Jamie Matusow, Editor-in-Chief03.07.16
On February 24, more than 2,300 CEW beauty insiders took part in the industry organization’s much anticipated annual stroll through aisles and aisles of cosmetics products, attractively arranged on long counters and punctuated with exquisite floral displays.
See the slideshow here, which features some of the brands on display at the 'longest beauty counter in the word.'
This year, brand associates explained, pitched and demonstrated more than 700 SKUs at The Metropolitan Pavilion & Altman Building on West 18th Street in Manhattan, offering CEW members the opportunity to test and evaluate, prior to voting for their favorite products. Brands that receive the most votes are eligible to “wear” the coveted CEW seal of approval.
CEW's Finalists Will Be Announced on March 24th
Of the 37 total award categories, CEW members vote to select the finalists in 33 of the categories, which range from Turn Back Time (anti-aging skin care), to All Eyes on Me (eye makeup) and It Makes Scents (women’s fragrance).
The finalists will be announced live on Twitter on Thursday, March 24. CEW’s Board of Governors and select industry experts will then vote to determine the winners, who will be announced at the Beauty Awards Luncheon May 13 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Winners will be judged based on innovation, delivery system and packaging.
The Largest Demo, Ever
Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, told reporters that this year’s 22nd annual event was the largest Demo ever. And while she explained that CEW insiders are “the real beauty experts,” for the first time, polls were opened to consumers as well, thanks to a partnership with Meredith Corporation and the launch of the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award.
On March 24th, Meredith will host a special awards breakfast to announce the Iconic Beauty Award Finalists, and from those finalists, consumers will be invited to vote on Meredith’s digital platforms for their favorite mass and prestige iconic beauty products. Two Iconic Consumers’ Choice Award winners (one in mass and one in prestige) will also be announced at CEW’s Beauty Award Luncheon in May.
“Winning a CEW Beauty Insider Award is one of the highest honors in the beauty industry, which is why 429 brands are competing this year—the most in the history of the Awards,” said Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW. “The Awards act as a guide for consumers by recognizing the top beauty products and innovations of the year.”
The Trends
When asked about notable trends among this year’s entries, Jacobson said she had seen a lot of growth in particular, in categories including Contouring, Brows, Hair Tools, Nighttime Treatments and Peels.
Once again, a large number of Indie brands mixed with global leaders. Forty-three brands entered the Indie category this year, a 30% increase over last year. Jacobson commented: “Indie brands are changing the landscape of the beauty industry at an accelerated rate and it’s important to CEW that we support these brands throughout their journey.”
The winner of this year’s Indie Brand Beauty Award will also receive a complimentary booth from Cosmoprof North America at their annual show in Las Vegas, which will take place held July 24-26. The booth, valued at $8,000, includes marketing, a fully furnished lounge space and guaranteed meetings with the retail buyers attending the event.
Another new category this year is Best Beauty App, which will recognize one mobile beauty app that simplifies the beauty category for users.
Navigating the Aisles
The natural look, which relies on just the right products—from skin care to makeup—to achieve a minimalist, robust and healthy appearance, seemed evident. As I made my way through the many counters, one of the first things that struck me was a preponderance of products that either proclaimed “nude”—or were virtually clear—including a number of healthful facial-enhancing waters that had picked up on the popular Asian trend.
Urban Decay, which is often credited with launching the trend toward Nude, featured its attractive Naked palettes with cool, subtle eye shadow shades. Smoky Naked was especially hot.
Several other color cosmetics brands also brandished stripped-down names, including L’Oréal La Palette Nude Colour Riche. Nude Stix, with a subtle palette of pencil colors, introduced a new brow tool with an angled applicator. And let’s not forget Zoya’s Naked Manicure.
Erasa was handing out erasers at the counter, to emphasize the product’s effectiveness in making fine lines disappear, and rejuvenating skin.
At Burt’s Bees, the clear, but Intense Hydration Nourishing Facial Water, packaged in a 25% PCR, recyclable #1 bottle, hydrates as it improves skin’s texture.
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water mists on to hydrate and refresh for sheer radiance.
