The 2019 Allure Readers' Choice Award Winners

Elizabeth Siegel
·9 min read

Before we were all taking Instagram polls and voting on a brand's next nail polish colors, Allure began crowdsourcing the ultimate shopping guide for beauty products. Our first-ever Readers’ Choice Awards appeared in 2007, and was born of all the valuable product recommendations we noticed readers posting to our site. Gathering all those favorites into one awesome list of your most beloved lipsticks, mascaras, moisturizers, and more was a novel idea at the time. I can remember my mom’s friend buying a copy for me shortly after I’d moved to New York, and we sat on the floor of her apartment and pored over the list together. I marked off the products I’d buy — I believe I opted for a Philosophy face wash and maybe a nail polish or two — and was so excited to incorporate the most passionate beauty lovers’ all-time favorite products into my own routine.

A few years later, I couldn't believe I'd been hired to work at Allure, the magazine that, along with my mom and her friends, had helped nurture my love of beauty. I’ve been here for nine years now — not quite as long as Readers’ Choice has existed, but close! — and our Readers’ Choice Awards is still one of my favorite (and one of our most popular) stories that we run every year. I still get excited to see the results come in, and this year there are some truly game-changing winners, including a heat-styling tool inspired by jet engines, of all things, and a blowout cream that makes my hair look as silky as if I’d flatironed it (even on days I rough dry).

And that's just the beginning: 50-plus tried-and-true products won Allure Readers' Choice this year. Find them all in the links below, and maybe do a little shopping of your own. I hope you have as much fun discovering 2019's winners as I did.

Choose a Category:

We looked to you to share the mascara you swipe on every day, the foundation you always keep in your makeup bag, and the eye shadow palette you can’t get enough of. Let me just say, you made some fine choices. Many of the makeup picks on the list below are staples in my beauty routine, too. The Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette is one of my go-to kits, and the Tarte Cosmetics Shape Tape Contour Concealer is basically the only product I’ll dab onto my under-eyes. Don’t get me started on the Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon. Enough about me, though. Click through to read more about all the makeup that Allure readers are absolutely loving this year.

  • LIPSTICK: M.A.C. Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo (Shop Now)

  • LIP GLOSS: NYX Butter Gloss in Crème Brulee (Shop Now)

  • BLUSH: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Blissful (Shop Now)

  • EYE SHADOW: Urban Decay Naked2 Eyeshadow Palette (Discontinued, but the Naked2 Basics Eye Shadow Palette is available)

  • EYELINER: Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon (Shop Now)

  • MASCARA: Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (Shop Now)

  • CONCEALER: Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer (Shop Now)

  • BB/CC CREAM: IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream (Shop Now)

  • FOUNDATION: Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation (Shop Now)

  • HIGHLIGHTER: Maybelline New York Master Chrome Metallic Highlighter in Molten Gold (Shop Now)

  • NAILS: Essie Nail Polish in Ballet Slippers (Shop Now)

  • MAKEUP TOOL: Beautyblender The Original (Shop Now)

Over the last year, we've asked you to keep track of your tried-and-true skin-care favorites. Your can't-leave-home-withouts. All year long, you've been slathering, scrubbing, and sharing with us the moisturizers that keep you hydrated, the exfoliators that are safe enough for your sensitive skin, and the sunscreens that actually work on all skin tones. And now the ballots are in, and the votes have been counted. Here, we present the winners of the skin-care category — including the dermatologist-loved Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, the caffeine-spiked Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream, and the brightening Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum — all hand-picked, tested, and loved by you. And soon, by us, too.

  • CLEANSER: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser (Shop Now)

  • SCRUB: Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (Shop Now)

  • MOISTURIZER: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel-Cream for Extra-Dry Skin (Shop Now)

  • SUNSCREEN: Neutrogena Clear Face Break-Out Free Liquid-Lotion Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 55 (Shop Now)

  • TREATMENT: Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum (Shop Now)

  • MASK: GlamGlow SuperMud Clearing Treatment (Shop Now)

  • EYE CREAM: Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream to Brighten and Depuff (Shop Now)

The skin on your body is important. Without it, your bones and organs would tumble onto the sidewalk, exposed to the elements, unsightly to look at. Thanks to our flesh, though, we are able to do things like go to the movies and give keynote addresses at college commencements without embarrassing ourselves. So how do we repay our body skin? By inking little designs on it with needles? By wrapping it in itchy, synthetic fabrics? By swimming in moisture-sucking chlorinated water? Dear Lord, no. It is time to be kind to our body skin. It is time to moisturize head to toe, and then languish in a gorgeous and expensive robe. It is time to scrub away dead skin so that our elbows gleam like polished doorknobs. It is time for “shea oil,” whatever that is. Enjoy these 10 ways to celebrate the cutaneous system that pulls you together, all handpicked by — you, actually.

