Face the Future Beauty Awards 2026: The Winners

Face the Future Beauty Awards 2026

Thank You For Voting. Your Winners Are In

You've had your say, and some categories were closer than we expected. These are the products you rated the best of the year, from the serum you swear by to the hair mask that's earned a permanent spot on your shelf. We've added a few picks from our own team too.

Chosen By You

With over 1,000 votes. 19 categories. One very busy inbox.

Every year we ask you which products have genuinely earned their place in your routine. Not the ones with the biggest launch or the loudest campaign, the ones you keep going back to.

This year more of you voted than ever before, and the results gave us a few surprises. Some long-time favourites held their ground. A couple of newer names pushed their way to the top.

So, thank you. For taking the time to vote, and for trusting us with what actually works for your skin and hair.

MEET the winners

Your Skincare Winners of 2026

Seven categories, and a lot of very loyal fans.

Best Brightening

Best Active Ageing

Best Hydration Product

Best Eye Product

Best Cleanser

Best Blemish Product

Best Sun Brand

SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic

Best Brightening

Our skin experts have a soft spot for this serum, and it's clear you do too. C E Ferulic has picked up a Face the Future award before, and here it is again in 2026.

The formula combines 15% pure vitamin C with 1% vitamin E and 0.5% ferulic acid. Why does that matter? Antioxidants work better as a team, and this blend helps defend your skin against free radical damage from pollution and UV, which is one of the biggest reasons skin starts to look dull and tired.

Apply four or five drops every morning after cleansing, then follow with your moisturiser and SPF. Over time your skin looks brighter and more even, with a healthy glow that makes it easy to see why it keeps winning.

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SkinCeuticals P-Tiox

Best Active Ageing

Expression lines come from living your life. Every laugh and every frown leaves its mark eventually, and P-TIOX is a serum designed specifically with those lines in mind.

It uses a peptide complex alongside niacinamide and PHA, a gentle exfoliating acid, to visibly soften the look of lines across nine areas of the face, including crow's feet and forehead lines. The texture is light and sinks in quickly, so it sits comfortably under your moisturiser morning and night.

It won't replace an in-clinic treatment, and it isn't trying to. What it gives you is a targeted, needle-free way to keep skin looking smoother and more refreshed from one day to the next.

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Dermalogica Intensive Moisture Balance

Best Hydration Product

If your skin feels tight by lunchtime, this is the moisturiser we'd point you towards. It's rich enough to comfort dry, depleted skin, yet it doesn't sit heavily or leave you looking greasy.

The hard work is done by Dermalogica's BioReplenish Complex, which helps restore the skin's lipid barrier. Think of that barrier as the mortar between bricks. When it's weakened, moisture escapes and skin feels dry and uncomfortable. Hyaluronic acid draws water into the skin, while prebiotic chlorella algae helps keep it looking balanced.

Use it morning and evening after your serum. Skin feels softer straight away, and with regular use it gets better at holding on to hydration, so dry fine lines look less obvious.

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Environ Youth EssentiA C-Quence Vita-Peptide Eye Gel

Best Eye Product

The skin around your eyes is thinner than anywhere else on your face, so it's often the first place tiredness and fine lines show. It needs care that's effective but gentle, and that's where this gel earns its place.

Environ builds its skincare around vitamin A, and this lightweight eye gel pairs it with vitamin C and a blend of peptides. Together they help improve the look of fine lines and crepey texture while keeping the area hydrated and comfortable.

Pat a small amount around the orbital bone morning and evening. It absorbs quickly, so it won't get in the way of your concealer, and with consistent use the eye area looks smoother and noticeably brighter.

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Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm

Best Cleanser

There's something about a cleansing balm at the end of a long day. You massage it in and feel your shoulders drop a little. This one has a seriously loyal following, and your votes prove it.

The balm melts into a silky oil as you work it over dry skin, lifting away make-up and even stubborn SPF. Add a splash of water and it turns milky, so it rinses away cleanly without that heavy, filmy feeling. A blend of nourishing oils, including elderberry and starflower, leaves skin soft and comfortable rather than tight.

For a deeper cleanse, remove it with a warm, damp cloth. It suits most skin types, although if your skin is very oily you might prefer it as the first step of a double cleanse.