Clean Reserve’s Blonde Rose alluded to pale, transparent petals. The crisp and clear fragrance was packaged in an eco-friendly glass bottle, complete with a simple wooden cap. It can be mixed and matched with other blends from the brand for a customized scent. A note on the label suggests complementary pairings.
Products leaned toward clear with the promise of invisibility, too. Style Edit offered invisible dry shampoo, while Murad touted its multi-tasking Invisiblur Perfecting Shield, with broad spectrum SPF30. Masks were popular among the products shown, and Skin Laundry got the clean and clear message across with its hydrating radiance treatment mask.
To emphasize the watery nature of many of the products on hand—and to connect instantly to our craving (especially at this time of the year) for the element of sandy beaches, breaking waves and the island lifestyle, the color blue seemed to wash up all around me, packaging-wise.
Even if you’re miles inland, spritz your hair with Bumble and bumble’s Surf spray for a windswept style, and no doubt you’ll imagine the crash of breaking waves.
John Frieda also offered a watery sea salt spray for tousled hair appeal, called Sea Waves.
Sleek and silvery, and easy to handle and control, Beachwaver Pro Professional Rotating Curling Iron allows you to make your own waves with ease. It literally puts a spin on making curls with a left, right and go button to control the direction specific to the side you are curling and to eliminate the struggle of curling the hair on the back of your head.
Every time you take a shower and wash your hair, you’ll be reminded of water and sky with OGX Gravity Defying & Hydration + O2 Collection, which features eco-friendly bottles adorned with beautiful blue-hued images of water and sky. The product’s “cloudberries” contain vitamins and anti-oxidants.
Double-Duty Delights
Lila b’s white-coated zamac compacts appear at first to be finely smoothed pebbles found on the beach or by a riverbed. The product description says formulas use nourishing ingredients from land and sea. What’s more, the swivel palettes are multi-purpose and can be used for both lips and cheeks—minimizing the number of products you need to throw into your beach bag—or your LV purse.
Votre Vu offered a lovely white tube of hand cream with a moisturizing lip pot complete with mirror piggybacking on the tube’s cap.
Kopari relayed the carefree, healthy beachy feel in a nutshell, with a coconut tree on the beach visual and its “Coconut Beauty Lifestyle” tagline. Products such as Coconut Sheer Oil pointed to health and wellness. These products, too, further tempt the consumer with a list of multiple uses, including facial hydration, makeup remover, cuticle massaging and flyaway tamer.
But if you can’t get to the beach this winter, there’s new hope for a tan—and it’s as easy as taking a shower; just wash with your usual product, then apply St Tropez Gradual Tan in-shower lotion. Applying three days in a row lets you tan—and moisturize—for a fraction of the cost of airfare and hotel. And the pretty blue gradated tube looks rather tropical.
Weleda Skin Food also offers double-duty convenience and, in fact, can be used for multiple skin concerns from hands and feet to face. The product celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, and has special green packaging for the occasion.
Very A-Peeling
One of the best prescriptions for beauty is to remove the old cells so the new can take over and provide a fresh-faced healthy glow.
Aqua Reveal’s “water peel” in a turquoise tube, was described as powerful exfoliation that’s as gentle as water, while Yes To’s Grapefruit Pore Perfection Brightening Peel seemed citrusy and refreshing.
Too time-deprived for an at-home treatment? Pop into the BeautyRX Peel Bar, at 149 5th Ave, NYC—similar to the Blow Bar concept—and get gorgeous glowing skin in just two minutes thanks to a treatment developed by a dermatologist.
Basic Black
Basic black has always been a popular shade for cosmetics packaging, but this year there were also a number of products that had borrowed the sophistication that ebony offers.
Turn out the lights after applying Korres’ Black Pine Active Firming Sleeping Oil, and wake up to a brighter complexion.
Origins’ Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask relies on carbon to clear pores.
Yes To Tomatoes Detoxifying Charcoal Cleaner, described as a perfect solution for oily and blemish-prone skin types, is also available as a bar soap. And the juicy red tomatoes pictured on the front of the packages hint of luscious summer fruits to come.
