Why 5 Star Reviews Can Be Misleading

Sep 6

4 min read

If a brow artist has hundreds of five-star reviews and barely any negative reviews—or maybe none at all—it seems perfectly reasonable to assume you’re in good hands.

After all, if their work wasn't that good, surely people would have complained by now, right?

If an artist has performed thousands of procedures and accumulated hundreds of glowing reviews, it becomes very easy to think:

There’s no way this many people could be wrong.

And logically, you might assume that choosing an artist with hundreds of five-star reviews dramatically reduces your chances of finding yourself searching for advice about correcting or removing your brows.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple.

Five-star reviews can absolutely be useful when choosing a permanent makeup artist. But reviews should not replace your own evaluation of their work.

Here’s why.

A Review Tells You Whether That Client Was Happy—Not Whether You Would Be

If a client is happy with their healed brows, how do you know if you’ll be happy with those results too without seeing the artist’s typical healed results first?

Reviews are one piece of evidence.

They are not a healed-results database.

Different Artists Attract Different Clientele

Suppose you look at an artist’s portfolio and personally think the work is poorly shaped, overly saturated, unnatural or simply not your style.

But the artist still has tons of five-star reviews.

How is that possible?

Pretty easily.

The people booking with that artist probably like the work you’re looking at.

Think about it.

If someone sees that artist’s portfolio, and still decides I want those brows, books an appointment, and receives brows that look like the rest of the artist’s portfolio…why wouldn’t that client leave five stars?

The artist successfully delivered what that particular client wanted.

That doesn’t mean you would want it.

This is why another person’s five-star review cannot answer the most important question for you:

Do I actually want this artist’s healed work on my own face?

An artist’s portfolio, marketing, style, pricing, reputation and educational content naturally attract people who value different things.

An artist known for extremely bold brows is more likely to attract clients who like bold brows.

An artist specializing in very subtle results will attract people who prefer subtle brows.

An artist who constantly shows healed work may attract clients who specifically researched long-term outcomes before booking.

So when 1,000 people give an artist five stars, those reviews tell you something valuable:

Those 1,000 people were satisfied enough with their own experience to leave that rating.

But those 1,000 people don’t necessarily share your standards, preferences or expectations.

I’ll Even Use Myself as an Example

I have tons of five-star Google ratings.

I’m obviously proud that my clients have been happy enough with their experiences to leave those reviews.

But I would never tell someone:

“I have five stars, therefore you’ll love my brows.”

That doesn’t logically follow.

First, look at my work.

More importantly, look at a substantial amount of my healed work.

Don’t just find my three favorite healed clients and stop there. Look through enough examples to understand the pattern of healed results I typically produce.

Ask yourself:

Do I want my brows to heal like this?

If the answer is yes, then my reviews become additional supporting evidence.

Now you’re not blindly trusting strangers who say I’m good.

You’ve already determined that you like the results I produce, and the reviews give you additional information about the experiences of people who actually chose me.

That’s a much better use of reviews.

Use Reviews as Supporting Evidence, Not the Starting Point

If you’re considering getting your brows done with permanent makeup, don’t choose your artist simply by searching for whoever has the highest Google rating.

A five-star rating doesn’t show you what the average client’s brows look like six weeks later.

And it certainly doesn’t guarantee that you’ll personally consider the healed results beautiful yourself.

Instead, start with the work itself.

But don’t allow yourself to be mislead by fresh brows either. Fresh brows can look beautiful. That’s why social media is filled with fresh work. But fresh brows can not tell you if you’ll like the healed version of those brows. You’ll only live with fresh brows for around 2 weeks. The healed results reveal what you’ll be waking up to every day.

So study specifically their healed portfolio.

Look for enough healed examples that you’re not basing your decision on a handful of exceptional cases. A good number would be at least 50 but the more healed cases you see, the better you’ll be able to determine whether you would genuinely be happy walking around with healed results similar to what you’re seeing.

Then read the reviews.

If you love the artist’s healed work and you find a strong history of satisfied clients—those five-star reviews become much more meaningful.

Now if an artist says they don't have many healed examples because clients aren't coming back, I would highly question that logic.

These procedures are heavily marketed as a two step process: the initial appointment plus a touch up. When clients return back for their touch up, this is the opportunity us artists get to take footage of the healed work. Many clients even return back for more touch ups around 1-3 years, another great opportunity to take footage of the healed work.

Final Thoughts

The question isn’t simply:

“Do other people think this artist is good?”

"Does her fresh work look amazing?"

The better question is:

“Do I like the look of the healed results this artist consistently produces—and do their reviews support what I’m seeing with my own eyes?”

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