In our Beauty & Well-Being issue, we award top products in a variety of categories. As leaders in clean beauty I wrote the first piece on clean beauty for The New York Times Magazine decades ago-our knowledge of the subject and our passion for integrity runs deep. Our awards criteria is rigorous: We judge each product on ingredient purity, efficacy, innovation and sustainability. We vet every product to ensure that the ingredients are healthy for people and the planet we all share.
TOP BLEMISH TREATMENTS
Odacité Bl + C:
Packed with potent black cumin oil, cajeput oil and vitamin E to clarify congested skin.
Three Ships Refresh Papaya + Salicylic Acid Cleanser:
Aspen Bark, a source of salicylic acid, is the hero in this cleanser that works to banish breakouts. Also contains exfoliating papaya. It's everything you've hoped for and more.
Laurel Skin Honey Berry Mask:
Every ingredient in this gently exfoliating mask is so good for you. Organic strawberries and blueberries with enzymes, raw honey is antimicrobial, along with other organics to clear congested skin.
Lovinah Green Caviar Renewal + Clarifying Retinoid Cream Mask:
With an arsenal of heavy hitters - bakuchiol, salicylic acid, lipohydroxy acid for exfoliating - this mask, imbued with plant healing from Africa, helps with acnes, breakouts, dark spots, and remains gentle and kind to the skin.
MOST PHILANTHROPIC
Free + True Skincare:
The brand has teamed up with Pollinator Partnership to help support the health of pollinators: bees, birds and butterflies. One dollar from every sale of its Raw + Wild Illuminating Honey mask is donated to Pollinator Partnership.
TOP DEODORANTS
Ambre Blends:
Hands down, this soft, highly effective deodorant is totally addictive, featuring the most heavenly range of scents. We are hooked!
Soapwalla Original Deodorant Creme:
A natural deodorant pioneer, this deodorant, apple with fingers, with lavender, tea tree oil and peppermint, will keep you fresh.
Puremedy Deodorant Lavender Hibiscus:
Made with organic and wild-crafter ingredients - coconut oil, shea butter, lavender and more - this pure and effective 100 percent food grade deodorant is a keeper!
TOP BODY OILS + MOISTURIZERS
Max + Me Circle of Protection Body Oil:
It really feels like a hug, with argan, rosehip and manual oils, plus flower extracts and Manuka honey, this is an incredibly luxurious, soothing product.
True Botanicals Pure Radiance Body Oil:
With green tea and hemp seed pols, and sandalwood extracts, this irresistibly luscious oil really gets the skin glowing.
Violets Are Blue Body Cream:
A light and lovely moisturizer with organic shea and kokum butters, along with organic organ oil and lavender essential oil, it not only soothes and softens the skin, it creates an uplifting experience.
Jan Goe Oil:
A rich multitasking moisturizer that can be used all over - hands, body, face, hair - for deep hydration. Featuring fatty acid-rich rosehip, hemp, meadow foam, rice bran oils and more.
Uma Absolute Anti-Aging Body Oil:
Lightweight and loaded with antioxidants, plus heady botanicals such as sandalwood, rose and neroli, the scent is intoxicating, and your skin will feel divinely soft and nourished.
TOP HAND + NAIL CARE
Ranavat Sacred Rose Hand Cream:
The perfect hand cream for those who don't like hand cream - and for those who love it! Non-greasy, with nourishing plant oils and an out-of-this-world subtle scent from rose essential oil.
Osmia Organics Sandalwood Ginger Hand Cream:
Rich, warm and spicy, this new hand cream is gentle enough for sensitive skin, but highly effective on hands that work hard and wash often: think surgeons, chefs, farmers.
Henne Organics Luxury Hand Cream:
We love the soft citrus scent and the blend of nourishing oils - argan, jojoba, rosehip, avocado - along with aloe lead juice, to keep hands feeling soft.
TOP HAIRCARE
Innersense Detox Hair Mask:
With a clarifying trio of charcoal, kaolin and white vinegar, to replenish moisture and draw out impurities from pollution. For those prone to buildup.
Rahua Color Full Conditioner:
The entire Rahua Color Full Line is spectacularly nourishing for colored hair, but this rich, hydrating conditioner is a standout.
Everist Waterless Shampoo Concentrate:
It smells great, saves water and washes hair beautifully without stripping. Love this!
Salwa Petersen Chébé Due Tchad Hair Cream:
Not only does this luscious cream strengthen and restore moisture to parched strands, the carbon-negative brand helps support fair wages for women in Petersen's native Chad, who handpick the organic chébé seeds.
Rthvi Revitalize Natural Hair Oil:
Massage into scalp and hair, and let it soak in for a long while before washing hair, for a healthy scalp and the softest, silkiest hair.
TOP EYELINERS + SHADOWS
Kjaer Weis Eye Pencil:
If you're looking for a go-to black liner, this is probably it (though the other shades are lovely too). Long-wearing and precise - but also smudgeable - the pencil won't drag or pull, thanks to a healthy infusion of organic coconut oil.
