Working with Brands Transparently: Our Team’s Promise to You

Last Tuesday, a beautifully wrapped parcel landed on our doorstep. Inside was a handbag we’d quietly admired during London Fashion Week—butter-soft leather, impeccable stitching. The accompanying note was flattering: the brand loved our content and wanted us to feature it. No strings attached, they said. Just a gift. Our team sat around the kitchen table, genuinely torn. That handbag represented everything we love about fashion, yet accepting it meant navigating the delicate line between opportunity and obligation. If we featured it, would you trust our verdict? That moment of tension is exactly why we’ve built the transparency framework we’re sharing today.

Why Radical Transparency Matters in the UK Beauty Scene

We’ve watched the British beauty and fashion landscape transform dramatically. What was once a relaxed space now operates under proper regulatory scrutiny, and honestly, we’re here for it. The days of influencers quietly pocketing fees while pretending to adore a product are fading, replaced by a culture where audiences demand clarity. In the UK, this shift isn’t just about ethics—it’s about law. The ASA UK influencer guidelines now require clear labelling of paid partnerships and gifted items. We remember the fallout from an undisclosed ad scandal tied to a major Oxford Street launch—trust evaporated overnight. For our team, the ASA crackdown isn’t an annoyance; it’s a framework we genuinely support. It protects readers from content masquerading as independent opinion.

We’ve learned that precision matters. When we mark something as ‘gifted’, we’re telling you the product was sent without payment, but we chose to feature it because we genuinely rate it. When we label content as ‘paid’, we’re acknowledging a commercial agreement. This distinction might seem minor, but our readers tell us it makes a world of difference. You’ve shared that seeing ‘gifted’ helps you weigh our enthusiasm appropriately. That nuanced honesty has sparked deeper conversations in our comments section and increased engagement on sponsored posts. When people trust the label, they trust the content.

Our ‘No Surprises’ Vetting Process

Before a single contract is signed, every potential collaboration passes through a vetting process we’ve refined over years. We don’t believe in surprises—not for us, and certainly not for you. Here’s how it works:

• Sustainability questionnaire: Every brand receives detailed questions about material sourcing, factory conditions, carbon offset programmes, and product recyclability. Some indie labels have told us our questions prompted them to formalise policies they’d only discussed informally.
• Two-week testing minimum: We physically test every beauty product for at least a fortnight. For skincare, that allows us to observe reactions through a full cycle. For fashion, we wear pieces across different settings—commuting, working, an evening out.
• Claims verification: If a brand makes specific clinical claims, we ask for data. When a luxury skincare line couldn’t provide evidence backing their retinol percentage, we walked away.
• Values alignment check: We assess whether the collaboration genuinely serves our audience. Brands that can’t answer substantively don’t progress.

This approach has cost us financially in the short term, but it’s protected our platform’s integrity in ways money can’t measure.

Decoding the Money Talk: Affiliates, Flat Fees, and Gifting

Money conversations can feel awkward, but they’re essential to transparency. We want you to understand exactly how Jenn Chan Glam generates revenue, because that knowledge helps you interpret our recommendations.

• Flat fees: When a brand pays a flat fee, they’re compensating our time and creativity. Crucially, we retain total creative control. Brands can suggest key messages, but the final content belongs to us. We’ve turned down lucrative offers from brands who demanded script approval.
• Affiliate links: Through platforms like LTK, we earn a small commission when you purchase via our links, at no extra cost to you. We only link to products we’ve genuinely recommended. We don’t swap links into old posts or chase higher commission rates.
• Gifted products: Items sent without payment are clearly labelled. Products we don’t feature are donated to women’s shelters or beauty banks across London. We never sell gifted items.

Affiliate income helps keep our blog largely free of intrusive display advertising, creating a better reading experience for everyone.

When We Say ‘No’ to a Luxury Beauty Brand

We decline more collaborations than we accept. Some of our most memorable rejections involve luxury names you’d instantly recognise, and those decisions have shaped our reputation more than any sponsored post ever could.

Red flags we watch for include contracts requiring us to disparage competitors, clauses demanding we never mention negative side effects, and agreements restricting us from working with similar brands for unreasonably long periods. We once received a contract from a Harrods-stocked skincare line claiming clinical-grade results. When we asked for the data, the brand went quiet. We walked away. Our primary responsibility is to you, not to a brand’s marketing department. We’d rather publish one honest review acknowledging limitations than ten glowing endorsements that set readers up for disappointment.

The Real Metrics We Share with Collaborators

Media kits are polished highlight reels, and we’ve always found them slightly disingenuous. When we discuss partnerships, we share raw analytics screenshots pulled directly from our platforms.

• Engagement rate deep dives: We break down saves, shares, meaningful comments, and click-through rates rather than relying on follower counts.
• Honest historical data: We show brands how our audience actually interacts with content, including posts that underperformed.
• Realistic projections: When a sustainable swimwear brand approached us in January, we shared honest low-traffic data and suggested a phased campaign. The resulting collaboration outperformed their previous influencer work and is now entering its third year.

We’d rather have 1,000 readers who trust us implicitly than 100,000 who scroll past without a second thought.

Your Right to an Honest Scroll

We design our content assuming you’re savvy, discerning, and deserve immediate clarity. No hiding disclosures in hashtag swamps, no burying ‘ad’ in a sea of emojis. Our visual transparency system is intentional and consistent.

On Jenn Chan Glam, commercial content carries bold disclaimers positioned at the top of every post, before any product mentions. We use in-image text overlays that clearly state the nature of the partnership. If a post is sponsored, you’ll know within the first three seconds of landing on the page. We genuinely want you to challenge us. If a recommendation feels off, if a product doesn’t live up to our review—tell us. We’ve updated reviews based on reader feedback, added caveats when multiple people reported different experiences, and occasionally removed products entirely when consistent issues emerged. Accountability isn’t a one-time promise; it’s an ongoing practice.

Transparency has never felt like a legal burden or a box-ticking exercise. It’s the foundation upon which Jenn Chan Glam exists. Every disclosure label, every declined contract, every raw analytics screenshot represents a conscious choice to prioritise your trust over short-term gain. We’ve built this corner of the internet with the belief that fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content can be both commercially viable and genuinely honest. The two aren’t mutually exclusive—they’re mutually reinforcing. We invite you to hold us to that standard, in the comments, in our DMs, and in every scroll through our pages.

FAQ

How do you decide which brands to work with?

We evaluate brands against our sustainability questionnaire, test products for at least two weeks, and assess whether the collaboration genuinely serves our audience’s interests.

Do you keep gifted products you don’t feature?

Products we don’t feature are donated to women’s shelters or beauty banks across London. We never sell gifted items.

How can I tell if a post is sponsored?

Sponsored posts feature bold disclaimers at the top of the page and in-image text overlays. We clearly label gifted items versus paid partnerships.

Do affiliate links affect your product recommendations?

No. We only link to products we’ve genuinely recommended. Commission rates don’t influence our selections.

What happens when a product you recommended doesn’t work for me?

We encourage you to share your experience. Beauty and fashion are personal, and we update reviews when consistent feedback patterns emerge from our community.