ARA Beauty & Skincare · Q3 2026 · Full Shelf Diagnostic
The one category where the audited brands actually hold the shelf.
Why these three lead the shelf
1. La Roche-Posaychosen 25× / 8.2% / 4/4 models
Chosen on 10 of the 15 questions, the widest coverage on the shelf, but almost never at the top. On the three questions where all four models name it, its average position is #2.2, #2.2 and #3.0. This is breadth: the brand that is always on the list and rarely leading it.
2. CeraVechosen 23× / 7.5% / 4/4 models
Chosen slightly less often than La Roche-Posay, 23 times to 25, and ranked first three times as often: six questions where a model puts it at #1, including best overall, sensitive skin and best affordable, where its average position across every model that names it is exactly #1.0.
3. The Ordinarychosen 18× / 5.9% / 4/4 models
The narrowest profile of the three. Absent from 8 of the 15 questions, including dermatologist-recommended, sensitive skin, acne and anti-ageing. It is also the only brand all four models name on ingredient transparency. Third place built on one uncontested lane rather than broad presence.
About the AI Shelf
The AI Shelf is the short list of names an AI assistant gives when someone asks what to buy. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer the questions a real buyer asks, and every brand they name lands on the shelf. Your customer sees it before they see yours, and nobody can pay for position on it.
Each time a model chooses a brand over every other brand it could have named, that counts once. 306 choices were made here. Slice size is share of all of them.
8.2%largest holding — La Roche-Posay
39.9%held by the 15 audited brands
2 of 15never named by any model
The takeaway
The brand chosen most often is not the brand chosen first. La Roche-Posay appears on more questions than anyone else on this shelf; CeraVe is ranked first on six of them to La Roche-Posay's two. On a shelf, first is the one that gets acted on.
In the current ARA IndexNot currently in the ARA Index — shaded by rank, darkest = chosen least often
All 97 brands — the annotated ranking
#
Name
Chosen
Share
Models
Best
Δ
1
La Roche-Posay
25
8.2%
4/4
#1
—
2
CeraVe
23
7.5%
4/4
#1
—
3
The Ordinary
18
5.9%
4/4
#1
—
4
Paula's Choice
16
5.2%
4/4
#2
—
5
Drunk Elephant
13
4.2%
4/4
#1
—
6
Neutrogena
13
4.2%
4/4
#1
—
7
Cetaphil
10
3.3%
4/4
#1
—
8
Tatcha
10
3.3%
4/4
#1
—
9
Skinceuticals
9
2.9%
3/4
#1
—
10
EltaMD
7
2.3%
4/4
#1
—
11
Vanicream
7
2.3%
3/4
#3
—
12
Augustinus Bader
6
2.0%
4/4
#2
—
13
Aveeno
6
2.0%
4/4
#3
—
14
First Aid Beauty
6
2.0%
4/4
#3
—
15
La Mer
6
2.0%
4/4
#1
—
16
Youth To The People
6
2.0%
4/4
#1
—
17
Glow Recipe
5
1.6%
4/4
#1
—
18
Herbivore Botanicals
5
1.6%
3/4
#3
—
19
Biossance
4
1.3%
3/4
#2
—
20
SK-II
4
1.3%
3/4
#1
—
21
Blue Lizard
3
1.0%
3/4
#3
—
22
Charlotte Tilbury
3
1.0%
3/4
#4
—
23
Dior
3
1.0%
3/4
#3
—
24
Estée Lauder
3
1.0%
2/4
#4
—
25
Eucerin
3
1.0%
3/4
#3
—
26
Sunday Riley
3
1.0%
2/4
#2
—
27
Supergoop!
3
1.0%
3/4
#1
—
28
The Inkey List
3
1.0%
2/4
#2
—
29
Banana Boat
2
0.7%
2/4
#3
—
30
Biologique Recherche
2
0.7%
2/4
#5
—
31
Coppertone
2
0.7%
2/4
#2
—
32
COSRX
2
0.7%
2/4
#2
—
33
Differin
2
0.7%
1/4
#4
—
34
Kiehl's
2
0.7%
2/4
#5
—
35
Niod
2
0.7%
1/4
#3
—
36
Pai Skincare
2
0.7%
2/4
#3
—
37
Rare Beauty
2
0.7%
2/4
#6
—
38
Rhode
2
0.7%
2/4
#1
—
39
Shiseido
2
0.7%
1/4
#4
—
40
Tata Harper
2
0.7%
2/4
#2
—
41
Versed
2
0.7%
2/4
#1
—
42
ZO Skin Health
2
0.7%
2/4
#6
—
43
Acure
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
44
Australian Gold
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
45
Aveda
1
0.3%
1/4
#2
—
46
Avene
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
47
Avène
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
48
Beautycounter
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
49
Bioderma
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
50
Bowe Glowe
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
51
Bubble
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
52
Chanel
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
53
Clinique
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
54
Cocokind
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
55
DECIEM
1
0.3%
1/4
#2
—
56
DefenAge
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
57
Dieux Skin
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
58
Dr. Althea
1
0.3%
1/4
#2
—
59
e.l.f. Cosmetics
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
60
Farmacy Beauty
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
61
Fenty Beauty
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
62
Galderma
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
63
Garnier
1
0.3%
1/4
#1
—
64
Glossier
1
0.3%
1/4
#1
—
65
Good Molecules
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
66
Hylamide
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
67
Krave Beauty
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
68
Laneige
1
0.3%
1/4
#1
—
69
Loya Skincare
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
70
Lush
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
71
Naturium
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
72
Obagi
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
73
Obagi Medical
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
74
Olaplex
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
75
OneSkin
1
0.3%
1/4
#2
—
76
Open Formula
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
77
Orveda
1
0.3%
1/4
#1
—
78
OSEA
1
0.3%
1/4
#6
—
79
Pacifica
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
80
Peter Thomas Roth
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
81
Proven
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
82
REN Clean Skincare
1
0.3%
1/4
#2
—
83
Revision Skincare
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
84
RoC
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
85
ROHTO Hada Labo
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
86
Simple Skincare
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
87
Sisley
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
88
Sisley Paris
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
89
Skinbetter Science
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
90
Skinfix
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
91
Summer Fridays
1
0.3%
1/4
#3
—
92
Sun Bum
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
93
TirTir
1
0.3%
1/4
#1
—
94
Topicals
1
0.3%
1/4
#4
—
95
Torriden
1
0.3%
1/4
#7
—
96
True Botanicals
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
97
Typology
1
0.3%
1/4
#5
—
ARA · ALGORITHM READINESS ANALYSIS · ARACO.AI — 4 models × 15 shopper questions, top answers per cell. MEASURING AI TRUST IN BRANDS. Naming variants merged before counting: 11 tile-truncated names expanded · case variants: Skinceuticals. Query counts for merged brands are upper bounds.