Please stay tuned to Beauty Packaging for news on all the CEW Award winners.
Read More
See CEW's Product Demo slideshow.
See the slideshow here, which features some of the brands on display at the 'longest beauty counter in the word.'
This year, brand associates explained, pitched and demonstrated more than 700 SKUs at The Metropolitan Pavilion & Altman Building on West 18th Street in Manhattan, offering CEW members the opportunity to test and evaluate, prior to voting for their favorite products. Brands that receive the most votes are eligible to “wear” the coveted CEW seal of approval.
CEW's Finalists Will Be Announced on March 24th
Of the 37 total award categories, CEW members vote to select the finalists in 33 of the categories, which range from Turn Back Time (anti-aging skin care), to All Eyes on Me (eye makeup) and It Makes Scents (women’s fragrance).
The finalists will be announced live on Twitter on Thursday, March 24. CEW’s Board of Governors and select industry experts will then vote to determine the winners, who will be announced at the Beauty Awards Luncheon May 13 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Winners will be judged based on innovation, delivery system and packaging.
The Largest Demo, Ever
Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, told reporters that this year’s 22nd annual event was the largest Demo ever. And while she explained that CEW insiders are “the real beauty experts,” for the first time, polls were opened to consumers as well, thanks to a partnership with Meredith Corporation and the launch of the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award.
On March 24th, Meredith will host a special awards breakfast to announce the Iconic Beauty Award Finalists, and from those finalists, consumers will be invited to vote on Meredith’s digital platforms for their favorite mass and prestige iconic beauty products. Two Iconic Consumers’ Choice Award winners (one in mass and one in prestige) will also be announced at CEW’s Beauty Award Luncheon in May.
“Winning a CEW Beauty Insider Award is one of the highest honors in the beauty industry, which is why 429 brands are competing this year—the most in the history of the Awards,” said Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW. “The Awards act as a guide for consumers by recognizing the top beauty products and innovations of the year.”
The Trends
When asked about notable trends among this year’s entries, Jacobson said she had seen a lot of growth in particular, in categories including Contouring, Brows, Hair Tools, Nighttime Treatments and Peels.
Once again, a large number of Indie brands mixed with global leaders. Forty-three brands entered the Indie category this year, a 30% increase over last year. Jacobson commented: “Indie brands are changing the landscape of the beauty industry at an accelerated rate and it’s important to CEW that we support these brands throughout their journey.”
The winner of this year’s Indie Brand Beauty Award will also receive a complimentary booth from Cosmoprof North America at their annual show in Las Vegas, which will take place held July 24-26. The booth, valued at $8,000, includes marketing, a fully furnished lounge space and guaranteed meetings with the retail buyers attending the event.
Another new category this year is Best Beauty App, which will recognize one mobile beauty app that simplifies the beauty category for users.
Navigating the Aisles
The natural look, which relies on just the right products—from skin care to makeup—to achieve a minimalist, robust and healthy appearance, seemed evident. As I made my way through the many counters, one of the first things that struck me was a preponderance of products that either proclaimed “nude”—or were virtually clear—including a number of healthful facial-enhancing waters that had picked up on the popular Asian trend.
Urban Decay, which is often credited with launching the trend toward Nude, featured its attractive Naked palettes with cool, subtle eye shadow shades. Smoky Naked was especially hot.
Several other color cosmetics brands also brandished stripped-down names, including L’Oréal La Palette Nude Colour Riche. Nude Stix, with a subtle palette of pencil colors, introduced a new brow tool with an angled applicator. And let’s not forget Zoya’s Naked Manicure.
Erasa was handing out erasers at the counter, to emphasize the product’s effectiveness in making fine lines disappear, and rejuvenating skin.
At Burt’s Bees, the clear, but Intense Hydration Nourishing Facial Water, packaged in a 25% PCR, recyclable #1 bottle, hydrates as it improves skin’s texture.
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water mists on to hydrate and refresh for sheer radiance.
Clean Reserve’s Blonde Rose alluded to pale, transparent petals. The crisp and clear fragrance was packaged in an eco-friendly glass bottle, complete with a simple wooden cap. It can be mixed and matched with other blends from the brand for a customized scent. A note on the label suggests complementary pairings.
