Minimalist opens the D2C Skincare index at 73.3% — a 25-point gap over Plum on day one.

The inaugural D2C Skincare reading puts Minimalist first across all three engines: 82% on ChatGPT, 78% on Gemini, 60% on AI Mode.

Plum holds second at 48% combined, but the engine split is telling — Plum is rank 2 on Gemini and AI Mode and only rank 4 on ChatGPT, where The Derma Co (48%) takes second.

Nykaa is the single largest source feeding the answers with 44 citations, followed by YouTube (22, almost entirely on AI Mode) and Smytten (17).

Reddit threads — r/IndianSkincareAddicts (15) and r/skincareaddictsindia (10) — sit disproportionately on ChatGPT, which explains part of the engine asymmetry on second place.

Day one establishes the structural question this category will ask for the rest of the study: can anyone close the citation-pool gap to Minimalist, and does the answer differ by engine?

Minimalist's lead is not a sentiment story — its positive share (35%) is actually lower than The Derma Co's (49%) or Re'equil's (58%).

It is a coverage story, owning the retailer pages and listicles that all three engines reach for first.

The category winner on AI search will be the brand whose name appears on Nykaa's edit pages, Myntra's blog, and the top India skincare subreddits — not the brand with the warmest reviews.