Discovering the Data
Our project presents an in-depth analysis of skincare products sold at Sephora, a retailer of personal care and beauty products. This data was sourced entirely from a single, comprehensive database. By examining product attributes such as price, potency, chemical count, ingredient safety, and consumer ratings, we uncover patterns and relationships that help explain how brand strategies align with consumer perception and cost. Our visualizations and comparisons across top-performing brands highlight key trends, including the relationship between potency and price with customer ratings, as well as how chemical content and skin sensitivity impact product pricing. We hope our insights serve as one way consumers can become more aware of the cosmetics brands they interact with everyday!
Insight 1
Sephora Brand Analysis: Inverse Relationship Between Ratings, Price, and Potency
Assorted by the top 6 brands in Sephora (evaluated by looking at the most amount of data each brand carried in the database), as the overall prices and potency go down, the rating increases by brands
About the Data
This line chart compares multiple skincare brands across several attributes (e.g., price, ingredient safety, suitability for sensitive skin, etc.). Each point represents a different criterion, and each brand is plotted as a connected line over those points. The data is normalized on a scale of 1 to 5.
- The farther a brand extends along the y-axis, the higher its score in that category.
- Overlapping areas show how brands stack up against each other in shared categories.
- If one brand consistently forms a larger area overall, it generally performs better across most metrics.
Insights
- Brands with balanced, symmetrical shapes tend to have well-rounded performance across all criteria.
- Brands with sharp peaks or dips may excel in some areas (e.g., price) but fall short in others (e.g., ingredient quality).
- You can visually identify specialist brands (strong in just one or two categories) vs. generalist brands (strong across the board).
- For consumers with specific priorities (e.g., safety for sensitive skin), they can trace that axis and compare brand positions directly.
Brand Metrics Overview
Insight 2
The Price of Potency
When products are tested by potency strength, high potency is equal to high price. All while a lower potency is associated with low price across the board when testing all Sephora products.
Chemical Count vs Ratings, Price & Potency
This visualization breaks down product metrics by chemical count category: low, medium, and high. See how perception (ratings) aligns with formulation strength (potency) and cost (price).
Insight 3
Sensitive vs Normal Skin: Product Price Differences
Are consumers with sensitive skin paying more? This chart explores brand-level
pricing
strategies across skin types.
This bar chart shows the difference in average product prices between normal
skin and
sensitive skin products for each brand.
How to Read Data
- The x-axis lists the brands, while the y-axis shows the price difference between the average price of sensitive products and the average price of normal products for the same brand in dollars.
- Each bar represents the average price for sensitive skin products minus that for normal skin for the same brand:
- Positive bars (red) mean sensitive skin products are more expensive than normal skin products on average for that brand
- Negative bars (green) mean normal skin products are more expensive than sensitive skin products on average for that brand
Insights
- Brands with green bars may prioritize affordability for sensitive skin users or position sensitive products as entry-level options.
- Pink bars indicate brands where sensitive skin products carry a premium, possibly due to added ingredients or niche targeting.
- The longer the bar, the larger the price gap between skin types, revealing brands with more distinct pricing strategies.
- Consumers or analysts can quickly spot brands with equitable pricing (bars near zero) vs. those with significant discrepancies.
Price Difference by Skin Type (Sensitive - Normal)
Scroll table to see more data
Insight 4
Correlation Between Ingredient Count, Price, and Ratings at Sephora
- © Mari Edler
- Design: HTML5 UP
Walkthrough Summary
- Insight 1: Products with lower price and potency tend to get higher ratings.
- Insight 2: Potency is directly linked to pricing — stronger products cost more.
- Insight 3: Some brands charge more for sensitive skin products, others don’t — check fairness.
- Insight 4: Lower chemical count means better ratings and cheaper prices — more doesn’t mean better.