Since 1996, Allure magazine has been unveiling its annual Best of Beauty Awards which proclaim the year’s best beauty products spanning various categories like skincare, makeup, haircare, fragrance and tools. It is a rigorous, year-long process that has become one of the most prestigious honors in the beauty industry. Winners are chosen by Allure editors along with a diverse panel of industry experts that includes dermatologists, cosmetic chemists, makeup artists and hairstylists. The results are based on months of personal testing and evaluated on various criteria, such as performance, ingredients, effectiveness and innovation. The winning products are revealed in the September issue of Allure and give the general public a reliable resource for discovering standout beauty products that have been thoroughly vetted by professionals.
Starting in 2007, Allure gave its readers an opportunity to chime-in with the creation of Allure Readers’ Choice Awards. These awards also choose the best beauty products in various categories but are based on reader recommendations and feedback. This annual list gives everyday people, like you and me, who use these products over time, a chance to vote for our favorites. The results are released in May and serve as a guide to find both new and time-tested exceptional beauty products as chosen by our peers.
Below is a condensed version of this year’s Allure Readers’ Choice Award winning beauty products.
Skincare
Best Cleanser
Chosen for its ability to thoroughly and deeply cleanse skin without over-stripping it, CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser leaves your face refreshed and hydrated. This cleanser is infused with 3 essential ceramides and hyaluronic acid that help restore skin’s natural barrier and lock in moisture. This product is one that I personally use daily and can vouch for.
Best Moisturizer
La Roche Posay Toleraine Double Repair Face Moisturizer contains dermatologist-recommended ingredients including ceramide-3, niacinamide, glycerin and prebiotic thermal water. The lightweight, creamy texture absorbs immediately to provide double action that repairs skin’s natural protective barrier after only one hour, while also hydrating for up to 48 hours. Suitable for all skin types and available in a matte formula for oily skin or with UV SPF 30 protection.
Best Serum
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 hydrates, smooths, and plumps skin to promote improved elasticity. Five forms of hyaluronic acid provide multilayer hydration, while ceramides support the skin barrier, and pro-vitamin B5 keeps moisture locked in. This product is suitable for all skin types.
Best Eye Cream
Brighten, smooth and hydrate under-eyes while diminishing dark circles and crow’s feet with Ole Henriksen Banana Bright + Eye Crème. Powered by a triple vitamin C complex that contains real gold to improve delivery to the skin.
The vegan, cruelty- and fragrance-free formula features light-reflecting mineral pigments that instantly color-correct, while the crease-resistant texture improves concealer wear.
Best Acne Treatment
Get clearer skin overnight with Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch The Original. Made of a medical-grade hydrocolloid (a fluid-absorbing gel) that’s chemical-free, non-irritating and suitable for skin types, even sensitive. Simply apply the patch, which forms a protective shield, and when it turns white in 6-8 hours, remove to reveal noticeably smaller, flatter blemishes.
Best Lip Balm
Nourish, hydrate, soften, and smooth lips with this leave-on lip mask powered by Korean skincare. Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask is the number one lip treatment sold in the US with one sold every second. Coconut oil, murumuru butter, shea butter, and vitamin C nourish lips while providing intense, lasting moisture and antioxidant protection overnight. It is available in 8 yummy, flavored shades.
Best Sunscreen
This award-winning facial sunscreen is completely invisible, weightless, scentless, and doubles as a primer to enhance makeup wear. Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40 is formulated with 99% skincare ingredients like meadowfoam seed oil, a complex of chamomile-derived bisabolol, and licorice root clinically tested to improve skin clarity. Also available in a formula for the body and a stick.
Hair
Best Shampoo
Voted number one for Best Shampoo is Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo for its ability to gently but thoroughly cleanse impurities from hair without stripping or drying.
The rich, color-safe formula is proven to nourish all hair types while reducing breakage and maintaining hydration for smoother, shinier, more manageable tresses.
Best Conditioner
It should come as no surprise that the conditioner at the top of the list was Olaplex’s companion product, No. 5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner.
The highly concentrated formula nourishes, strengthens, and smooths all hair types to reduce breakage and add shine. For best results, use with No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo.
Best Hair Oil
The best-selling hair oil in the US is also the readers’ choice: Moroccanoil Treatment – Original. This multitasking hair oil is infused with argan oil and linseed extract to smooth frizz, detangle, and condition all hair types while boosting shine by up to 118%.
Can be used as a conditioning treatment, styling product or to add finishing touches to your look that will leave hair healthy, silky, and manageable.