Ilia Clean Line Liquid Liner:
With its super-fine tip, this liner is perfection for anyone who loves wings and cat eyes. And after one tester sent an afternoon in the pool, she was astonished to find that the smudge-proof, water-resistant formulation was utterly undisturbed.
PYT Beauty The Upcycle Palette:
For this who prefer subtler shadows, both the matte and shimmery shades in these 100 percent recyclable palettes (almost nonexistent in the industry) start out as barely-there veils of color, but build and blend beautifully.
Rituel de Fille Ash + ember Eye Soot:
Straddling the line between powder and cream, these alchemy-inspired, intensely pigmented shades range from satins to shimmers, and from universally flattering (the grayish-gold Cultist) to beautifully brave (deep red Viscera).
TooD Beauty BioGlitter:
An extremely rare lid glitter (actually, it can go anywhere, but looks especially ethereal on lids), this one is made from plant cellulose, has zero plastics, and biodegrades in as little as a month.
TOP MASCARAS
Juice Beauty Phyto-Pignments Ultra-Natural Mascara:
Intentional or not, "ultra-natural" is a double entendre here, as applicable to the mascara's effect (extremely soft and subtle, almost like a lash tint) as to the ingredient list (think organic purple carrots and aloe leaf juice, for starters).
Honest Beauty Extreme Length Mascara + Lash Primer:
At the other end of the subtlety spectrum, this double-sided cult classic deposits a foundational layer (the cornstarch in the primer may one a material spin on the old baby powder lash-dredging trick) and a jojoba ester-infused, mega-lengthening layer.
Well People Expressionist Pro Mascara Mini:
There's a subset of beauty fanatics, makeup artists included, who actually prefer mini mascaras for the added control. And this plant-powered one has the same beloved molded rubber brush as a full-sized tube, with all the attendant lash-separating and -lengthening magic.
Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara:
Another brush that - in and of itself - has garnered a loyal following, this one evolved more from more than 100 prototypes. Usr the short bristles for curl and volume, the long ones for lift and separation. Lashes will love the organic waxes and strengthening arginine.
Wander Beauty Unlashed Volume + Curl Mascara:
A rare combo, this is a volumizing mascara that resists clumping and flaking for layer upon layer (and devotees go big). Infused with nourishing licorice root and peach lead extracts, the clean formulation is also water-resistant.
TOP LIP GLOSSES
EleVen by Venus Williams Perfect Form Lip Balm SPF 15 in 15 Love:
Powered by shea butter and bayberry fruit wax, Perfect Form's moisturizing game is strong, but thanks to naturally pearlized zinc oxide (a UV protectant), the product doubles as a super-subtle gloss.
Westman Atelier Squeaky Clean Liquid Lip Balm:
Another balm-meets-gloss hybrid, this high-shine formulation from celebrity makeup artist Gucci Westman goes on sheer - even at the darker end of the pigment scale - and treats your lips with jojoba, almond and plant seed oils.
Izzy Zero Waste Glossy Lip Butter:
Pairing a devout ethos with a decadent feel and flavor (the latter thanks to a blend of vanilla, monk fruit and peppermint oil), this moisturizing gloss is one of the star products from what's believed to be the first fully reusable and sustainable direct-to-consumer beauty brand.
Kosas Wet Lip Oil Plumping Treatment Gloss:
Below its perfectly pigments, maximally gleaming veneer, this gloss packs peptides, hyaluronic acid and evening primrose oil, among other treament-minded ingredients.
Vapour Elixir Gloss:
Ethereal and luminous (particularly in Lucid), this gloss looks - and faintly smells - like a spa for your lips, with its green tea, myrrh, lemon balm, Icelandic moss and more.
TOP CONCEALERS
LYS Beauty Triple Fix Full Coverage Brightening Concealer:
In keeping with is mission to diversify clean beauty, the first Black-owened Sephora Clean Color Cosmetics brand offers no fewer than 25 shades of this rich, creamy, ashwagandha- and tumeric-spiked formulation
Macrene Actives High Performance Concealer:
Considering its creator - celebrity-beloved dermatologist and lean beauty formulator Macrene Alexiades, MD, PhD - little wonder this concealer is so overachieving (skin-matching, pollution-fighting, line-plumping, redness-reducing and more).
Saie Hydrabeam:
Brand new, this whipped gel formulation packs natural brighteners (tomato and licorice root extracts), soothers (cucumber and elderberry fruit extracts) and an all-important blur-er (rice starch) to magical under-eye effect.
Jones Road The Face Pencil:
For anyone who prefers stick formulations, this one - from iconic makeup artist Bobbi Brown's two-year-old clean beauty line - provides super-quick, easy coverage of red spots, dark splotches or other discoloration.
RMS Beauty "Un" Cover-Up:
A cult favorite concealer, this potted wonder melts instantly not your skin thanks to a mix of natural oils and minerals - and stays inconspicuous, even in lines and pores, as you layer.