perspective.
Today, I no longer just see the beautiful serum on the website.
I see the discussions with brands and distributors beforehand. I see price lists, ingredients, samples, product descriptions, and packaging. I test products, compare them with items we already have in our range, answer customer questions – and sometimes I consciously decide:
No, we don't need that at MYSK.
And perhaps that's one of the most important things I've learned since founding MYSK:
A good beauty shop doesn't need to have as many products as possible. It should know why it sells the products it has.
A large assortment is not automatically a good assortment
We quickly associate selection with something positive.
500 face creams must be better than 20, after all.
Or are they?
I'm not so sure anymore.
Because when I myself land on a website and can choose between a hundred different serums, the same thing sometimes happens to me as probably to many others:
I suddenly don't know where to start.
Do I need Niacinamide?
Peptides?
Retinal?
Ceramides?
Or ideally all of them together?
Yet skincare should actually achieve the exact opposite: It should make our lives a little simpler, not more complicated.
My own journey into the beauty world, by the way, started exactly for this reason.
Not because one day I decided: I want to start a beauty online shop.
But because I myself struggled with acne for years.
I tried an incredible number of products, researched ingredients, and tried to understand why something works for one person and not at all for the next.
In 2019, I started sharing some of it online.
Back then, honestly, I never thought a beauty account would eventually become my own online shop.
But these very years strongly influence how I select products for MYSK today.
When I have a new product in front of me, I don't just think:
"Is this currently in demand?"
I rather ask myself:
What makes this product different?
For which skin problem does it make sense?
Do we already have something in our range that does practically the same thing?
Can I explain to a customer why she should use exactly this product?
And just as important:
Can I also tell her when she doesn't need it?
Sometimes, therefore, I have five new serums on my desk and I think to myself:
Do we really need another one of these?
The answer is surprisingly often: no.
And that's precisely why I personally find a curated assortment much more interesting than the largest possible one.
Not because small shops are automatically better than large ones.
But because, in the best case, someone has already made part of the selection for you.
Buying beauty online: Why trust is becoming increasingly important
Online shopping has long become completely normal.
In Austria, around 5.8 million people shop online. Austrian e-commerce spending is expected to reach around 12.3 billion euros in 2026 – a new record high.
In Germany, too, online retail continues to grow: Merchandise sales in German e-commerce amounted to 83.1 billion euros in 2025.
And beauty is anything but a small niche.
The European market for cosmetics and personal care reached a retail value of around 110 billion euros in 2025, according to Cosmetics Europe. Germany, with around 18 billion euros, is the largest cosmetic retail market in Europe.
So we are buying more and more online – and at the same time, we can choose from more and more shops.
Precisely for this reason, I now find one question almost more important than:
"Where is this product cheapest?"
Namely:
"Who am I actually buying this product from?"
Because with beauty, we don't just order any item.
We apply these products to our skin, our scalp, our lips, and in some cases directly around our eyes.
That's why I would always take a closer look at a new beauty online shop.
How to recognize a good beauty online shop?
1. It should be clear who is behind the shop
This sounds trivial, but for me it's one of the easiest checks.
Who operates the shop?
Is there a proper impressum (legal notice)?
Is the company clearly stated?
Is there an address and a way to contact someone?
And perhaps even more important:
Does the shop even have a recognizable identity?
Of course, not every founder has to show their face on Instagram every day.
But I personally find it nice, especially with smaller beauty shops, to understand who is behind it and according to which criteria products are selected.
That's exactly why at MYSK I show a lot of what might otherwise disappear behind the website.
Packing orders.
Testing new products.
Talking to brands.
Shootings.
Preparing events.
Selecting products.
And sometimes even the less glamorous things that come with building an online shop.
Because MYSK is not some huge warehouse with an anonymous purchasing department.
Much of it actually happens with me.
2. A good shop explains products to you – it doesn't just sell them to you
One thing I find increasingly difficult with beauty shops are product descriptions that practically claim every product is suitable for every skin type and solves every problem.
That's simply not realistic.
A good serum can be great.
But perhaps not for your skin.
Or not for the problem you're trying to solve.
Or perhaps you already have a product in your routine that serves exactly the same function.
Therefore, in my opinion, a good product description should at least answer these questions:
What does the product do?
For which skin type or skin condition might it be interesting?
How do you use it?
Which active ingredients should be combined with caution?
And ideally:
When might you not need it at all?
I know – for a shop, the last point might initially sound a bit strange.
Of course, I want to sell products.
MYSK is, after all, a business and not a hobby project.
But in the long run, it does me no good if someone orders five products when two would have been perfectly sufficient, and ends up disappointed.
I much prefer someone to find a product they are truly satisfied with – and return next time.
