The second annual BeautyMatter NEXT Awards honor the brands and businesses in the beauty ecosystem, raising the bar and defining the future of beauty. This year, we received nearly 400+ entries. The winners offer a snapshot of where the beauty industry is heading.
BeautyMatter announced the winners on stage at the NEXT Summit in Los Angeles, presenting monuments to recipients across 50+ categories. Winners represented the largest multinationals to high-growth indies, retailers, agencies, service providers, and suppliers.
We made a foundational commitment that judging would be transparent and done by a panel of independent judges selected for their diversity of experience, deep category knowledge, and insatiable curiosity.
The NEXT Awards' jury featured a who's who from the world of beauty. Entries were judged through two rounds of rigorous critique and appraisal by a panel of jurors who are experts in their given field.
Our judges had a difficult task reviewing each entry to determine the finalist. In some cases, the submissions were so good we had some ties.
The person who has made an outstanding contribution to the business of beauty and has been a catalyst for the overall advancement of the industry—Person of The Year: Carol J. Hamilton, Group President, Acquisitions and West Coast Headquarters at L'Oréal
The person who has profoundly changed the business of beauty by bringing about positive change linked to equity, health, climate, or sustainability—Changemaker of the Year: Edwin Neill, President of Neill Companies
The entrepreneur who has built a business that matters through inspired innovations, demonstrated vision, leadership, and success— Entrepreneur of the Year: Suveen Sahib, Co-Founder and CEO of K18 Biomimetic Hairscience
The person who has made meaningful contributions to the business of beauty by pursuing and executing novel thinking, challenging the status quo, and moving the industry forward—Innovator of the Year: Candace Mitchell Harris, Founder and CEO of Myavana
Recognizes agencies for developing and executing best-in-class communication strategies across media and content platforms. Best Public Relations Agency: Creative Media Marketing
Recognizes agencies responsible for crafting brand strategies and execution of design services. Best Design + Branding Agency: Front Row
Recognizes agencies that provide best-in-class strategic direction, creative design, and technical development for screen-based products and services. Best Digital Agency: Iced Media
Recognizes agencies responsible for developing social media strategies, campaign execution, content creation, and connecting influencers with brands. Best Social Media + Influencer Agency: Red Ant Asia
Recognizes design, content, strategy, and execution tied to brand identity, website, packaging design, etc.; can be a new-to-market brand or relaunch. Best Beauty Brand Launch: Current State
Recognizes design, content, strategy, and execution tied to brand identity, website, packaging design, etc.; can be a new-to-market brand or relaunch. Best Wellness Brand Launch: Bartlett Brands (Playground)
Recognizes unique partnerships or collaborations between any two or more brands, businesses, individuals, or organizations. Best Collaboration: CREED x ROBBi
Recognizes unique concept and execution tied to packaging design, including concept, componentry, material selection, and decoration for a finished product; can be a new-to-market brand or relaunch. Best Product Packaging Design (Brands): Subtl Beauty
Recognizes unique concept and execution tied to packaging design that address the full lifecycle of the product, carbon footprint, and material selection/reduction; can be a new-to-market brand or relaunch. Best Sustainable Packaging Design (Brands): Exponent Beauty and Uni
Recognizes unique concept, design, and execution of an ad campaign incorporating print, TV, radio, out-of-home, or direct mail. Best Ad Campaign, Traditional Design: Hero Cosmetics—Pimple, Meet Your Mighty Patch campaign
Recognizes unique concept, design, and execution of an ad campaign incorporating email, SMS, display native, video, or social media. Best Ad Campaign, Digital Design: Babo Botanicals—Reef Safe? anti-greenwashing campaign
Recognizes unique concept, design, and execution of a physical space, such as a retail store, salon, or spa. Best Spatial Design: Malin + Goetz—Brand retail store on Columbus Avenue and 72nd Street, NYC
Companies involved in creating, marketing, and selling beauty and wellness products or services that implement initiatives that impact DEI or ESG. Best Impact Initiative: Aveda Arts & Sciences Institute—DEI initiative to end the modern-day segregation of salons
Recognizes breakthroughs in the procurement and use of more sustainable materials, including new materials, improvements to conventional materials, improvements to sourcing practices, and novel uses of materials in challenging applications. Best Sourcing Breakthrough: Babo Botanicals—Upcycled Passion Fruit Seed Oil from family-owned farms in Peru
Technology provider (app, platform, SAAS) that provides tools to manage programs, enable transparency, quantify impact, or validate claims related to DEI or ESG initiatives. Best Impact Facilitator: The Eco Well
Recognizes design, content, strategy, and execution tied to a product launch; can be a new-to-market brand or relaunch. Best Product Launch Campaign: Beekman 1802–Potato Peel campaign
