Choose a designer who has already sold beauty or fragrance products online, not one who has only made beautiful brand sites. Look for live Shopify stores in their portfolio, product pages that solve the "will this shade or scent suit me" problem, a clear plan for photography and short film, and a working knowledge of which claims turn a cosmetic into a drug in the eyes of the FDA. Then ask the same ten questions of every candidate and score them on one table.

What should you look for in their portfolio?

Ignore the hero images. Open each portfolio site on your phone and try to buy something. You are judging whether this person can build a store that sells, and that shows up on the product page and in the cart, not on the home page.

• Live stores, not screenshots. Ask for links to sites that take real orders today. A portfolio of Dribbble shots tells you about taste, not about selling.
• Product pages with depth. Look for ingredients, how to use, size or volume, skin or hair type, scent notes, and reviews, all reachable without hunting.
• Images on real people. Baymard Institute's product page benchmark found that 23% of ecommerce sites don't provide images of the product on a human model for things meant to be worn, and it names cosmetics in that group (Baymard Institute). A designer who shows lipstick only as a tube is leaving the main question unanswered.
• Return and shipping information near the buy button. The same benchmark found 44% of sites don't show or link the return policy from the main product page content, while 60% of surveyed users look for it there.
• Something close to your category. Skincare, color cosmetics and fine fragrance sell differently. A designer who has done one well can usually learn the others, but they should be able to say what changes.

As an example of what we mean, our work for Maison Vérane, a fragrance brand selling a $145 perfume online, is built around the problem every perfume site has: the customer can't smell it through the screen.

How much Shopify experience should they have?

Most independent beauty and fragrance brands sell on Shopify, so your designer should know it well, not just the theme editor. Ask what they have built with it: subscriptions for refills, bundles and discovery sets, gift messages, product variants for shades, and multi-currency if you ship abroad.

Know what the platform costs before you compare quotes. As of October 2026, Shopify lists its Basic plan at $29 a month billed yearly ($39 billed monthly), Grow at $79 ($105 monthly), Advanced at $299 ($399 monthly), and Plus from $2,300 a month (Shopify pricing). Paid apps and themes come on top. A good designer will tell you which plan you need and which apps you can skip.

The Shopify Partner Directory lets you filter partners by service, location and price and check their reviews, work samples and certifications. Shopify says partners work independently, so treat a listing as a starting point, not a guarantee.

Can they handle product photography and film?

On a beauty site the images do most of the selling. Ask who produces them. Some designers expect you to supply finished photography; others shoot or commission it; some can make AI and motion film from your existing assets. Any of these can work, as long as you know before you sign.

What you need, at minimum:

• Packshots on a clean background, consistent across the range.
• Texture and swatch shots: the cream on skin, the lipstick on several skin tones.
• Scale: the bottle in a hand, so a 30 ml and a 100 ml don't look the same. Baymard found 37% of sites don't provide in-scale images, and that 42% of users try to judge size from product images (Baymard Institute).
• Short film: application, the spray, the cap closing. Ten seconds on the product page often answers more than a paragraph.

Do they understand how shade and scent sell online?

These are the two hardest problems in beauty ecommerce, and a designer who has not thought about them will build a pretty catalogue that people browse and leave.

Shade

• Swatches on several real skin tones, labeled, not just a color chip.
• A simple shade finder: three or four questions (undertone, current shade in a well-known brand, finish) that point to one or two shades.
• Variant images that change when the shade changes, so the customer always sees what they are about to buy.

Scent

• Notes written in plain language as well as perfumer language: "smells like warm skin and pear" next to "musk, pear, iris".
• A sample or discovery set offered on the full-size page, with a clear path from sample to full bottle.
• Occasion and season cues, and a comparison to familiar reference points where you are comfortable making one.

Do they know what you are allowed to claim?

Your designer is not your lawyer, but they write headlines and product copy, and in beauty that copy carries legal weight. A designer who does not know the basics can turn a cosmetic into an unapproved drug with one sentence.

• Intended use decides whether it is a cosmetic or a drug. The FDA says claims on labels, websites, social media and other promotion can make a product a drug, even when it is sold as a cosmetic. Its own examples include claims to restore hair growth. It also says a fragrance marketed to help someone sleep or quit smoking meets the definition of a drug because of that intended use (FDA).
• Some products are both. FDA lists antidandruff shampoo, antiperspirant deodorants, and moisturizers or makeup with sun-protection claims as products that must meet the rules for both cosmetics and drugs.
• Some words have no legal definition. FDA says there are no federal standards or definitions for "hypoallergenic" (FDA). That does not make it safe to use loosely; you still need to be able to support what you say.
• Health claims need evidence. The FTC's health products guidance says health benefit claims require "competent and reliable scientific evidence" and that marketers are responsible for what an ad implies, including through images and product names (FTC).
• Reviews and influencer posts are regulated too. The FTC's 2024 rule bans fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, and buying reviews that express a particular sentiment, and it lets the FTC seek civil penalties against knowing violators (FTC). The FTC's endorsement guidance says free products given to influencers generally need to be disclosed in the post itself (FTC).
• MoCRA added duties for brands. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 requires facility registration, product listing with ingredients, serious adverse event reporting and safety substantiation records (FDA). Your site should make it easy for customers to reach you and report a problem.