3. Origin and distribution channel should be transparent
This point is particularly interesting for international beauty brands.
K-Beauty is probably the best example of this.
Some of my personal favorite products come from Korea, and you'll also find Korean brands at MYSK.
But just because you can order a product somewhere online doesn't automatically mean that every distribution channel is the same.
As a retailer, I therefore deal with things that customers normally don't see.
Where does the product come from?
Who is the distributor?
Is the product intended for the European market?
Is the necessary information available?
How does the supply chain work?
This is definitely not the most glamorous part of a beauty business.
But perhaps one of the most important.
For me, a good beauty online shop therefore includes not just a beautiful website.
Work must also be done properly behind the website.
4. "Viral" should not be a quality criterion
I love beauty trends.
That would probably be quite difficult to avoid if you've been creating beauty content for years.
I find it exciting to see what new ingredients emerge, which Korean brand everyone suddenly knows, or which product appears everywhere on TikTok within two weeks.
But for MYSK, I consciously try to separate one thing:
What is currently viral?
and
What is actually interesting?
Of course, sometimes they overlap.
Some products go viral because they are genuinely good.
But not every trending product automatically has to be added to the assortment.
A question I therefore like to ask myself with new products is:
"Would I still find this product exciting if no one was talking about it tomorrow?"
If the answer is no, that's usually a pretty good sign that we don't necessarily need it.
And conversely, I find it particularly exciting to discover products and brands that aren't yet seen everywhere.
That's exactly why I love smaller beauty shops myself, by the way.
Discovery.
Not just finding what you were already looking for.
But discovering something you might not have known existed before.
5. Good advice sometimes also means: "You don't need that."
I believe we've gotten a bit used to the idea in beauty that a "proper" routine should ideally have many steps.
Double cleansing.
Toner.
Essence.
Serum.
Another serum.
Eye cream.
Moisturizer.
Oil.
Sleeping mask.
And somewhere in between, please add three active ingredients.
Yet good skincare doesn't necessarily need ten steps.
Sometimes, the skin even needs less.
If your routine is currently working, you don't automatically need to add the newest serum.
If your skin barrier is irritated, it might not be the right moment to introduce retinoids and several acids at the same time.
And if you're already using one active ingredient, you don't necessarily need three more products with the same active ingredient.
I also notice from the questions we receive at MYSK that many people don't necessarily want more products.
They actually just want to know:
Which one should I take?
That's exactly what I want to be able to answer better and better with MYSK in the long term.
6. Reviews are important – but context is more important
I read reviews.
Of course.
If I want to buy a product online, I usually look at what others say about it.
But especially with skincare, I would never view a review completely in isolation.
Let's take:
"It did absolutely nothing for me."
That can be a completely honest and correct review.
But we still don't know:
What problem was the person trying to treat?
How long did they use the product?
What other products were in their routine at the same time?
What skin type do they have?
Was the expectation for the product even realistic?
The same product can therefore be a holy grail for one person and completely uninteresting for the next.
For exactly this reason, I rarely want to simply call products at MYSK "good."
I find it more interesting to ask:
Who is it good for?
And:
What can I realistically expect from it?
Expensive cosmetics are not automatically better cosmetics
This too, I have learned quite clearly over the years.
A serum for 90 euros is not automatically better than one for 25 euros.
And a cheap product is not automatically worse formulated.
Countless factors play a role in the price of a beauty product:
Ingredients, development, production, packaging, marketing, distribution, brand positioning, and of course the margins along the supply chain.
That's why I try not to look at the price first, both privately and when purchasing for MYSK.
The more important question is:
What is this product supposed to do – and can the formulation match that?
Sometimes a relatively simple moisturizer is exactly what the skin needs.
Not the new 150-euro serum with twelve active ingredient complexes.
From Beauty Account to Own Beauty Shop
Perhaps this is the point where I should explain why this topic is so important to me in the first place.
MYSK did not come about because I found a market gap somewhere in Excel.
The path to it was much more personal.
I have struggled with problematic skin and acne since my youth.
Because of this, I eventually started to deal more intensively with skincare.
Interest quickly turned into a small hobby.
From that hobby, @myskinisgettingbetter emerged in 2019.
And years later, the idea for MYSK was born from this account.
What I didn't want back then was simply to open another online shop with as many beauty products as possible.
I wanted to build a shop where the selection itself was part of the concept.
Products I find interesting.
Brands that perhaps not everyone knows yet.
Well-known products where I understand why they are popular.
And above all, products that we can truly talk about.
That others are writing about this story today still feels a bit surreal
When I think that it all originally started with my own skin and an Instagram account, it honestly still feels pretty crazy when MYSK or my story appears in an article somewhere today.