Products leaned toward clear with the promise of invisibility, too. Style Edit offered invisible dry shampoo, while Murad touted its multi-tasking Invisiblur Perfecting Shield, with broad spectrum SPF30. Masks were popular among the products shown, and Skin Laundry got the clean and clear message across with its hydrating radiance treatment mask.
To emphasize the watery nature of many of the products on hand—and to connect instantly to our craving (especially at this time of the year) for the element of sandy beaches, breaking waves and the island lifestyle, the color blue seemed to wash up all around me, packaging-wise.
Even if you’re miles inland, spritz your hair with Bumble and bumble’s Surf spray for a windswept style, and no doubt you’ll imagine the crash of breaking waves.
John Frieda also offered a watery sea salt spray for tousled hair appeal, called Sea Waves.
Sleek and silvery, and easy to handle and control, Beachwaver Pro Professional Rotating Curling Iron allows you to make your own waves with ease. It literally puts a spin on making curls with a left, right and go button to control the direction specific to the side you are curling and to eliminate the struggle of curling the hair on the back of your head.
Every time you take a shower and wash your hair, you’ll be reminded of water and sky with OGX Gravity Defying & Hydration + O2 Collection, which features eco-friendly bottles adorned with beautiful blue-hued images of water and sky. The product’s “cloudberries” contain vitamins and anti-oxidants.
Double-Duty Delights
Lila b’s white-coated zamac compacts appear at first to be finely smoothed pebbles found on the beach or by a riverbed. The product description says formulas use nourishing ingredients from land and sea. What’s more, the swivel palettes are multi-purpose and can be used for both lips and cheeks—minimizing the number of products you need to throw into your beach bag—or your LV purse.
Votre Vu offered a lovely white tube of hand cream with a moisturizing lip pot complete with mirror piggybacking on the tube’s cap.
Kopari relayed the carefree, healthy beachy feel in a nutshell, with a coconut tree on the beach visual and its “Coconut Beauty Lifestyle” tagline. Products such as Coconut Sheer Oil pointed to health and wellness. These products, too, further tempt the consumer with a list of multiple uses, including facial hydration, makeup remover, cuticle massaging and flyaway tamer.
But if you can’t get to the beach this winter, there’s new hope for a tan—and it’s as easy as taking a shower; just wash with your usual product, then apply St Tropez Gradual Tan in-shower lotion. Applying three days in a row lets you tan—and moisturize—for a fraction of the cost of airfare and hotel. And the pretty blue gradated tube looks rather tropical.
Weleda Skin Food also offers double-duty convenience and, in fact, can be used for multiple skin concerns from hands and feet to face. The product celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, and has special green packaging for the occasion.
Very A-Peeling
One of the best prescriptions for beauty is to remove the old cells so the new can take over and provide a fresh-faced healthy glow.
Aqua Reveal’s “water peel” in a turquoise tube, was described as powerful exfoliation that’s as gentle as water, while Yes To’s Grapefruit Pore Perfection Brightening Peel seemed citrusy and refreshing.
Too time-deprived for an at-home treatment? Pop into the BeautyRX Peel Bar, at 149 5th Ave, NYC—similar to the Blow Bar concept—and get gorgeous glowing skin in just two minutes thanks to a treatment developed by a dermatologist.
Basic Black
Basic black has always been a popular shade for cosmetics packaging, but this year there were also a number of products that had borrowed the sophistication that ebony offers.
Turn out the lights after applying Korres’ Black Pine Active Firming Sleeping Oil, and wake up to a brighter complexion.
Origins’ Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask relies on carbon to clear pores.
Yes To Tomatoes Detoxifying Charcoal Cleaner, described as a perfect solution for oily and blemish-prone skin types, is also available as a bar soap. And the juicy red tomatoes pictured on the front of the packages hint of luscious summer fruits to come.
Please stay tuned to Beauty Packaging for news on all the CEW Award winners.
Read More
See CEW's Product Demo slideshow.
