How to Actually Trust Beauty Awards

(And which ones are worth your time)

Hello, Gorgeous!

A couple of weeks ago Good Housekeeping dropped their 2025 Beauty Awards, and every time I see another Best Beauty Products of 2025 list pop up, I can't help but think about both Consumer Reports and Kirkus Reviews.

Consumer Reports accepts no advertising, buys all products anonymously for testing, and regularly publishes reviews that make companies furious. Kirkus Reviews used to have that same fearsome reputation in publishing - until they launched their paid review service and everything changed.

Contrast that with the beauty industry's award culture, and the difference is stark.

The pay-to-play dilemma

What a majority of consumers don't realize about the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval is that brands pay for the testing and certification process.

While Good Housekeeping claims their Beauty Lab conducts rigorous testing (and they do test products), the financial relationship between the magazine and the brands feels murky. When a company is paying for evaluation, ho…