Bethenny Frankel Told Us Exactly How She Tests Beauty Products

From drugstore bronzers and CHANEL dupes to chicken salad and caviar, Bethenny Frankel’s social media commentary never disappoints. The self-made businessperson, TV producer, podcast host, New York Times bestselling author, philanthropist and “accidental influencer” continues to attract a highly engaged audience that trusts her unfiltered opinions—because they know she can’t be bought. The end result is a bit of an anomaly (especially in the beauty world): Brands pay Frankel a premium to work with her, even when she provides negative commentary about their products.

Between getting in-the-billons views on her social media platforms this year, Frankel chatted with us on behalf of her partnership with True Botanicals and shared some details on how exactly she decides what to test—and which brands to align herself with—in the ever-evolving beauty space.

Congrats on walking in Paris Fashion Week this year. How did you feel on the plane ride over?

I had no idea what I was walking into—I thought it was going to be like walking around the Meatpacking District. Sure, I knew there would be models going down a runway, but I didn’t realize this was a Paris spectacle at a landmark, the Opéra. I was in shock. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ It was just insane. Just the magnitude of it. Then, I heard it was going to be 2,500 people.

Seeing all the models and all the icons was overwhelming. Honestly, I was definitely not acting like I belonged! I was freaking out. The Opéra was the nicest building I’ve ever been in. It had the nicest backstage. Every single area was like a vignette with an international supermodel with her own photography crew and videos. It was insane. My team, we were like Little Miss Sunshine. We were gasping. My social friends were like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, what’s going on?’ We were freaking out.

And you took your daughter with you. Did she enjoy it? 

She loved it! She could be a real supermodel…she was super chill, relaxed and nice to everyone. Bryn definitely enjoyed the experience. Also, she hasn’t lived her whole life to know that this is not normal. What the hell does she know?

It looked amazing. How has the feedback been? Social media can be unkind, but it seems like you’ve gotten some really uplifting feedback from people.

Yes, because I did stick the landing. I always tell people to ‘commit to the bit.’ I understood the assignment. The woman downstage is the HBIC of L’Oréal globally; I was sitting behind Viola Davis and Kendall Jenner. There were all these people. She said: ‘You guys do what you want to do. Be who you want to be.’ Look, they didn’t hire me because I’m Gigi Hadid. They asked me because I’m me. I went up there and filled those gigantic shoes and did what I did.

That’s amazing. I have a good idea of what beauty brands you’ve been liking this year, but when you get something in your hands for the first time, what’s your testing process? Do you like it right away? Do you try it for two weeks and wait to see?

That’s a great question. What goes on is…I get a lot of stuff and I don’t like to waste. I get anxiety because I don’t want to try everything, but I also want to give everyone a turn. It sounds insane, but I’ve become an expert on this—this authority because I can’t be bought. I don’t have any skin in the game and I don’t own a brand. I’ve been asked to own brands and I could have a big beauty brand by now. I don’t want that.

All of this started organically. I was just sort of playing around. Now I get stuff and it goes into the red room, which is a closet in my house. It goes in there and we put it in little individual bins. I’ll look through a line and I’ll be like, ‘Let me put this on deck.’ The next time I take off my face, I’m going to try this cleanser. Or, I’m going to try this under-eye cream next; I have to give this brand a chance. I’ll know right away if we need to take our relationship to the next level—meaning it might have these great properties, but it also needs to feel really good on my skin.

I know when a product is doing something different. I just know. It feels a little like Tom Hanks in the movie Big. He knows the toy someone is going to want to play with. The other day, for example, it was RoC. That’s a brand that I’d never really tried before. I guess they’re big on retinol. I also read the comments on my social media and people chime in. You’re getting a little crowdsourcing of information. But let me say this: I could try eight of someone’s products and only one will jump off the page. It’s rare that I love an entire line.

