CEW Beauty Awards 2019: this year’s best new beauty products revealed

With so many new cosmetics brands and product launches each year, perusing the beauty aisles can be somewhat overwhelming.

Which is why each year we look forward to find out who wins big at the CEW Beauty Awards, to give us a little guidance on our next Boots splurge.

CEW is a not-for-profit professional organisation with more than 1,000 members in the United Kingdom and the CEW Beauty Awards (known as the “Oscars of the Beauty Industry”) was first launched in 2006 to recognise outstanding product innovation and creativity. Voted on by over 1,000 CEW members in the UK – industry professionals and experts in the field of beauty – the CEW Beauty Awards are recognised as one of the most coveted awards in the industry.

So how does it work?

There are three sections: mass market, prestige and mass market + prestige, and within them there are several categories – from best eye makeup to best new fragrance. Brands enter themselves for the awards (just one product is allowed per category) and winners are chosen by the members of CEW via an anonymous online ballot.

The only exception to this is The Responsible Beauty Award, sponsored by Givaudan, which is chosen by a panel of judges. This award, new for 2019, was won by The Handmade Soap Company, an Irish business that prides itself on making products that are 99.7% natural.

The Handmade Soap Company, founded in 2010, also won two other awards this year : the ‘Best Hand or Food Product – Mass & Prestige’ and ‘Best New Brand – Mass’. The judging panel, which numbered the likes of Green & Black’s and beautybible.com founder Josephine Fairley and Ecovia Intelligence founder Amarjit Sahota, described the wins as “major achievements for a new company, demonstrating 360‘commitment and with a continual improvement mindset.”

Other brands that won an overall brand award this year were Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant and Elemis. Elemis saw and outstanding win throughout four categories – winning the prestigious seal of approval in ‘Best New Targeted Skincare – Prestige’, ‘Best New Mask – Prestige’, ‘Best Beauty Icon – Prestige’ and ‘Best New Vegan Beauty Product – Mass & Prestige’.

Read on to see the winners in all three sections.

Mass Category Winners

Best new body product – Rituals Cosmetics: Shower Foam Flower, £8.90. Shop it here

Best new hair product – Batiste: Dry Shampoo & De-Frizz, £2.12. Shop it here

Best new skin prep – Rituals Cosmetics: Cleansing Balm, £12.90. Shop it here

Best new ‘Skintellectual’ – Balance Me: Vitamin C Repair Serum, £32. Shop it here

Best new targeted skincare – Yes To Tomatoes: Detoxifying Charcoal Blemish Fighting Zit Zapping Dots, £7.99. Shop them here

Best new mask – Balance Me: Congested Skin Sheet Mask, £16 for 4. Shop them here

Best new face makeup – Sleek Makeup: Highlighting Elixir Illuminating Drops, £6.99. Shop it here

Best new eye makeup – KIKO Milano: Standout Volume Buildable Mascara, £3.99. Shop it here

Best new lip makeup – Burt’s Bees: Liquid Lipstick, £9.99. Shop it here

Best beauty icon – Tweezerman: Classic Steel Slant Tweezer, £21.95. Shop it here

Best new brand – The Handmade Soap Company

Prestige Category Winners

Best new body product – Aromatherapy associates: City Serenity Bath and Shower Oil, £160. Shop it here

Best new hair product – Living proof: Full Dry Volume Blast, £25. Shop it here

Best new skin prep – Charlotte Tilbury: Hollywood Flawless Filter, £30. Shop it here

Best new ‘Skintellectual’ – Drunk Elephant: A-Passioni™ Retinol Cream, £62. Shop it here

Best new targeted skincare – Elemis: Peptide4 Eye Recovery Cream, £37.99. Shop it here

Best new mask – Elemis: Peptide4 Thousand Flower Mask, £36.99. Shop it here

Best new face makeup – Laura Mercier: Translucent Loose Setting Powder – Glow, £30. Shop it here

Best new eye makeup – Nars: Climax mascara, £21. Shop it here

Best new lip makeup – Charlotte Tilbury: Matte Revolution Lipstick – Pillow Talk, £24. Shop it here

Best new fragrance – Molton Brown: Jasmine & Sun Rose Eau de Toilette, £45. Shop it here

Best beauty icon – Elemis: Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, £42.99. Shop it here

Best new brand – Drunk Elephant

Mass & Prestige Category Winners

Best new sun care or self-tan – Isle of Paradise: Self-Tanning Water, £18.95. Shop it here

Best new hand or foot product – The Handmade Soap Company: Lemongrass & Cedarwood hand wash, £10.36. Shop it here

Best new beauty tool or accessory – Tangle Teezer: The Wet Detangler, £12.50. Shop it here

Best new wellbeing product – This Works: Sleep Power Nap Spray, £12. Shop it here

Best new vegan beauty product – Elemis: Superfood Day Cream, £41.99. Shop it here

Best new beauty supplement – Absolute Collagen: Daily Dose of Beauty, £26.99. Shop it here

Best British brand –Charlotte Tilbury