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Environ Focus Care Clarity Sebu-Wash Gel Cleanser

Best Blemish Product

When your skin is oily or breakout-prone, it's tempting to scrub until it squeaks. The trouble is, stripping your skin tends to leave it tight and irritated, which doesn't help anyone. Sebu-Wash takes a calmer approach.

This foaming gel cleanser combines salicylic acid, which works inside the pore to help clear congestion, with tea tree oil. It lifts away excess oil and daily build-up while respecting your skin's natural moisture barrier, so you're left feeling fresh and clean instead of dry.

Lather it in your hands and massage over damp skin morning and evening. It works well on its own, or as the first step of Environ's Clarity+ routine alongside the Sebu-Tone Clarifier.

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La Roche-Posay

Best Sun Brand

Wearing SPF every day is one of the most effective things you can do for your skin, and La Roche-Posay makes it a habit that's easy to keep. No surprise, then, that you voted them your favourite sun brand.

The Anthelios range is developed with sensitive skin in mind, and the UVMune 400 formulas go a step further by filtering ultra-long UVA rays. These reach deep into the skin and play a part in premature ageing and pigmentation, so it's protection that matters all year round.

There's a texture for almost everyone, from the barely-there Invisible Fluid to tinted and shine-control options for oilier skin. Find one you genuinely enjoy wearing and you'll use it every day, which is where the real benefit comes from.

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Your Haircare Winners of 2026

Your hair had a good year. These are the products behind it.

Best Shampoo and Conditioner

Best Hair Treatment

Kerastase Elixir Ultime L'Huile Originale Refillable 30ml

Best Hair Styling Product

Best Haircare Brand

Best Hair Growth

Color Wow

Best Shampoo and Conditioner

Here's something a lot of people don't realise. Many shampoos and conditioners leave a coating on the hair that can make it look dull and feel weighed down, and that film can take the shine out of your colour too.

Color Wow created Color Security to do the opposite. The shampoo cleans thoroughly without harsh detergents and leaves nothing behind, so colour looks truer and hair has more natural shine. The conditioner detangles and softens without heaviness, and comes in versions for fine to normal and normal to thick hair.

Whether your colour is fresh from the salon or completely natural, this pair keeps hair feeling clean and light for longer.

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K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask

Best Hair Treatment

If your hair has been lightened, coloured or heat-styled to within an inch of its life, you'll know the feeling. It snaps easily and never quite behaves. K18 was developed for exactly that kind of damage.

Its patented K18PEPTIDE works inside the hair strand, reconnecting the broken keratin chains that keep hair strong and elastic. It's a leave-in, which surprises a lot of people. Shampoo, skip the conditioner, towel-dry, then apply and wait four minutes before styling as normal.

Results build with each use, so hair gradually feels stronger and softer. It suits all hair types, and a little goes a long way.

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Kerastase Elixir Ultime L'Huile Originale Refillable 30ml

Best Hair Styling Product

Beautifully glossy hair can make all the difference to how your hair looks and feels, especially when dry ends, frizz or flyaways get in the way of a smooth finish. Kérastase Elixir Ultime L'Huile Originale Refillable 30ml is a luxurious hair oil designed to bring softness, shine and manageability back to your lengths.

This lightweight, leave-in formula is enriched with nourishing oils, including wild camellia and French camellia, to help smooth the hair, control frizz and leave it looking beautifully glossy without feeling weighed down. It also helps protect against heat styling, making it a lovely addition to your everyday haircare routine.

Warm a few drops between your palms and work through the mid-lengths and ends of damp or dry hair. Use before styling for extra protection or as a finishing touch for silky, polished lengths. A little goes a long way, so start small and build up as needed.

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Olaplex

Best Haircare Brand

Olaplex changed the way we think about damaged hair. Before bond-building came along, most treatments worked by coating the outside of the strand so it felt smoother. Olaplex works on the inside.

Its patented technology targets the disulphide bonds that give hair its strength, the same bonds that get broken by chemical services and heat. By helping to relink them, the range leaves hair stronger and less prone to breakage over time. No.3 Hair Perfector is where most people start, used before shampooing, while No.4 and No.5 keep the good work going in your everyday wash.