Especially because it's not just about someone writing about the shop.
I find it much nicer when the story behind it also becomes visible.
How MYSK came to be.
Why I chose certain brands.
What it's like to build a beauty shop practically from scratch.
And why I believe that beauty e-commerce can be more personal.
If you're interested in this side of MYSK, you can read a bit more about my journey here:
→Article / Interview about Eva & MYSK]
→Woman in Business / Founder Feature]
→ further interview or feature
And I'll probably have to expand this section in the future – which feels pretty good right now as I'm writing this sentence.
Why MYSK shouldn't just exist online
One of the most exciting moments since the founding, honestly, wasn't some number in Shopify.
There were moments when people I previously only knew as names from an order or from Instagram suddenly stood before me.
At an event.
With a product in their hand.
With questions about their skin.
Or with:
“I’ve already ordered that serum from you.”
It's exactly in such moments that an online shop completely transforms.
Suddenly, it's not just a website.
Not just a shopping cart.
Not just an order number.
There's a real person.
And that's precisely why, with MYSK, I want to create more events, pop-ups, and small beauty moments in the future where people can actually try out products and get to know each other.
Not because online shopping doesn't work.
Quite the opposite.
But because I believe that one can perfectly complement the other.
Why MYSK is deliberately not a shop with thousands of products
Of course, I could try to add more and more brands and more and more products to the assortment.
Sometimes it's even tempting.
Especially when I discover a new brand and immediately find ten products interesting.
But then I have to ask myself again:
Do our customers really need ten of them?
I’d rather you find twenty face creams at MYSK and understand how they differ, than have to click through 300 and be just as clueless afterwards as before.
That doesn't mean we want to stay small.
Quite the opposite.
MYSK should grow.
New brands should be added.
New categories will emerge.
But I want the selection to grow with it – and not just the number of products.
That's a distinction that's very important to me.
So: Where can you buy good cosmetics online?
The honest answer is:
There isn't one right beauty shop.
Large beauty retailers have enormous selection and often quick availability.
Ordering directly from a brand can be useful if you know exactly what you want.
Marketplaces are practical.
And small, curated beauty shops can offer you something different:
a more personal selection, new brands, advice, and perhaps a little less decision stress.
That's why when choosing a shop, I would ask less:
“Who has the largest selection?”
And more:
“Do I understand why this shop sells exactly these products?”
Look at who is behind the shop.
Pay attention to how products are explained.
Check if the retailer is transparent and accessible.
Read reviews – but always in context.
Be cautious about unrealistic promises.
And ideally, find a shop whose selection and recommendations you can assess over time.
Because I don't believe that we necessarily need even more products in beauty.
We need better guidance to find the right products for us from all the available ones.
And that's exactly what I want to continue working on with MYSK.
Not just another place where you can buy cosmetics online.
But a beauty shop where you will eventually know:
If a product is at MYSK, someone has thought about why.
FAQ: Buying cosmetics online
Where can you buy good cosmetics online?
You can buy good cosmetics from large beauty retailers, directly from brands, or from specialized online beauty shops. More important than the size of the shop are transparent company information, understandable product descriptions, reputable sources, and a product selection that suits your needs.
How do I recognize a reputable online cosmetics shop?
Look for a complete imprint, clear contact options, transparent shipping and return information, and comprehensible product information. For cosmetics, it is also important that products are offered through regular and verifiable distribution channels.
Are cosmetics from small online shops better?
Not automatically. However, an advantage of specialized or smaller beauty shops can be a more curated assortment. Instead of offering as many products as possible, such shops can focus on specific brands, categories, or skin needs.
Is expensive cosmetics better than cheap cosmetics?
Not necessarily. The price of a cosmetic product depends not only on its formulation but also on factors such as production, packaging, marketing, distribution, and brand positioning. Therefore, the crucial factor is whether a product and its ingredients suit your skin type and needs.
What should I pay attention to when buying skincare online?
In addition to the shop itself, you should pay attention to which skin type a product is intended for, what active ingredients it contains, and how it fits into your existing routine. More products do not automatically mean better skincare.
Are viral beauty products automatically good?
No. Virality primarily indicates the attention surrounding a product. A viral product can be very good, but it doesn't automatically have to suit your skin or your needs.
How do I find out which skincare suits me?
It's best to start with your skin type and the specific skin problem you want to solve. A simple routine of cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection is often a good starting point. Active ingredients can then be added specifically.
Eva Jurić, Founder of MYSK
Eva is the founder of MYSK and has been involved with skincare, beauty products, and ingredients for years. What began with her own acne story and the beauty account @myskinisgettingbetter became MYSK in 2025 – a curated online beauty shop from Salzburg.