The test for a designer is simple: hand them a draft product description that says "heals acne scars" and see whether they flag it. Have a regulatory adviser review final claims; that is not the designer's job, but noticing the problem is.

What questions should you ask a beauty website designer?

1. Which live beauty or fragrance stores have you built, and can I place a test order on one?
2. How will a customer choose a shade or a scent on my product page?
3. Who supplies photography and film, and what exactly is included?
4. Which Shopify plan and which apps do you recommend, and what will they cost me each month?
5. How do you handle subscriptions, refills, bundles and samples?
6. What will my product page show above the fold on a phone?
7. How fast will the site load on mobile, and how will you measure it?
8. What do you check in product copy before it goes live?
9. Who owns the site, the theme code and the content when we finish?
10. What happens after launch: who fixes things, and what does that cost?

How much does a beauty website designer cost?

Prices vary more by type of provider than by industry. These are the published figures we could verify, as of October 2026.

Whoever you hire, add Shopify's monthly plan, apps, and photography to the quote before you compare. Our guide to what a website costs in 2026 breaks the full budget down.

What are the red flags?

• No live store you can buy from, only mood boards and mock-ups.
• A quote with no line for product photography or film, and no question about who supplies it.
• They want to put the site on their own hosting account or theme license that you won't own.
• They write "clinically proven" or "heals" into your copy without asking for evidence.
• They suggest buying or writing reviews to get started.
• They can't tell you which Shopify apps the build depends on, or what those cost each month.
• They talk about the home page for an hour and the product page for five minutes.

A scorecard you can use

Score each candidate 0 to 2 on every row. A strong candidate scores 16 or more of 20; anyone below 12 is a risk for a store that has to sell.

What a designer can't promise

No designer can promise a sales figure. A better store removes reasons not to buy, but price, product, reviews and traffic still decide the result. And no designer should sign off your claims: they can spot the risky ones, but final wording belongs with someone qualified in cosmetics regulation. If a designer promises either, that is a reason to keep looking.

How Project 66 Studio can help

We build beauty and fragrance stores on Shopify with the product film and Google and AI search set up in the same project; a new website or rebuild starts from $799, and we confirm the final price before any work begins. See our fashion and beauty work, check pricing, or start a project.

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Questions people ask

Should a beauty brand hire a Shopify specialist or a general web designer?

Hire someone who has built live Shopify stores, ideally in beauty or fragrance. Beauty stores rely on variants for shades, subscriptions for refills, bundles and samples, and a general designer may not know how to set these up well. Ask for a store you can place a test order on.

How much does it cost to hire a website designer for a beauty brand?

As of October 2026, Upwork lists median freelance web designer rates of $15 to $30 an hour, and Clutch reports agency rates of $100 to $149 an hour with most reviewed projects under $10,000. Add Shopify's plan, which starts at $29 a month billed yearly, plus apps and photography. Project 66 Studio builds new websites from $799 and confirms the final price before any work begins.

Can my website copy make my cosmetic count as a drug?

Yes. The FDA says claims on websites, social media and other promotion can make a product a drug even if it is sold as a cosmetic, because classification depends on intended use. For example, FDA says a fragrance marketed to help someone sleep meets the definition of a drug.

How do you sell a perfume online when customers can't smell it?

Describe the scent in plain words as well as notes, show the bottle at real scale, and offer a sample or discovery set on the full-size product page with a clear route to the full bottle. Short film of the bottle and the spray helps more than extra paragraphs.

What should a beauty product page include?

At minimum: images on real people and real skin tones, an in-scale image, ingredients, how to use, size or volume, reviews, and the return and shipping policy close to the buy button. Baymard Institute found 44% of ecommerce sites don't show or link the return policy from the main product page content.

Is it legal to give influencers free products for reviews on my site?

It can be, but the FTC says a free product generally needs to be disclosed, and the disclosure should be in the post or video itself. The FTC's 2024 rule also bans fake reviews and paying for reviews that express a particular sentiment.

Read next

• Why people admire a fashion brand's website but don't buy
• Maison Vérane: how to sell a $145 perfume online to people who can't smell it
• Young Fashion Show: from 1 in 74 to 1 in 12 Google visitors applying

Sources

1. Is It a Cosmetic, a Drug, or Both? (Or Is It Soap?), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (read 26 Oct 2026).
2. Hypoallergenic Cosmetics, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (read 26 Oct 2026).
3. Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (read 26 Oct 2026).
4. Health Products Compliance Guidance, Federal Trade Commission (read 26 Oct 2026).
5. FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, Federal Trade Commission (read 26 Oct 2026).
6. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials, Federal Trade Commission (read 26 Oct 2026).
7. Product Page UX: The current state of ecommerce product page UX, Baymard Institute (read 26 Oct 2026).
8. Shopify pricing, Shopify (read 26 Oct 2026).
9. Shopify Partner Directory, Shopify (read 26 Oct 2026).
10. How much does it cost to hire a web designer, Upwork (read 26 Oct 2026).
11. Web Design Pricing Guide, Clutch (read 26 Oct 2026).
12. Web Vitals, web.dev (Google) (read 26 Oct 2026).