For the past 16 years, the Glamour Beauty Awards have celebrated the products that have changed our routines forever: conditioners that transform curls, eye creams that reverse time, lipsticks that make us feel ready to take on the world. But if there’s one thing that makes us even more excited to rummage to through thousands of products (yes, thousands, and trust us, we do), it’s hearing the feedback from you.
That’s where our Glamour Beauty Awards Readers’ Choice nominations come in. From foundation to nail polish to fragrance, our editors narrowed down a list of the products you can’t stop talking about, and now we’re asking you to vote on your all-time favorites of the bunch. The polls are open for the next four weeks—click here to cast your votes!—then we’ll tally up the winners. They’ll be announced on March 23, along with the rest of the Glamour Beauty Award honorees.
In the meantime, you can study up on—or shop—all the products up for nomination in our Readers’ Choice makeup category. Check them out, below, then don’t forget to vote.
Best Foundation
Fact: No one wants to hear “your foundation looks so good today.” And that’s where these ace of bases come in. Each act like a filter for your skin to cover redness or dark spots, blur away lines and pores, and they don’t get dry or patchy before 3 P.M. Another non-negotiable? A wide range of shades. These all have over 30—and then some.
Best Powder
Wanted: A powder that doesn’t cake, settle into lines, or make your face look flat. Found: The powders that deliver. Whether you prefer an option that’s pressed (like Burt’s Bees’ compacts), tinted (like Maybelline’s Fit Me), or translucent—like Ilia’s natural formula, Marc Jacobs’ satiny finish, and Laura Mercier’s loose powder, which also comes in a deep translucent shade to prevent white casts—these powders meet all our incredibly tough standards.
Best Concealer
For something so basic, finding the perfect concealer can often feel like signing up for every dating app at once: overwhelming. That’s where online reviews can be particularly helpful. These five standouts consistently top best-seller charts and get five-star ratings from shoppers around the country. Charlotte Tilbury and YSL are famed for their lightweight coverage that blurs everything away, while CoverGirl, Maybelline, and Too Faced give full, non-cakey coverage.
Best Primer/Setting Spray
Does primer actually make a difference? It’s a question our beauty team is asked time and time again, to which we always respond, “If you try one of these.” Within the mountains of options, the workhorses below actually make good on their claims to keep your foundation smooth and in place for hours. Still not sold? ABH’s and Urban Decay’s setting sprays have got you.
Best Mascara
Narrowing down a singular mascara as the best is tough task, given that the criteria for what “works” is so intensely personal. But after reading pages of reviews and testing our way through every mascara that lands on our desks, we’re confident these nominees check whatever box is important to you—whether that’s drama, definition, or a formula that won’t smudge under your eyes 10 minutes later.
Best Lash Serum
Once something you could only get with a prescription, you can now get longer, stronger lashes with a click of a button. Packed with proprietary blends of vitamins, peptides, and amino acids, these treatments go to work to help enhance short lashes and repair any brittleness. Grande Cosmetics has been getting a ton of hype among bloggers, while Meghan Markle herself swears by Revitalash.
Best Highlighter
A killer highlighter can be the difference between radiant, dewy skin—and, well, a streak of sparkle. These formulas would never. Whether you prefer a creamy texture like Pat McGrath’s balm, a liquid consistency like L’Oréal’s Glotion (it deserves a win just for its name alone), or a classic powder that melts into your skin instead of sit on it (sup, Dior and Fenty), these five are the highlights of all the highlighters out there.
Best Blush
One of the most severely underrated products in our humble opinion, blush has the ability to completely transform your face. With the right placement and shade, it does the job we all really wanted contour to do—in a much more natural way. It wakes up your complexion, makes cheekbones pop, and can make an intimidating lipstick shade instantly more wearable. Plus, just look at this packaging—it’s fun! Go for a rose palette or a stamp that presses on like a heart, or stick to a tried-and-true fave like Tarte or bareMinerals.