Recognizes the concept and execution of a live event as an extension of a brand or business. Best Live Event: Womaness— Menopositivity Tour, a multimarket live event in partnership with Ulta Beauty
Recognizes unique concept and its execution tied to the creation of a new content initiative by a brand or business to engage or communicate with their audience. Best Content Activation: Vella Bioscience—#StopFakingIt, a month-long social media campaign
Recognizes the building, nurturing, and activating of communities attached to brands or businesses. Best Community Engagement: The INKEY List
Recognizes strategy, initiative/activation, content creation, and execution tied to the use of social media. Best Use of Social Media: K18 Biomimetic Hairscience—Sofia Richie Grainge campaign
Recognizes unique concept or initiative and its execution creating new experiences, services, and products in the metaverse/Web3. Best Metaverse Activation: CULT—Metaverse Beauty Week
Recognizes unique relationships, effective partnerships, or initiatives in the creator economy. Best Influencer Partnership: BrainTrust Agency (Cantu Beauty)—Emmy award-winning hairstylist Angela Stevens
Recognizes strategy, initiative/activation, and execution tied to the medium of live streaming for communication of commerce. Best Use of Live Streaming: Hairstory—Creation of a two-way interactive commerce channel
Recognizes unique concepts from design through execution for a short-term beauty or wellness pop-up retail concept. Best Pop-Up: Malin + Goetz—Quadrant Arcade rotating experiential space
Recognizes a stand-alone or chain concept providing beauty and/or wellness services and/or treatments. Best Service Provider: Biologique Recherche
Recognizes unique training, visual merchandising, activations, events, or activities carried out by brands to support brick-and-mortar retail partners. Best Retail Activation: Fable & Mane—Sephora Dubai Mall takeover
Recognizes companies that provide technology to help beauty and wellness companies run their operations more efficiently. Best Technology Solution Provider: GlossGenius
Recognizes companies that provide third-party logistics services as outsourced services having to do with distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment. Best Logistics Solution: PIMS
Recognizes companies that provide raw material ingredients used in formulating beauty and wellness products; may include active ingredient, flavor, or color suppliers. Best Ingredient Supplier: Symrise
Recognizes companies that provide services related to the production, formulation, and filling of beauty and wellness products. Best Contract Manufacturer: Solésence Beauty Science
Recognizes companies that create and manufacture packaging; may include componentry for primary and secondary packaging. Best Packaging Supplier: HCT by kdc/one
Recognizes innovation by a beauty brand stemming from creating a product/service, consumer engagement, marketing, or design; can be a new brand initiative from an existing brand or a new-to-market brand launch. Best Breakthrough Beauty Brand: Pavīse
Recognizes innovation by a wellness brand stemming from creating a product/service, consumer engagement, marketing, or design; can be a new brand initiative from an existing brand or a new-to-market brand launch. Best Breakthrough Wellness Brand: Wonderbelly
Recognizes the use of technology (app, platform, SAAS) by a brand or retailer to solve a pain point, create an experience, or provide transparency. Best Use of Technology (Brands): Noteworthy—AI and data science personalization quiz
Recognizes the creation of a new ingredient/technology or innovative use of an existing ingredient/technology associated with the formulation of cosmetic products. Best Breakthrough Technology (Ingredient): Arcaea—ScentARC
Recognizes the creation of technology (app, platform, SAAS) to enable the execution of omnichannel consumer experiences. Best Breakthrough Technology (Omnichannel): Obsess—AVA by Obsess
Recognizes innovation by businesses that support brands or retailers and created a meaningful impact in the beauty ecosystem. Best Breakthrough Supplier: Makesy
Recognizes the creation of a new technology or the innovative use of existing technology that created a material impact to a part of the beauty and wellness value chain. Best Breakthrough Technology (Supply Side): FusionPKG—Airless-One and Atmos–One Mono–Material Pump Engine Technology
Recognizes innovation by companies that created and manufactured packaging; may include componentry for primary and secondary packaging, GWPs, gift sets, or sampling. Best Breakthrough Packaging (Suppliers): Apackaging Group
Recognizes innovation in a finished product launched to market related to either formulation, delivery system, new format type, use of technology, or sustainability.
Best Breakthrough Product (Bodycare): Skinfix—KP & PsO Smoothing Body Treatment
Best Breakthrough Product (Color Cosmetics): Haus Labs by Lady Gaga—Triclone Skin Tech Foundation
Best Breakthrough Product (Fragrance): 5 SENS and Homecourt—Room Deodorant
Best Breakthrough Product (Haircare): DefenAge—150K Hair Follicle Serum
Best Breakthrough Product (Men's): DefenAge—24/7 Barrier Balance Cream–Men's Formula
Best Breakthrough Product (Personal Care): Native— Deodorant & Body Spray
Best Breakthrough Product (Skincare): Pavīse—Lip Defense SPF
Best Breakthrough Product (Tools): NIRA Pro Laser— Advanced Wrinkle Reduction & Skin Renewal
Best Breakthrough Product (Wellness): Heat Healer— Body Belt