I will say that I’ve really liked Haus Labs‘ entire line. And L’Oréal is unbeatable because, I don’t know, but it has to be billions of dollars of research and development. They just nail a lot of things in a way that you’re like, ‘Whoa, I can’t believe they nailed that.’ That’s how the Midnight Cream thing started. That’s how the relationship started. I thought that they had this great lip gloss. It wasn’t even a lip gloss; it was a blush. I just try stuff. I have no idea what’s going on.

Right now, True Botanicals has my heart for different reasons. I really like that it is botanical and it’s natural and it’s good for skin of a certain age. I like things for different reasons. Like a ‘rich bitch cream’ is great in the winter and at night when you’re feeding the face. But then something like an Elemis SPF 30 cream is good during the day when you’re wearing makeup. It is like food where you’re in the mood for something specific. Your body may need something now, and then it will need something different next week.

And you mix it up?

It’s different for each situation. Sometimes, you’re about to get on a plane and you want to put a thicker balm, but you might not do that year-round because you don’t want your skin to break out. But, yes, I try mostly everything. Hair is harder because I’m not washing my hair every single day. It’s more of a commitment. You’re washing, you’re conditioning, you’re trying the leave-in serum, you’re trying the dry shampoo. It’s more bulky to figure out. Skin is easier. You can dip in, dip out, try a lip balm, try a lip mask and have an opinion.

I do need to know my fit, though. And I do know my fit and I know my fit more than anybody because I’m trying more things. It’s crazy that people—even celebrities—reach out to me to get my opinion about stuff. It’s nuts that R&D people are asking me to help them with products.

That was my next question. I feel like you’re one of the few people who is really honest when you don’t like something. I love that. Do you have brands reach out when they didn’t have a hit to see how they can make it better?

I’ve had people then send me something and being like, ‘We know you didn’t like this, but maybe you’ll like this or this better.’ I know people are listening and they’re not mad at me because I know that they know that I know what I’m talking about. I do think that negative, honest feedback is as valuable. No one needs to be told by everyone in their life only things that are positive! Negative feedback is super valuable and it’s really relentless out there.

Skin care is a little different…most of the makeup is the same shit. It really is. In the beginning, because I didn’t know anything, I was talking about everything. Now, if I sit down and I’m like, ‘What the hell is this!’ It means it’s something good. Like the L’Oréal eyeshadow sticks. I had no idea what those sticks were. And I had never used the Lumi Glotion all over my body as a body glow. I used to have my makeup artist do this different bronzer. I’d come home, but I couldn’t get it off for two days and it would ruin my sheets. It would be in my bathtub and on my towels. I discover things for different reasons along the way. I get excited and say: ‘I got to go tell people.’

Have you ever received a mailer where you never heard of the brand and you were just blown away?

There’s a brand I just tried yesterday called PRAI. I wasn’t going to take it seriously because some of the products have pearls all over. I literally said, ‘Oh, great, a reality TV housewife brand.’ But it does have a deal on QVC. I’d never heard of it…but I could tell right away that some of the stuff is really rich. It has a décolleté cream and a hand cream. Of course, I was like, ‘Why hand cream? Hand creams are all the same.’ I put the hand cream on and immediately was into it.

I’m going to get deeper into that brand. And, like I said, I never heard of it until yesterday, but that’s the thing. I always put those brands I had never heard of in my bathroom and they sit on deck. It can take me literally three months to try, but I will try it. I’ll open it up and be like, ‘All right, let me just try this.’ I’m like, ‘Wait a second.’ That’s when I get excited—if I never heard of that little brand, I sort of freak out. That happened with the Babe Lip Mask. Who the hell knew what that was? I was like, ‘This is great.’ It’s really good.

It also could be super random. There’s a brand, Biossance and yesterday I tried their under-eye cream and I was like, ‘All right!’ And the Elemis cleansing balm is amazing. The True Botanicals cleansing balm is amazing, too and so is their Chebula serum—really, really good stuff. There are different things I’ve found along the way that people don’t know about. I love it when it’s a brand I had never heard of. I love it when I find something no one else knows about and I’m like: ‘All right, let me tell everyone about this.’