The quick answer
Pick 100 Creatives if you run a skincare brand with settled packaging and an approved claims list, paid social drives a real share of your sales, and you need more ad variations per product than your team can make, with $4,000 or more to spend per engagement.
- Every engagement is quoted in writing with a fixed total, from $4,000 to $50,000+, and nothing is charged before you approve it.
- Creative batches come back in 48 hours, and revisions within 48 hours.
- A brand intake before production covers visual language, model preferences, colorways and export specs, and it's where we collect the claims your team has cleared.
- Product and texture imagery is made without booking a shoot for each launch, then checked against the real product before delivery.
Pick something else if your best ads are real people with real skin talking to camera (a UGC creator or influencer agency), you need clinical before-and-after photography for a results claim (a photographer working to your study protocol), or you need regulatory review of your claims (a cosmetics regulatory consultant or lawyer; we follow your approved list, we don't write it). If you need a few ads a month and can brief them yourself, a freelancer costs less; see agency vs freelancer.
Why skincare ads are harder than makeup ads
A lipstick ad can prove itself in one frame: here is the color, on skin. A serum can't. Most skincare results take weeks, happen gradually and look small in a photo, so the ad is tempted to fill the gap with words ("repairs", "renews", "clinically proven") or with an image of skin that no product produces. Both are where skincare ads get rejected by Meta, pulled by a regulator or ignored by a buyer who has seen the same poreless face a thousand times.
What a skincare ad can show without overclaiming is narrower and more useful: the texture of the formula, how it sits on skin right after application, the routine it belongs to, the ingredient the buyer already searched for, and a result from your own study when you have one. The makeup side of the category, where shade accuracy is the main job, is on beauty ad creatives. This page is about the part of the category where the words carry the risk.
Cosmetic claims and drug claims, word by word
In the United States, a cosmetic is meant for "cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance". A product intended to treat or prevent disease, or to affect the structure or function of the body, is a drug. The FDA's page on cosmetics and drugs (checked September 2026) says intended use can be shown by claims on the label, in advertising and on the internet, by what consumers expect, and by ingredients with a well-known therapeutic use. It names claims that make a product a drug, including increasing or decreasing melanin production and regenerating cells, and it says "cosmeceutical" has no meaning under the law.
Canada draws the same line with worked examples. Advertising Standards Canada's guidelines on non-therapeutic claims, written with Health Canada (October 2016 edition, checked September 2026), list what a cosmetic can and can't say. A few rows from that list show the pattern:
| Cosmetic (acceptable) | Therapeutic (needs drug authorization) |
|---|---|
| Smoothes wrinkles; wrinkles appear reduced | Removes wrinkles |
| Improves the look of acne scars | Removes or reduces scars |
| Reduces the look or the signs of aging | Any reference to action at a cellular level |
| Repairs dry skin | Treats acne; heals (unqualified) |
The difference is usually two words: "the look of". A hook writer chasing a stronger line drifts from the left column to the right one, and AI copy tools drift the same way because the right column sounds more confident. Our ads use the claims on your label and your approved claims list, and we don't add new ones. When a brief asks for a line from the right column, we flag it before we design around it.
Sunscreen and acne products are a different category
In the US, sunscreens are regulated as drugs, and a moisturizer or foundation with SPF is both a cosmetic and a drug. The FDA's consumer page on sunscreen (checked September 2026) says there is no such thing as a waterproof sunscreen, and that a product labeled water resistant must say whether it stays effective for 40 or 80 minutes when swimming or sweating. So an SPF ad shows the claim on the label, word for word: "water resistant (80 minutes)", never "waterproof", and the SPF number printed on the pack. Acne treatments sit in the same place in Canada, where "treats acne" is on the therapeutic side of the table above. If your product is an OTC drug, your regulatory advisor approves the claims first and we build the ads around them.
Numbers in skincare ads need a study behind them
"87% said skin felt smoother after 4 weeks" is the kind of line a skincare buyer stops for, and the kind a regulator reads closely. The UK Advertising Standards Authority's guidance on creams (updated January 2025, checked September 2026) says a claim like "80% of women said it reduced the appearance of their wrinkles" needs a consumer use or perception test behind it, and that claims of a physiological or cumulative effect need a much higher level of evidence. The same guidance says "anti-ageing" can be acceptable where the context makes clear the effect is temporary or applies to how wrinkles look.
That gives three practical rules for skincare statics:
- A percentage goes in the ad only if it comes from your own study, in the words the study measured. "Felt smoother" and "is smoother" are different claims.
- The timeframe goes next to the number. "After 4 weeks" is part of the claim, and dropping it for space changes what the ad says.
- Perception results stay perception results. A self-assessment panel supports "said", "felt" and "noticed"; it doesn't support "clinically proven".
Where you don't have a study, the ad sells the texture, the routine or the ingredient instead. Those formats are below, and they don't need a number to work.
Real skin, not rendered skin
The ASA's guidance on production techniques in cosmetics ads (updated August 2025, checked September 2026) treats before-and-after images as objective claims, the same as written ones: the after has to be representative of what consumers can generally get, and the styling and photography for the after can't differ from the before. It also warns that a superimposed disclaimer doesn't excuse an image that would otherwise be misleading. Its own example of the line being crossed is removing or reducing lines and wrinkles around the eyes in an eye cream ad.
AI image tools cross that line by default. The models learned from millions of retouched beauty photos, so they produce skin with no pores, no texture, no redness and no fine lines. In a food ad that's scenery. In a skincare ad it's a promise the product can't keep, sitting exactly where the product is supposed to work. We explain why generated images drift toward the same polished look in why AI ads look the same. Our review step checks every skincare image for visible pores, natural texture and realistic skin before delivery, and how to review AI creative from an agency sets out the checklist you can hold us or anyone else to.