There's a reason so many colourists use it in the salon. If your hair is coloured or regularly heat-styled, it deserves a spot in your routine.

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Hairburst Advanced Hair Supplement

Best Hair Growth

Thinning hair rarely comes down to one thing. Stress, hormones, diet and age can all play a part, which is why Hairburst designed Advanced+ to take a broader approach than a standard hair vitamin.

Each daily dose contains 22 active ingredients, including the brand's own TrichoBurst and Folishield blends. Biotin and zinc contribute to the maintenance of normal hair, and the formula also includes botanicals such as KSM-66 ashwagandha and turmeric. It's vegan, too.

Take four capsules a day with or after food, and give it at least three months. Hair growth is a slow process, so consistency is what makes the difference.

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Your Wellness Winners of 2026

The things that help you switch off, and keep you going.

Best Wellness Tech

Best Wellness Brand

Best Supplement Brand

Best Supplement

NEOM Wellbeing Pod

Best Wellness Tech

Scent has a real effect on how we feel, and the Wellbeing Pod is NEOM's way of making that part of your everyday. Add water and a few drops of your favourite blend, and it uses ultrasonic technology to release a fine, cool mist that fills the room gently instead of overpowering it.

Choose your oil to suit the moment. Something calming before bed, or something brighter to get you through a slow afternoon at your desk. The soft ambient light helps you switch off, and you can adjust the mist to suit the size of the room.

It looks lovely on a bedside table or shelf, and with no flame to worry about, it's an easy way to bring a little calm into a busy home.

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NEOM

Best Wellness Brand

NEOM started with a very personal story. Founder Nicola Elliott experienced burnout first-hand and set out to create products that genuinely help people feel better, using 100% natural fragrance.

The whole range is built around four wellbeing needs: sleep, stress, energy and mood. So whether you're reaching for the Perfect Night's Sleep Pillow Mist or lighting a Real Luxury candle at the end of a long week, you know exactly what each one is there to do.

From bath and body to home fragrance, NEOM makes it easier to fit small moments of calm into your day. Your votes made it clear how much those moments matter.

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Advanced Nutrition Programme

Best Supplement Brand

What you eat shows up in your skin, and that's the thinking behind Advanced Nutrition Programme, a brand dedicated entirely to skin nutrition.

Each supplement is built around a specific concern, which makes it easy to find the right fit. Skin Accumax is designed for blemish-prone skin. Skin Vit A+ provides vitamin A, which contributes to the maintenance of normal skin, and Skin Omegas+ delivers essential omega fatty acids.

Supplements work gradually, so think in months rather than weeks. Taken alongside a good skincare routine, they're a simple way to support your skin from within.

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Ancient + Brave True Collagen

Best Supplement

True Collagen is about as simple as supplements get. It's a pure, unflavoured collagen powder, so you can stir it into your morning coffee or a smoothie without changing the taste.

It's made from grass-fed bovine collagen peptides that dissolve easily in hot or cold drinks, with no clumping and no fuss. It's naturally rich in type I collagen, the most abundant type in the body, and a straightforward way to add more protein to your day.

There's no complicated routine to follow. One scoop a day in whatever you're already drinking makes it an easy habit to keep, which is probably why so many of you rate it so highly.

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Our Team's Top Picks of 2026

A few we chose ourselves, because we use them too.

Staff Choice

DermaFocus winner of best in-clinic treatment, Face the Future Beauty Awards 2026

Best Clinic Treatment

Best Brand Moment

Gatineau

Staff Choice

Staff Choice is picked by the people who test and recommend skincare every single day, and this year Gatineau came out on top. It's a French skincare house with decades of expertise behind it.

Gatineau focuses on visible signs of ageing. Its Melatogenine range is a long-time favourite for smoothing the look of fine lines, while Défi Lift 3D is designed to help skin look firmer and more lifted.

The textures are a big part of the appeal. They're rich without being heavy, and genuinely lovely to apply. If you want results-focused skincare that still feels like a treat, this is a great place to start.

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DermaFocus

Best Clinic Treatment

Some skin concerns need more than a serum can offer, and that's where our clinic team comes in. Their pick for 2026 is DermaFocus polynucleotides.

