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Allure editors leave no stone—or compact, palette, or tube—unturned when determining our Best of Beauty Award winners. And considering the number of submissions we receive (this year's count was around 5,500), you'd be correct to assume that doing so takes a whole lot of time and commitment.
But for you, dear reader, we'll happily do it again and again—and we have, for 30 years. That little red seal you see on Best of Beauty-winning products has become synonymous with trust—and that's something we take very seriously.
What else does our seal symbolize? Medicine cabinets overflowing with products, several dozen testers (and friends and family members of those several dozen testers), a whole lot of makeup remover, and an immense sense of pride.
We're often asked "when" we start working on Best of Beauty. But the better question might be: When are we not working on it? Our decisions don't happen overnight or in one long meeting. It's a yearlong process that happens steadily, in the background, as we conduct interviews with experts, meet with brand founders, attend launch events, and pass face mists around the office. Even when the process is over, it's not over—by the time the awards drop in the fall, we're just about ready to open submissions for the following year.
We know, we know: That sounds unbelievable. But we've got the receipts. Ahead, discover an annotated timeline of our 2026 Best of Beauty testing process, along with some candid, behind-the-scenes moments that make this journey as fun for us to put together as we hope it is for you to read—and shop.
Mid-October 2025
We send out a call for the 2026 awards…
And brands answer. After posting an open call on social media inviting brands to submit their top products for Best of Beauty consideration, publicists and founders begin to complete our submission form.
Submissions fall into various categories such as skin, body, makeup, hair, and tools—plus niche categories like Clean and Breakthroughs (more on that later). We ask brands to submit any product, old or new, that they believe is a contender. The only condition is that it's available for purchase in September 2026, when the awards are announced—and it can't be a limited-edition launch (to ensure broad accessibility for winning products). For 2026, we received a whopping 5,568 submissions.
End of October
More than 5,500 products have been submitted, so there's a lot of sorting to do.
We start organizing the submissions—exporting all the data, making spreadsheets…you know, the fun stuff.
Simultaneously, we begin reaching out to members of the Allure team to ask which categories they want to test, based on their hair and skin types, their makeup styles, etc. This part is always exciting. Some editors go wild for fragrance while others are skin-care fanatics, so this is a chance for everyone to really lean into their favorite beauty categories. Each category has at least three officially assigned testers (although plenty of other editors won't hesitate to throw in their own opinions on formulas throughout the process).
Early November
We get really familiar with those spreadsheets.
Each editor receives a personal spreadsheet that includes a list of every category they're testing and the products within it. (This year, we had 75 in-house testers). At this point, the feedback fields on each sheet are blank, ready for the editor to add detailed notes about each product as they test (and re-test). And we mean detailed. We want to know everything from how difficult a jar of moisturizer is to open to how a foundation holds up throughout the day.
Early November to early December
Products begin to travel to us from far, far away…and some from just around the block.
Upon request, brands send us samples of their submissions (we ask for four of each), and it's time to get busy with the box cutters. These are the weeks when we focus on physically sorting all the submissions and getting them into the hands of our eager editors.
Packages and shopping bags piled up in the beauty closet during the call-in period.
Mid- to End of November
Last call!
Brands have had about a month to submit, and we close our first round of submissions.
December
It's time to get our Marie Kondo on.
Hundreds of boxes get unpacked, and products get sorted into more boxes for each editor, each labeled with the editor's name. While the majority of products are sent to Allure HQ, a few lucky (or maybe not so lucky?) editors have products sent directly to their homes, leaving them to deal with the aftermath: empty cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and possible paper cuts (ouch).
Social director Kassidy Silva turned her dining room into a makeshift beauty closet.
Global senior director of commerce audience & analytics Lexi Herrick carries the aftermath of opening Best of Beauty packages out of her home.
Early December to early March
Over the next three months, we methodically test products, category by category, employing every body part necessary to get the job done.
Best of Beauty editorial assistant Arietta Hallock tests the Quick-Dry winner: Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Nail Color.
Arietta Hallock
Beauty director Sarah Kinonen wears the winning LED face mask from Shark Beauty while in bed.
Sarah Kinonen
Senior beauty editor Jesa Marie Calaor tests the winning waver hot tool from GHD.
