Which makeup brands do AI assistants recommend in India? Q4 2026
In India, AI assistants most often recommend Lakme, Maybelline and L'Oréal for makeup. Lakme is named by 5 of 5 assistants.
What the data says
Lakme (Hindustan Unilever) is the makeup brand AI assistants recommend most in India, taking 30% of all recommendation points across 5 assistants. Maybelline follows with 27.9% and L'Oréal is third with 10.1%.
The top spot is close: only 2.1 points separate Lakme and Maybelline, so a small change in how either brand is described online could flip the order.
ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek and Grok put Lakme first, while Gemini favours Maybelline.
The top five brands hold 85% of recommendations out of 18 brands named in total, so AI answers in this category are highly concentrated.
| # | Brand | Owner | AI share | ChatGPT | Claude | DeepSeek | Gemini | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakme | Hindustan Unilever | 30% | 245 | 180 | 275 | 170 | 180 |
| 2 | Maybelline | L'Oréal | 27.9% | 230 | 180 | 157 | 230 | 180 |
| 3 | L'Oréal | L’Oréal | 10.1% | 100 | 60 | 20 | 113 | 60 |
| 4 | Nykaa | Nykaa | 9.1% | 68 | 64 | 72 | 71 | 44 |
| 5 | Sugar Cosmetics | Vellvette Lifestyle | 7.8% | 40 | 52 | 60 | 69 | 52 |
| 6 | Colorbar | Colorbar Cosmetics | 4.2% | 16 | 36 | 32 | 36 | 28 |
| 7 | MAC | Estée Lauder | 3.9% | 32 | 16 | 48 | 20 | 20 |
| 8 | Huda Beauty | Huda Beauty | 1.6% | 8 | 12 | 35 | – | – |
| 9 | Swiss Beauty | Swiss Beauty Cosmetics | 1.2% | 25 | – | – | 8 | 8 |
| 10 | NYX | L'Oréal | 1.1% | 8 | – | 20 | 12 | – |
| 11 | Fenty Beauty | LVMH | 0.6% | 20 | – | – | – | – |
| 12 | NARS | Shiseido | 0.6% | – | – | – | 20 | – |
| 13 | Faces Canada | Faces Cosmetics | 0.5% | – | – | – | 8 | 8 |
| 14 | Kay Beauty | Nykaa | 0.5% | 8 | – | – | 8 | – |
| 15 | Renee Cosmetics | Renee Cosmetics | 0.3% | – | – | – | – | 12 |
| 16 | Revlon | Revlon Inc. | 0.2% | – | – | 8 | – | – |
| 17 | Lotus Herbals | Lotus Herbals | 0.2% | – | – | 8 | – | – |
| 18 | Rare Beauty | Rare Beauty LLC | 0.2% | – | – | – | – | 8 |
Questions about AI makeup recommendations
- Which makeup brand does ChatGPT recommend most in India?
- ChatGPT recommends Lakme most often for makeup in India. Across all assistants, Lakme leads with 30% of recommendations.
- Which makeup brand is improving fastest in India?
- Maybelline has the strongest momentum among challengers: AI names it first in 14 of 34 answers where it appears, while holding 27.9% share. This is the first Q4 2026 reading; change over time will be shown from the next update.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- We ask each AI assistant the questions shoppers ask in each category and market, record the top five brands it names, and give 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points for positions one to five. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded.
Makeup: AI rankings by country
Covers: Eye Products: Eyeliner, Eye Products: Eyeshadow, Eye Products: Mascara, Face Products: Base, Face Products: Cheeks, Lip Products: Gloss, Lip Products: Lipstick.
Method: each AI assistant is asked the shopper questions for every segment in the category and market; the top five brands named score 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded. Rankings reflect AI answers, not sales.
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