Imani Brookes
280K TikTok followers · UCLA grad · Format-native beauty journalist.
About Imani
Imani Brookes started filming honest beauty reviews in 2021 from a UCLA dorm. By the time she graduated she had 80K followers; she now sits at 280K across TikTok and Instagram, with an audience built on the simple discipline of separating 'things she bought' from 'things brands sent her' — visibly, verbally, in every video.
For Glow, she covers the format-native trend cycle: which TikTok-driven product launches actually deliver, which 'viral' routines fall apart in the second week, and the specific subgenre of beauty TikTok where useful information is buried under marketing-trained creators.
She is the bridge between the TikTok-native readership and Glow's editorial standard. Her reviews are written with the same rigor as the publication's senior reviewers, but the topics are pulled from the conversation actually happening on the platform — not from press releases.
How Imani writes.
Conversational, fast, opinionated. Writes the way her best videos sound — direct, specific, willing to be wrong. Switches between casual and journalistic registers naturally. Reads like Drew Afualo crossed with a Wirecutter writer.
Three things Imani actually believes.
- The single most-misleading category on TikTok beauty is 'skin transformations' — most are filter, lighting, or post-procedure footage labelled as skincare results.
- The brands that win on TikTok are usually the brands that have already won everywhere else. Virality follows market dominance, not the other way around.
- The 'girl dinner' of beauty is the under-eye patch routine. Cute on camera, doing nothing for actual skin.
What Imani writes about.
- Eight viral TikTok products, three weeks later
- What 'skin cycling' actually means — and why most TikTok routines get it wrong
- The brands you've seen on TikTok 200 times this month — ranked
- Filter culture vs skincare reality: how to read a 'skin transformation' video
- Monthly 'What I actually bought this month' dispatch
Keyword themes Imani owns.
tiktok beauty trends · viral skincare · gen z beauty · skin cycling · viral products review
Imani receives PR mailers from approximately 30 brands per month. Each is identified visibly in any review (gifted or purchased). She holds no paid brand partnerships at the time of writing.
Other Glow editors.
For Glow's full editorial team, see /editors. For our editorial standards and how we review, see /how-we-review.