Best Hair Volumizer
Get fuller hair in 5 minutes with this versatile Full Dry Volume & Texture Spray from Living Proof. Instantly transforms fine, flat, or thin hair with long-lasting volume and texture that is buildable for more styling options. Provides heat protection up to 410 degrees, lightly absorbs excess oil and can be used on dry hair anytime/anywhere.
Best Hair Color
The top of the list for Best Hair Color is Color Wow Root Cover Up. This hair color mineral powder applies quickly, easily, and with no mess. The water-resistant formula adheres to hair instantly and lasts until your next shampoo, even through sleeping, sweating, or swimming.
The variety of pigments have reflective particles that blend seamlessly for a naturally dimensional look on all hair types.
The included dual ended brush makes it easy to cover grays, fill in sparse areas, or touch-up highlights. Available in 8 shades to match any color.
Best Hair Treatment
With over 20 billion TikTok views, K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask works to reverse damage caused to hair by bleach, color, chemicals and heat in just 4 minutes.
Clinically proven to restore strength, softness, smoothness and bounce to all hair types from the inside-out.
Best Hair Tool
The best hairstyling tool as voted for by Allure readers is Tangle Teezer’s Ultimate Detangler Hairbrush. This compact and durable brush features patented two-tier teeth technology and an ergonomic easy grip handle to deliver pain-free detangling, frizz reduction and natural shine to all hair types in seconds without scratching, pulling or damage.
Works on wet or dry hair and for both men and women.
Makeup
Best Concealer
Another product that I have personally used and can vouch for that topped the list is NARS Cosmetics Radiant Creamy Concealer. The number one best-selling concealer in the U.S. brightens, perfects and corrects all skin tones for 16 hours of wear with a luminous finish.
The weightless, crease-resistant formula smooths, evens and blurs the appearance of imperfections while it visibly firms, reduces redness, and increases moisture retention to skin with a multi-active botanical blend. Available in 30 shades that can also be used to highlight and contour.
Best Foundation
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation is the award-winning foundation that topped the list this year for delivering a flawless, poreless complexion with an airbrushed effect and the benefits of a skincare serum to boot. The weightless, stay all day formula features a buildable full coverage and a natural matte finish.
C.T. Defense protects skin from external aggressors. The brand’s unique trademarked innovations provide a long-lasting fresh feel, wrinkle reducing peptides and a boost of lasting hydration.
Best Bronzer
This award-winning bronzer from Benefit Cosmetics delivers a natural, sun-kissed glow that lasts all day. Hoola Matte Bronzer is an ultra-fine, silky-soft powder formula that builds and blends beautifully with a natural matte finish.
It is waterproof, sweatproof, transfer-proof, smudge-proof, and non-comedogenic.
Best Highlighter
Create an instantly dewy buildable glow while nourishing skin with a botanical blend of lotus, gardenia and white-water lily with Rare Beauty’s Positive Light Liquid Luminizer.
The long wear formula features superfine, light-catching pearls that blend seamlessly for a wash of light that compliments all skin tones. Wears all day without creasing, fading, or settling into fine lines.
Best Brows
The number one best-selling brow gel in the US is also atop the readers’ list: Benefit Cosmetics Gimme Brow+ Volumizing Eyebrow Gel. Volumize, tame and tint brows with a natural-looking, buildable, water-resistant, long-wearing formula.
Bamboo cellulose fibers helps brows look full and defined and provitamin B5 helps them look thicker. The custom tapered brush makes application a cinch while the 10 available tints ensure a perfect color match.
Best Mascara
Maybelline New York Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara is another product I can personally endorse along with Allure readers. This mascara delivers more intense length and volume from every angle with each coat.
Bamboo extract conditions lashes without weighing them down while the exclusive flex tower brush bends to reach every lash root to tip. Available in 8 shades and suitable for sensitive eyes.
Best Lip Gloss
The readers chose Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer as their favorite for its explosive, lip-plumping shine, conditioning comfort of shea butter, luscious peach-vanilla scent and eleven universal shades.
The non-sticky formula instantly adds intense shine that give lips a fuller appearance when worn alone or over color for the ultimate final touch to any look.
Best Makeup Tool
Yet another product I can personally recommend that made the list and 16-time Allure Best of Beauty award winner is Beautyblender’s Original Makeup Sponge.
Create a flawless base for makeup application with this edgeless, reusable, latex-free sponge that absorbs minimal product and blends seamlessly for an airbrushed, skin-like finish. Safe for all skin types and can be used wet or dry.
*To see the full list of the 70 beauty products that won the 2025 Allure Readers’ Choice Awards, click here.
For questions, concerns, or article ideas, feel free to reach out to our eCosmetics Beauty Editor directly at beauty@ecosmetics.com