Best Bronzer
Gone are the days when brands tried to pass off three pale shades as bronzer for all. The latest iterations don’t read chalky on dark skin or muddy on pale skin because there are now more colors to choose from. Benefit, for example, recently expanded its reader-beloved Hoola line to include two deep shades and one fairer option, while every Insta-girl will talk your ear off about the magic Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi (mix it in your foundation for an instant back-from-vacation glow).
Best Nail Polish
For a nail polish to be one of the best, it has to do more than look great on. It has to be easy to apply (no glops, no streaks). It needs to last for longer than 36 hours. And the colors to choose from have to be good—whether you’re feeling a baby pink or a dark blue. Fortunately, we managed to find five that are up to the task—so all you have to do is pick your favorite.
Best Lip Color
Ruby Woo. Pillow Talk. Wild Ginger. Some lip colors are so iconic, they’re known alone by sight, number, or name. MAC, Charlotte Tilbury, and Tom Ford most certainly fall into the category of “cult classics,” but don’t sleep on the number of really solid drugstores options that are also coming out. Case in point: one of our editors fell asleep in Maybelline’s SuperStay Matte Ink and woke up to a perfectly precise lip. That’s how long-lasting it is. Whatever way you go here, though, you really can’t go wrong.
Best Brow Product
Remember when brows were something you just tweezed occasionally—that didn’t have their own full routine? Yeah, us neither. You can thank Cara Delevingne and the surge of pencils, pomades, gels, and powders made specifically to address whatever hyperspecific need you have for that. It’s hard to beat out the cult of Boy Brow (and the fluffy, full look it delivers), but then again the others all landed on best-sellers lists last year, so the competition is stiff (unlike these formulas).
Best Eyeshadow
Is there any makeup product more fun than eyeshadow? Take a look at the colors below and tell us you don’t feel just a little more happy. Kylie Jenner landed a nomination on her packaging alone (the Momager palette, we mean…), while Kim Kardashian’s new KKW formulas stack up with the best of them. Like Tom Ford’s and Huda Beauty’s, all the shades you’ll find here are rich, buttery, with intensely beautiful color payoff. In other words: They’re what your Friday night is missing.
Best Eyeliner
We’ll get right to the point: A great eyeliner needs to be sharp, easy to apply, and survive a day of staring at a screen (or a sweaty night out). That’s where these overachievers come in. Even the drugstore steals are worthy enough to make it on the red carpet, like last year’s Beauty Award winner. “I love that this is long-wearing and smudge-proof,” says celebrity makeup artist Kira Nasrat says of Revlon’s Colorstay. “It’s an essential for the red carpet, especially under those bright lights and long press days!”
Best Eyelash Curler
Eyelash curlers are the unsung heroes of our makeup bags. When you have little time or energy for anything more than the bare minimum, they can make all the difference. The same goes for when you’re doing a full face of makeup. One quick squeeze can make your eyes look bigger and brighter in an instant. Looking for the curlers that won’t pinch or tug? We found them.
Best Fake Eyelashes
When mascara or a lash curler just won’t cut it, there’s falsies—and the latest versions look anything but. With genius innovations like at-home extensions and easy-to-apply magnetic closures (which, naturally, took home Beauty Awards wins last year), getting full, thick, dramatic lashes have never been simpler.
Best Natural Makeup Product
In recent years there’s been a seismic shift in our collective beauty consciousness—we’re scanning ingredient lists, hunting for organic alternatives, and prioritizing sustainable packaging more than ever before. All that is to say that clean makeup is better than its ever been, as evidenced by this list. We brought back three of last year’s Beauty Awards winners due to the overwhelming love they received, plus added two new faves to the list. If you’re looking to clean up your routine, this is a great place to start.
Check out all the hair and skin care products that were nominated for our 2020 Readers’ Choice awards, then cast your vote for your favorites here.