What Meta allows for skincare ads
Meta's Health and Wellness ad policy (Meta Transparency Center, checked September 2026) says ads promoting cosmetic products must be targeted to people at least 18 years old. Ads for cosmetic products can't contain statements of inferiority about physical appearance, meaning terms, descriptions or questions that attack someone's appearance, specific body parts or hygiene. The policy also bars ads for skin whitening or bleaching products that cause permanent skin color change, and claims to cure, heal or eliminate a listed set of incurable conditions, which includes psoriasis.
For a skincare brand that rules out three common hooks. "Embarrassed by your breakouts?" attacks appearance. A brightening serum can't be sold on permanent lightening. An eczema or psoriasis balm can talk about soothing the look and feel of dry, itchy skin, but not about clearing the condition. It also means a brand built on teen acne has to reach under-18s through organic content, because the Meta ads can't. The hook that survives all three rules is the result or the ritual: "Barrier cream for the second week of a ski trip", "The step between cleanser and SPF". For sizes and placements, see static ads for Meta; for layout rules that hold in any category, see what makes a good static ad.
Six skincare formats that work as statics
These are the formats we start a skincare brief with. None of them needs a claim your label doesn't already make.
1. The texture swipe
The formula smeared across a clean surface or the back of a hand, shot tight enough to see whether it's a gel, a milk, a balm or an oil. Texture is the first thing a buyer wants to know and the one thing a product page can't answer, so this format often carries a new product.
2. The active callout
The bottle plus the ingredient the buyer searched for, at the concentration printed on your label: "10% niacinamide", "0.3% retinal". The number has to match the pack exactly. Skincare buyers read ingredient lists, and a mismatch between the ad and the INCI list is the kind of thing that ends up in comments.
3. The routine slot
Where the product goes: after cleanser, before SPF; morning only; twice a week. It answers "will this fit with what I already use?", which is the question that stalls a first purchase of an active.
4. The study result
One number from your own study, with its timeframe and its base, and the product large enough to recognize. Only when the study supports the exact wording, per the section above.
5. The before and after
Allowed on the ASA's terms: same lighting, same styling, the same retouching on both, and an after a customer can get. For most skincare this means real photography from your study or from customers who agreed to it. We don't generate a before-and-after for a skincare result, because a generated after isn't evidence of anything.
6. The SPF in context
The sunscreen on a beach bag, in a gym locker, next to a ski pass, with the label claim in the copy exactly as printed. It sells the habit instead of the protection number, which keeps the ad clear of drug-claim wording beyond what the label says.
Which of these wins for your range is a testing question. How many ad creatives you need covers how many variations to run at a given budget, and health and wellness ad creatives covers ingestible beauty and supplement-style claims, which follow different rules.
Product imagery without a shoot for every launch
Skincare programs stall on imagery the same way beauty programs do. A new size, a gift set, a reformulated pack or a seasonal colorway each needs product shots, and a texture shoot means a studio, a stylist and a day of retakes. 100 Creatives makes its product and campaign images with Overs, an AI image tool that makes photos matching a brand without a shoot. Overs is our sister product, made by 100 Creatives' founder; both are brands of 2587689 Alberta Ltd.
AI imagery still takes many tries per usable photo. Before Overs existed, we built four campaigns by hand with AI image models and kept the records: across them, 361 renders produced 45 usable images, about eight renders per keeper. Skincare adds its own difficulty: the bottle, the label and the texture of the formula all have to be right in one frame, and the model keeps trying to make the skin around them flawless.
Some skincare ads still need a camera: results photography for a study, a founder or dermatologist who has to be recognizable, or real customers showing real skin. When you need a real photo shoot lists those cases, and we'll tell you before quoting if your brief is one of them. If your best-performing ads are creators talking through their routine, UGC ad creatives explains what that route costs and involves.
What this page used to say
An earlier version of this page described 100 Creatives as a full-stack creative and content agency for CPG skincare brands: brand campaigns, out-of-home, retail displays, UGC and creator programs, social, performance ads and product photography, all from a named senior team on a flat monthly retainer. That overstated what we do. 100 Creatives makes static and video ads for Meta, TikTok and Google, and the product imagery behind them, quoted per engagement. It doesn't design retail displays, run creator programs or write your regulatory claims.
How an engagement works
It starts with a brand intake: visual language, model preferences, colorways and export specs, plus your packaging files, texture references, your INCI list and your approved claims list, with any study summaries you want us to quote. From there you get a written quote with a fixed total before any work starts, in one of four ranges: $4,000 to $10,000, $10,000 to $25,000, $25,000 to $50,000 or $50,000+. Product photography projects start at $5,000. Nothing is charged until you approve the quote in writing, quotes are valid for 30 days, and projects are invoiced in advance. Creative batches come back in 48 hours, and so do revisions. Fees are non-refundable once work has started. To compare those numbers with other studios and subscriptions, see ad creative agency pricing.
Which should you buy?
Skincare brand running paid social
Packaging and claims are settled, Meta, TikTok or Google drives sales, and you need statics, AI video and product imagery across your range from $4,000 per engagement.
Real routines on real skin
Your best ads are creators showing their routine and their skin. That needs real people and usage rights, not generated images.
Results you want to claim
You need before-and-after images that count as evidence: same light, same setup, real participants, documented.
Claims not yet cleared
You sell SPF, acne or other OTC products, or you're unsure which side of the cosmetic-drug line your copy sits on. Settle the claims list, then brief the ads.