Paid listing, alphabetical, not a ranking
What this directory is
The Digital Gloss directory is a paid listing of brands and suppliers serving the beauty and wellness trade in the United Kingdom: contract manufacturers, packaging and component suppliers, safety assessors and regulatory consultants, photographers and studios, booking and retail systems, logistics and fulfilment, and professional services.
It exists because the businesses we write for repeatedly ask the same question, which is where to find a competent supplier, and because it funds the paper without anything editorial being for sale.
What it is not
- It is not a ranking. Entries appear in alphabetical order within their category. There are no positions, no scores, no stars, no tiers of merit and no awards.
- It is not a recommendation. Inclusion means an entry was paid for and the published criteria were met. It is not an endorsement, and it says nothing about the quality of the work.
- It is not editorial. Buying an entry brings no coverage, no mention in an article and no influence over anything we publish.
- It is not a lead brokerage. We take no commission, no referral fee and no share of any work that results.
Every entry carries a paid entry label. Categories are ordered alphabetically and so are the entries within them.
Current state of the directory
The directory is open for applications and currently has no published entries. We would rather show an empty directory than fill it with entries that have not met the criteria, and we will not seed it with businesses that have not applied.
When entries are published, each will carry the paid entry label, the date the entry was verified, and the category it sits in.
How to apply
Read the entry criteria and rates, which set out exactly what has to be evidenced and what an entry costs. Applications are made through the form on that page. We check the criteria before an entry is published and we decline applications that do not meet them, with the fee returned.
Why alphabetical, and why it will stay that way
Any ordering other than alphabetical is a claim about relative merit. We have not assessed these businesses against each other and could not do so credibly, so we do not order them as if we had.
Paid ordering is worse again, because it presents a commercial arrangement as an assessment. This paper does not do that in the directory, in the newsletter, or anywhere else. The full position is in the editorial standards.