  • BODY WASH: Dove Deep Moisture Nourishing Body Wash (Shop Now)

  • SCRUB: Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Stress Relief Eucalyptus + Spearmint Sugar Scrub (Shop Now)

  • LOTION: CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (Shop Now)

  • SUNSCREEN: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 100+ (Shop Now)

  • BODY SUNSCREEN: Coola Classic Body Organic Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 (Shop Now)

  • SELF-TANNER: Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer (Shop Now)

  • DEODORANT: Dove Advanced Care Cool Essentials Antiperspirant (Shop Now)

  • MEN'S FRAGRANCE: Giorgio Armani Beauty Acqua Di Giò (Shop Now)

  • WOMEN'S FRAGRANCE: Marc Jacobs Daisy (Shop Now)

  • TOOTHPASTE/WHITENER: Crest 3D White Luxe Glamorous White Toothpaste (Shop Now)

The results are in: There's a volumizer that'll boost your limp hair in seconds, bringing it to Texas-level heights (that is if you want it that high), not to mention a deep-conditioning mask so good, it'll make those bleached-out strands the softest they've ever felt. Plus, for beauty lovers with curls and coils, our readers chose their all-time favorite curl-defining cream for added hold without that crunchy feel or oily finish, as well as a detangling comb you'll wonder how you ever lived without.

  • SHAMPOO: Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Shampoo (Shop Now)

  • CONDITIONER: Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask (Shop Now)

  • CURL DEFINER: Moroccanoil Curl Defining Cream (Shop Now)

  • SMOOTHING CREAM: Briogeo Farewell Frizz Blow Dry Perfection & Heat Protectant Crème (Shop Now)

  • VOLUMIZER: Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast (Shop Now)

  • HAIR COLOR: eSalon Custom Hair Color & Hair Dye Set (Shop Now)

  • HAIR TOOL: Tangle Teezer The Original Detangling Hairbrush (Shop Now)

Now, with the “clean” beauty revolution at its peak, heralded by waving banners of “green” and “natural,” the landscape is fully populated with effective, luxurious, and innovative products to slather, swipe, and dust on your whole body.

While clean, green, and natural all have notoriously hazy definitions, we have campaigned to teach you to look beyond the marketing label and turn your eyes to the ingredient list to make your own informed choices. At Allure, the list of ingredients you will not see on any of our natural product decks — put together with the help of cosmetic chemists, dermatologists, and scientists — includes: parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate, silicones, polyethylene and polypropylene (microbeads), metallic aluminum, triclosan, talc, mineral oil, petrolatum, formaldehyde, toluene, and chemical sunscreens (such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, and octinoxate). Herewith, the natural beauty products that have met our clean beauty requirements and stood out in your hearts, minds, and cabinets in 2019.

  • FACIAL CLEANSER: Youth to the People Superfood Cleanser (Shop Now)

  • FACIAL MOISTURIZER: Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream (Shop Now)

  • FACIAL SUNSCREEN: Drunk Elephant Umbra Sheer Physical Daily Defense SPF 30 (Shop Now)

  • BODY WASH: Dr. Bronner’s Hemp Peppermint Pure-Castile Soap (Shop Now)

  • BODY MOISTURIZER: Beautycounter Countermatch Adaptive Body Moisturizer (Shop Now)

  • BODY SUNSCREEN: Beautycounter Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30 (Shop Now)

  • DEODORANT: Kopari Coconut Oil Deodorant (Shop Now)

  • SHAMPOO: Love Beauty and Planet Blooming Color Shampoo (Shop Now)

  • CONDITIONER: Love Beauty and Planet Blooming Color Conditioner (Shop Now)

  • STYLING CREAM: Aveda Smooth Infusion Naturally Straight (Shop Now)

  • EYE SHADOW 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Eyeshadow (Shop Now)

  • FOUNDATION: Josie Maran Vibrancy Argan Oil Foundation Fluid (Shop Now)

  • LIP GLOSS/CRAYON: Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm (Shop Now)

  • LIPSTICK: Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick (currently discontinued as they reformulate to a vegan formula)

  • MASCARA: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara (Shop Now)

  • BLUSH: Burt’s Bees 100% Natural Blush (Shop Now)

  • CONCEALER: BareMinerals Correcting Concealer (Shop Now)

Allure readers voted on the most game-changing beauty products of the year, and the results are in: The 5 winners of the 2019 Allure Readers’ Choice Breakthrough Awards are some of the most exciting beauty innovations we’ve seen yet. Case in point: The Dyson Airwrap, a hair styling tool that delivers a whole range of looks — bouncier blowouts, longer-lasting curls, and frizz-smoothing flat-ironing — with technology borrowed from jet engines, of all things. Huda Beauty's epic The New Nude Eye Shadow Palette is a sparkling assortment of eye shadows that YouTube sensation Huda Kattan designed to challenge our definition of nude — they also happen to be jaw-dropping colors. Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Topcoat delivers gel-like longevity, without the time-consuming curing process you’d have to sit through at a salon. And the Clarisonic Mia Smart 3-in-1 Sonic Facial Cleansing Brush is the perfect cleansing-slash-exfoliating-slash-face-firming tool for techies (also, for anyone who’s a fan of radiant skin).

  • MAKEUP: Huda Beauty The New Nude Eye Shadow Palette (Shop Now)

  • NAILS: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat (Shop Now)

  • BODY: Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer Infused With Enriching Shea Oil (Shop Now)

  • HAIR: Dyson Airwrap (Shop Now)

  • SKIN: Clarisonic Mia Smart 3-in-1 Sonic Facial Cleansing Brush (Shop Now)

Originally Appeared on Allure