Jesa Marie Calaor
As we mentioned, some editors prefer certain categories more than others. Of course, we all love skin care, but beauty director Sarah Kinonen is especially into skin gadgets and gladly took on the task of looking like a robot a few times a week to find the best LED face mask. Other editors, like senior beauty editor Jesa Marie Calaor, use testing as an opportunity to try trendy beauty products they've been dying to get their hands on.
Social media manager Bianca Richards testing out a lip gloss on a night out with her girls.
Senior art director Ingrid Fowler wearing mineral sunscreen and her Allure red sweatshirt.
Some editors like to take products for a test run in the wild. “When linking up with my girls for a casual weekend dinner, we like to keep the fits low-key, but the glam has to be on point. It's the perfect opportunity to test out Best of Beauty makeup contenders,” says social media manager Bianca Richards. Ingrid Fowler, senior art director, put mineral sunscreens—and the exclusive Allure merch she designed—to the ultimate test: beach volleyball.
January
We re-open our submissions for a couple of weeks so brands can submit samples of the 2026 launches that they weren't able to provide in the fall.
March
After all the testing is (mostly) complete, we create a master spreadsheet, compiling everyone's testing notes into one document.
End of March to mid-April
Did someone just put a two-hour meeting on my calendar?
Yes, yes, they did. At this point in the process, we hold team-wide meetings to go through each category and talk about the various notes for each product. Think of it as the ultimate beauty debate. We eliminate products editors disliked and argue over the products that didn't quite have a consensus.
As we debate one category after another, we determine which products require a bit more testing to reach a decision—and add a few more products to the mix that initially slipped under the radar.
End of March
Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!
By this point, every editor's testing box (stored in the beauty closet) should be empty of products as we gear up to clear out the space and return it to its original function: storing everyday beauty launches and serving as a cute filming spot for Allure's social and video content.
Spring
We're getting closer!
Now it's time to finalize our list of winners, and to put any winners in the clean and breakthrough categories through a vetting process.
"For a beauty product to win a Best of Beauty Breakthrough Award, it has to be a first-of-its-kind: a blow-dryer that senses how far it is from your scalp, for example, or a pimple patch with LED lights," says Liz Siegel, who reported, tested, and vetted this year's Breakthrough winners. The product has to have data in the form of clinical studies to back up its claims. A panel of our judges—including cosmetic chemists, dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and, of course, Allure editors—is enlisted to test the product, review the data, and, ultimately, agree that it really does deliver results, and that there's nothing else out there quite like it.
There is much debate in the beauty industry over the term "clean," so we came up with our own criteria, vetted by dermatologists, toxicologists, and cosmetic chemists. Products that meet our standard are formulated without: parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, cyclic silicones, aluminum salts, hydroquinone, triclosan, talc, mineral oil, petrolatum, formaldehyde, toluene, microbeads, and chemical sunscreen filters (oxybenzone, avobenzone, and octinoxate).
Mid-Spring
After much testing, deliberation, vetting, and re-testing, our 2026 Best of Beauty winner list is finalized! The list first gets shared through a teamwide email, at which point everyone pauses their work to browse the winners and see if their favorites made the cut.
End of Spring
Yay! But also, shh!
We reach out to representatives of the winning brands to share the exciting news of their win— they also get an official letter from Allure editor in chief Jessica Cruel, followed by a reminder to keep the news under wraps until it's time to share the list publicly.
Summer
It's a sprint to the finish line!
The work doesn't stop here, though. We shift gears from testing to creating all the content needed to share and amplify award results, including the landing page, social media posts, and our special-edition Allure Best of Beauty print magazine.
Mid-September
It’s all been leading up to this…
At long last, we are able to share our current Best of Beauty winners with the world! The site is live, the social posts are pushed out, and every editor breathes a brief sigh of relief. But, as you may have guessed, we're not done yet.
October 17
Time to party!
Amid the busyness of putting together the awards, some team members have also been planning Best of Beauty: The Live Event! This is an annual event during which we showcase the awards with expert panelists and beauty treatments from our favorite brands (such as dry-styling by Wella Professionals or personalized skin consultations from EltaMD). And you're invited! Together, we all gather to celebrate another successful year of the Allure Best of Beauty Awards.
By the time you're reading this, we've probably already sent out submission forms for next year. So it begins again!
