In Q3 2026, we analyzed 5,250 ChatGPT recommendations across nine personal care and beauty categories to compile the EMARKETER AI Visibility Index. Our index tracks how often brands are mentioned, how they rank against competitors, and how those rankings have shifted since the previous month. This article will be updated quarterly to highlight our key takeaways for the personal care and beauty industry’s performance.

Overall AI Visibility Leaderboard: Q3 2026

CeraVe and La Roche-Posay continued to lead the overall rankings, but their mention rates have fallen slightly. La Roche-Posay led the personal care and beauty index in May 2026, with a mention rate of 21%. CeraVe had a mention rate of 20%. The two brands were essentially tied in August with mention rates that rounded to 18%.

Vanicream moved into the No. 3 slot. The brand’s mention rate improved from 11% to 15%, thanks to a significant increase in the body care category.

Legacy brands continued to make up the majority of overall rankings. Eight of the top 10 brands have been on the market for more than 50 years, unchanged from the May leaderboard. CeraVe and E.l.f. Cosmetics were the only top 10 brands founded within the past 25 years. Newer brands typically have smaller product lines, making it more difficult for them to penetrate the overall rankings.

Celebrity-led brands slipped in the rankings. In May, Rare Beauty, founded by Selena Gomez in 2020, had the top brand mention rate in face makeup while Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, founded in 2017, led in lip makeup. Both brands have since posted significant drops in mention rates in their respective categories, suggesting newer brands may experience greater swings in AI visibility than more established brands.

Category AI Visibility Leaderboard: Eye Makeup

Key Movements

Clinique had the highest brand mention rate in the eye makeup category, surpassing Maybelline. The two brands had about the same mention rate (35%) in May, but Clinique’s mention rate rose to 37% in August, while Maybelline’s fell to 31%.

Brand Mention Rate vs. Share of No. 1 Mentions

Clinique had the highest brand mention rate and No. 1 mention rate in the eye makeup category. The brand performed particularly well in prompts related to eyeshadow, where it appeared first in 88% of recommendations in which it was mentioned.

Source Citation Rate

Retailers and publishers dominated the top-cited domains in eye makeup. Ulta Beauty and Sephora ranked among the top three sources, while publishers—including Allure and Who What Wear—accounted for most of the other top sources in this category. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the only authority prominently cited in eye makeup recommendations.

FAQ: Personal Care and Beauty

Which personal care and beauty brands were mentioned the most in AI-generated recommendations?

CeraVe and La Roche-Posay were the most mentioned personal care and beauty brands in Q3 2026, with both appearing in 18% of recommendations in August. CeraVe ranked first overall because it appeared as the No. 1 recommendation more often. Vanicream rose to third with a 15% mention rate, while L’Oréal Paris, Neutrogena, Clinique, Dior, Maybelline, E.l.f. Cosmetics, and Chanel completed the top 10.

Why does ChatGPT recommend some personal care and beauty brands more than others?

ChatGPT tends to recommend personal care and beauty brands that are established, well known, and credible. Legacy brands have more extensive product lines that help boost their mention rates compared with newer brands. Category and subcategory specialization matters as well: EltaMD, for example, had the highest No. 1 mention rate in the facial skincare category’s top 10, driven by its strength in the face sunscreen subcategory. Strong AI visibility also depends on the retail, publisher, and authoritative sources cited by ChatGPT when generating recommendations.

Which personal care and beauty categories are most competitive in AI-generated recommendations?

Haircare, body care, eye makeup, and fragrance were the most tightly contested personal care and beauty categories in Q3 2026. Only 4 percentage points separated the top three haircare brands: L’Oréal Paris, Kérastase, and Redken. In body care and eye makeup, there was a 6-percentage-point difference among the top three brands in each category. Fragrance was even tighter at the top, with just 2 percentage points separating Chanel and Dior.

Why is AI visibility important for personal care and beauty brands?

AI visibility matters for personal care and beauty brands because consumers increasingly use AI platforms to discover products, compare options, and receive recommendations. Brands should track both overall mention rates and No. 1 mention rates, since users may favor the product that appears first in AI-generated recommendations.

What were the biggest AI visibility trends for personal care and beauty this quarter?

The biggest Q3 2026 trends for the personal care and beauty industry were continued strength for established brands, meaningful category-level ranking shifts, and changes in ChatGPT’s citation mix. CeraVe and La Roche-Posay remained overall leaders, while Vanicream, Cetaphil, E.l.f. Cosmetics, and Wella gained visibility in key categories (body care, facial skincare, eye makeup, and hair color, respectively). After the move to GPT-5.6, ChatGPT cited fewer unique domains, while authoritative sources increased their share of nonbrand citations by 4 percentage points.

FAQ: EMARKETER’s AI Visibility Index

How is the personal care and beauty AI Visibility Index measured?

EMARKETER’s AI Visibility Index is based on a structured analysis of ChatGPT recommendations in response to US-based interactions across nine personal care and beauty categories: body care, facial skincare, fragrance, face makeup, eye makeup, lip makeup, haircare, hair color, and oral care. Each interaction asks ChatGPT for product recommendations using standardized prompts (e.g., “best body lotion,” “shampoo for damaged hair”). Prompts vary by product type, product attribute, consumer need, target audience, and price tier to capture a representative range of real-world consumer questions for each category.

How does EMARKETER choose the prompts?

Prompts are built with EMARKETER analysts and researchers who cover each industry, then validated and prioritized using consumer search volume data. Prompts reflect the language consumers actually use.

What is “brand mention rate”?

Brand mention rate is the percentage of ChatGPT recommendations that mention a given brand.

What is “No. 1 mention rate”?

No. 1 mention rate is the number of ChatGPT recommendations that mention a given brand first as a percentage of all ChatGPT recommendations that mention the brand.

How can I improve my brand’s AI visibility?

Brands strengthen how often AI assistants recommend them by sharpening their generative engine optimization (GEO) strategy and building the trust signals AI models weigh. EMARKETER’s AI Visibility Index shows where a brand stands today and how that position moves month over month—the baseline for any optimization effort. To learn more about how the index can help your brand, including custom-scoped advisory insights, visit our AI Visibility Index hub.

What do EMARKETER PRO and PRO+ subscribers get?

EMARKETER PRO subscribers get in-depth quarterly reports featuring further category breakouts, data cuts, and analysis. PRO+ subscribers can access the AI Visibility Index’s complete data set, including monthly updates across every category cut, in the live dashboard.