Cosmopolitan’s 2025 Holy Grail Beauty Awards: The Complete Winners Guide
Discover Cosmopolitan’s expert-vetted winners across skincare, hair, fragrance, and makeup—plus readers’ favorites and editor insider picks.
Cosmopolitan’s 2025 Holy Grail Beauty Awards
Every year, Cosmopolitan’s team of beauty editors embarks on a months-long quest to identify the absolute best products in the beauty world—essentials destined to become your new go-tos for face, hair, fragrance, and beyond. In 2025, with the help and passionate feedback from readers worldwide, the Holy Grail Beauty Awards uncover the most effective, groundbreaking, and beloved launches and classics in the industry. This detailed guide offers a look at every major winner, behind-the-scenes processes, expert analysis, and unfiltered user reviews, ensuring you make well-informed decisions for your next beauty splurge.
The Award Process: How Cosmopolitan Chooses the Best
- Months of Testing: Editors and beauty experts spent a full year personally using, rating, and discussing thousands of entries to ensure only the most impressive made the list.
- Viral Trends and Classic Staples: Products were sourced based on top retailer sales, TikTok wellness trends, industry recommendations, and loyal user followings.
- Reader Power: Over 239,000 readers cast more than 28 million votes, lending real-world credibility and helping crown the all-time fan favorites in every category.
- Final Selection: Editors sifted through both data and passionate reader testimonials to finalize 119 winners—making this the most comprehensive, well-rounded beauty awards in the field.
The Complete 2025 Winner’s List
This year’s awards celebrate a range of innovations—from affordable drugstore heroes to luxury designer fragrances, hot new launches to perennial icons. Explore each core beauty category below:
Best in Skincare
- Moisturizer: The product that kept skin hydrated all year long without clogging pores or breaking the bank.
- Cleanser: A balancing formula that effectively removes makeup and impurities, praised by both experts and busy readers.
- Face Mask: The go-to glow-giver, delivering instant visible results before major events or big nights out.
- SPF: Lightweight, non-greasy, and universally wearable—Cosmo’s pick is proof you’ll want to wear your sunscreen every day.
- Serum: A concentrated formula with rave reviews for brightening, smoothing, and wrinkle-softening effects.
- Eye Cream: The reader-adored solution for tired, puffy, or dark undereyes—now a vanity staple for 2025.
Standout Makeup Winners
- Foundation: Lightweight, blendable coverage favored by working professionals and makeup minimalists alike.
- Mascara: Readers repeatedly praised the smudge-proof formula for lasting all day, even during emotional or sweaty moments.
- Blush: This year’s pick delivers the most natural, easy-to-build flush, suitable for all skin tones.
- Brow Product: A universally flattering tool to shape, fill, and perfect arches without looking harsh.
- Lip Color: Editors spotlighted a formula with enduring wear and rich pigment, while readers highlighted its comfort and shade range.
- Setting Spray: Guaranteed to lock makeup in place for up to 16 hours—proven by users through weddings, parties, and long commutes.
Top Haircare Picks
- Shampoo: A nourishing, sulfate-free cleanser that transformed dull hair into glossy, healthy locks.
- Conditioner: The 2025 favorite for repairing and detangling, backed by rave reviews from readers with every hair texture.
- Styling Tool: Viral on social media and praised by professionals, this hot tool was voted the year’s best investment for effortless styling.
- Dry Shampoo: The hands-down winner for absorbing oil without residue and stretching styles between washes.
- Leave-In Treatment: A multitasker that smooths, protects, and strengthens hair—all in one easy step.
- Hair Oil: Adds high-wattage shine and tames frizz, with a scent that reviewers described as addictive.
The Fragrance Phenoms
- Best Sweet Fragrance: Milk+ Bold—A smoky-sweet blend with notes of marshmallow, mahogany wood, and firewood. Editors loved its longevity and trend-setting marshmallow scent, now popular across the industry.
Editor’s note: “This sweet yet sophisticated scent turns heads and lasts forever—one spritz, and you’re unforgettable.”
- Most Compliment-Worthy: 19 curated fragrances made the winners’ circle for their unique personalities, enduring sillage, and crowd-pleasing appeal.
- Everyday Classic: An iconic floral fragrance chosen by both professionals and readers for feeling instantly polished and confident.
What others are reading
Breakthrough Innovations
- Viral Devices: The heatless styling tool that swept TikTok and received glowing feedback from all hair types.
- Skincare Gadgets: Face sculpting tools and LED masks that garnered high performance marks from curious editors and skeptical readers alike.
- Cult-Favorite Indie Launches: Small brand breakthroughs proudly outperformed legacy competitors thanks to passionate community support and real results.
Unfiltered Reader’s Choice: Beauty By Popular Vote
Perhaps the most hotly anticipated section of the awards: the Reader’s Choice triumphs. Over six weeks, Cosmopolitan’s survey captured the diverse preferences of beauty lovers spanning continents and skin tones:
- Drugstore Heroes: Budget-friendly finds repeatedly voted must-haves for dependable performance at any stage of life.
