The Ordinary Tops AI Brand Index With 7% Citation Share in Q1 2026

The skincare line The Ordinary leads all beauty brands with a 7% AI citation share, followed by CeraVe (6%), Sephora (5.5%), La Roche-Posay (5%), and Charlotte Tilbury (4.5%). Image credit: The Ordinary

Based on buyer-intent prompts run through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews in Q1 2026, the index ranks the top 25 beauty brands by citation share, the percentage of AI answers that mention each brand when consumers ask questions like “best retinol for beginners” or “best vitamin C serum”.

AI-led purchases

5W analysed 80+ common beauty-buyer prompts across five sub-categories — skincare, makeup, fragrance, hair care, and retailers — run daily through the five AI chatbots.

It also tracked specialist beauty editorial (Allure, Byrdie, Vogue, Elle), dermatologist-bylined editorial, retailer-owned content, beauty-business press, and beauty communities on Reddit and TikTok.

“Beauty is the largest consumer category we've measured for AI citation share.

“The 2026 buyer asks ChatGPT for 'best vitamin C serum' before she opens the Sephora app.

“What AI surfaces in that answer determines what ends up in her cart," said Ronn Torossian, founder and chairperson of 5W.

The skincare line The Ordinary leads all beauty brands with a 7% AI citation share, followed by CeraVe (6%), Sephora (5.5%), La Roche-Posay (5%), and Charlotte Tilbury (4.5%).

Legacy prestige brands, including Estée Lauder, Lancôme, La Mer, and Chanel, fall short and rank materially below their commercial scale; none appear in the top 10 for skincare ingredient prompts.

Ingredient-led independents like The Ordinary, Drunk Elephant, and Glow Recipe earned 31% of all AI citations in beauty, while legacy mass brands accounted for only 4%.

Transparency for the win

"The brands winning are the ones publishing ingredient transparency, dermatologist credentials, and concern-specific content,” says Torossian.

He adds that the brands losing are built around heritage marketing and celebrity-face campaigns.

“Legacy prestige with five-decade head starts is losing AI citation surface every quarter to brands with five-year head starts.

“The window stays open for the brands that adapt. It closes for the brands that don’t.”

When it comes to search, ingredient transparency matters more than brand recognition.

The Ordinary, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, and Drunk Elephant together account for 22% of all skincare AI citations.

While celebrity-founded brands built citation moats (a durable structural advantage in AI engine retrieval that competitors cannot easily close through paid marketing alone) in under five years.

Legacy brands lose

Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty reached 3.5% citation share on Claude faster than any legacy prestige brand has moved in a decade.

The brand’s Soft Pinch Liquid Blush is the most-cited makeup product launched since 2020.

Cross-category brands compound share as Charlotte Tilbury is the only brand in the top five on both Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

L'Oréal is consolidating the skincare surface, with CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, and SkinCeuticals collectively accounting for 14% of skincare AI citations.

The biggest losers are the legacy brands, which are losing every quarter. No legacy prestige brands rank in the top 10 for skincare ingredient-specific prompts.