More than 1,200 beauty insiders gathered for the 23rd Annual CEW Beauty Insider Awards luncheon at the New York Hilton Midtown, recently, to celebrate some of the industry’s hottest brands. The event was presented in partnership with the Meredith Corporation and with master of ceremonies Lilliana Vazquez, style expert, author and T.V. host.
Forty categories were recognized during the event, including hair, fragrance, skin care and cosmetics. CEW’s more than 6,000 U.S. members helped narrow down more than 900 entries (from 500 different brands) to 230 finalists. The winners were then chosen by CEW’s Board of Governors and a select group of beauty industry experts.
“It’s challenging for consumers to choose among the thousands of new beauty products and brands launching each year,” said Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW. “The winners of the CEW Beauty Insider Awards are selected by industry experts, giving consumers a ‘seal of approval’ they can trust for making purchase decisions.”
For the second year, CEW partnered with Meredith Corporation on the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award, inviting consumers to vote for their favorite mass and prestige iconic beauty products on BeautyBash.me. The winner of the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award Mass was Olay Total Effects Anti-Aging Moisturizer SPF 15 Fragrance-free, and the winner of the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award Prestige was Clinique Clarifying Lotion. Two-time Tony Award winning actress Christine Ebersole presented the two awards.
New this year, CEW added three new Indie award categories – Indie Fragrance, Indie Makeup and Indie Skincare, all of which were presented by Financo, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions within the merchandising and retail sector. Charlotte Tilbury Beauty took home the Indie Brand award, and will receive a complimentary booth at Cosmoprof North America 2017 in Las Vegas, July 9-11 (valued at $8,000 and including marketing, a fully furnished lounge space and guaranteed meetings with the retail buyers attending the event).
IT Cosmetics was selected as the winner in the newly launched Makeup Tools category for its Heavenly Skin CC+ Skin-perfecting Brush #702. Additionally, the Sustainability Excellence award (formerly Eco Beauty Award), presented by fragrance and flavor company Firmenich, was awarded to Teadora.
This summer, GLOSSYBOX (with a community of 1.6 million beauty consumers) will launch a limited-edition Beauty Awards collection box featuring finalist and winning products from both the mass and prestige categories. QVC will also feature select finalist and winning products, along with the QVC Beauty Quest Winner, Hey Honey, live on air during a CEW Beauty Awards Show on July 20.
A full list of winners can be found below and online at www.cew.org.
[Image courtesy of CEW]