- Celebrity Brands: Readers assessed which star-powered launches actually deliver—naming only a select few worthy of the hype.
- Consistent Classics: Items that have stood the test of time, still topping lists even as beauty trends rapidly evolve.
- Game-Changers: Products that inspired readers to overhaul their routines or finally solve a longstanding concern.
Reader praise was a key component this year, providing insight into how products performed in daily life:
“I can’t live without this serum—it’s the only thing that calms my redness and leaves me glowing for days!”
“I tried this foundation on my wedding day. It lasted through happy tears, hugs, and an entire night of dancing!”
Insider Picks: Editor’s Standouts
In addition to feedback from millions of beauty fans, Cosmopolitan’s beauty team highlighted a few all-star formulas deserving of extra praise for their creativity, technology, or results:
- Hybrid Base Products: Moisturizer-foundation hybrids that blurred the lines between skincare and makeup, winning the hearts of minimalists and skincare obsessives alike.
- Sustainable Packaging: Standouts that delivered both environmental responsibility and beautiful user experience.
- Next-Gen Treatments: Brands using cutting-edge peptides, biotech ingredients, or vegan alternatives to deliver premium results without compromise.
2025 Beauty Trends Highlighted by Cosmopolitan
- Gourmand Fragrances: Sweet scents with edible, nostalgic notes (like marshmallow) are on every beauty shelf, now recognized as trend-leading by editors and partnered publications alike.
- Multipurpose Marvels: Tools and formulas that work double duty for busy lives—think tint-sticks usable on lips, cheeks, and eyes, or face moisturizers with built-in SPF and blue light protection.
- Barrier Repair: A skincare buzzword, with products targeting the microbiome and skin resilience earning top accolades.
- Minimalist Makeup: Lightweight, skin-enhancing products win out over heavy, high-maintenance coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How were Cosmopolitan’s Beauty Award winners chosen?
Editors narrowed thousands of submissions to a select group, rigorously testing for over a year. Winners were finalized using performance, innovation, ingredient quality, and wide reader polling—ensuring real-world usability and broad appeal.
How many categories were there in 2025?
119 categories covered every aspect of beauty, from makeup and skincare to hair products and devices, with both editor and reader’s choice components represented.
What makes the Reader’s Choice unique?
The survey gathered over 28 million total votes, turning the spotlight on products beloved by real consumers. Feedback and product stories from diverse individuals give unparalleled authenticity.
Are there affordable options among the winners?
Absolutely. Many winners in both editor and reader’s choice lists are accessible drugstore staples as well as luxe splurges—making the awards relevant regardless of budget.
Which 2025 trends did Cosmopolitan editors predict will stick around?
- Gourmand and marshmallow-inspired fragrances leading the scent conversation
- Innovative skincare devices and multitasking makeup
- Consumer focus on sustainability and gentle, barrier-supportive ingredients
Meet the Editorial Team
Cosmopolitan’s beauty editors bring backgrounds in dermatology, hairstyling, aesthetics, and trend forecasting, lending authority and depth to every review and recommendation. Feedback was further supported by stylists, influencers, and everyday users who put products through rigorous real-world testing.
What Does Winning Mean?
- Products gain instant credibility, with brands often reporting increased sales and social buzz after being named a Holy Grail Beauty Award winner.
- Readers can shop confidently, knowing selections have been vetted by experts and actual users alike.
How to Shop the 2025 Winners
Cosmopolitan’s guide features direct shopping links, user testimonials, pricing ranges, and expert commentary. Look for products labeled with the official Holy Grail Award logo and read unfiltered reviews for honest user experiences.
See Also: Additional 2025 Awards
- Readers’ Choice Awards: Featuring in-depth, unfiltered feedback for every major winner and category.
- Best of Drugstore Beauty: Editor and fan-vetted picks under $20.
- Trendsetter Awards: Highlighting up-and-coming brands and first-of-their-kind formulas poised to become future icons.
Final Thoughts
Beauty is personal, but the best products bring communities together. Cosmopolitan’s 2025 Holy Grail Beauty Awards celebrate the tools, formulas, and innovations that spark joy, confidence, and creativity in beauty lovers everywhere. Whether you’re revisiting a classic favorite or eager to test the latest viral sensation, this year’s winners offer something for every budget, routine, and preference. Here’s your roadmap to a better beauty shelf in 2025—and beyond.
References
- https://commodityfragrances.com/blogs/commodity-blog/milk-bold-cosmopolitan-award
- https://cosmopolitantdaily.com/awards/cosmopolitan-the-daily-business-award-winners-2025/
- https://www.lolavie.com/blogs/press/welcome-to-cosmo-s-2025-readers-choice-beauty-awards
- https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a65321822/readers-choice-beauty-awards-2025/
- https://www.lolavie.com/blogs/press/cosmopolitan-s-2025-clean-beauty-awards-the-best-hair-products
- https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a64564382/holy-grail-beauty-awards-2025-face/
- https://hourshaircare.com/blogs/all-articles/full-time-is-a-cosmopolitan-2025-holy-grail-beauty-award-winner
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