Polynucleotides are highly purified DNA fragments that work with your skin's own repair processes. Injected in tiny amounts, they help improve hydration and elasticity, so skin looks fresher and feels firmer over the weeks that follow.

Results build gradually and look natural, which is a big part of the appeal.
A course is usually a few sessions spaced a few weeks apart. Everything starts with a consultation at our nurse-led clinic, so your treatment is planned around your skin and what you'd like to achieve.

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Heliocare

Best Brand Moment

Heliocare has been behind some of our biggest SPF moments this year, getting fully behind our VAT Burn campaign and our 365 Days of SPF activity. Together we’ve been spreading a message we care about. Sun protection is an everyday essential, in the Winter as much as the Summer.

What sets the brand apart is Fernblock, an extract from a tropical fern that gives skin extra antioxidant support alongside its UV filters. The 360° range also helps defend against visible light and infrared, which play a part in pigmentation and premature ageing whatever the season.

There’s a formula for most skin types, from the lightweight Water Gel to tinted Color options, so finding one you’ll happily wear every day is easy. Heliocare 360° capsules are also available, designed to be taken alongside your daily SPF and never instead of it.

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Promotional graphic for the Face the Future Group Beauty Awards 2026, featuring three beauty products (a dropper bottle, a cylindrical tube, and a cream jar) floating around a central gold circular emblem on a dark background with glowing light effects. Text on the right reads 'Your 2026 Winners!'.

Face the Future Beauty Awards Winners

Celebrating the beauty favourites you've loved over the years. From award-winning skincare and haircare heroes to everyday wellness essentials, browse our Face the Future Beauty Awards winners from 2022 to 2026. Whether you're revisiting a trusted favourite or finding something new for your routine, explore the products and brands that have earned their place in the spotlight.

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How The Winners Were Chosen

Voting ran from 3rd to 17th August, and anyone could take part. You picked one favourite in each category, and the product with the most votes won.

Our team's picks work a little differently. Staff Choice, Best Clinic Treatment and Best Brand Moment were chosen by the people who test and recommend these products every day. We've kept them separate so you always know which is which.

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Shop Our Face the Future Award Winners

K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask

From $29.00

View Product

NEOM Wellbeing Pod Oil Diffuser

$193.00 $241.00 20% offsaving

Kerastase Elixir Ultime L'Huile Originale Refillable 30ml

$60.00 $70.00 14% offsaving

Gatineau Golden Glow Gradual Tan Face Serum Light/Medium 50ml

$106.00

Gatineau Golden Glow Gradual Tan Face Serum Medium/Dark 50ml

$106.00

Marini SkinSolutions Bioglycolic Face Cleanser 178ml

Marini SkinSolutions (Formerly Jan Marini) Bioglycolic Face Cleanser 178ml

$109.00

FTF Award Winner

ESPA Bergamot & Jasmine Bath & Shower Gel

$41.00 $49.00 16% offsaving

FTF Award Winner

Sarah Chapman Vitamin A Power 2: Retinol and Retinal Serum 30ml

$236.00

Gatineau Golden Glow Gradual Tan Face Serum Light/Medium 10ml

$29.00

Gatineau Golden Glow Gradual Tan Face Serum Medium/Dark 10ml

$29.00

LYMA Laser Starter Kit

$4,808.00

BIOEFFECT EGF Serum 15ml

$335.00

Shop Previous Winners

2026 Winners

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2025 Winners

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2024 Winners

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2023 Winners

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2022 Winners

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A Look Inside the Beauty Awards 2026

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Thank You For Voting. Your Winners Are In

Chosen By You

Your Skincare Winners of 2026

Best Brightening

Best Active Ageing

Best Hydration Product

Best Eye Product

Best Cleanser

Best Blemish Product

Best Sun Brand

Best Brightening

Best Active Ageing

Best Hydration Product

Best Eye Product

Best Cleanser

Best Blemish Product

Best Sun Brand

Your Haircare Winners of 2026

Best Shampoo and Conditioner

Best Hair Treatment

Best Hair Styling Product

Best Haircare Brand

Best Hair Growth

Best Shampoo and Conditioner

Best Hair Treatment

Best Hair Styling Product

Best Haircare Brand

Best Hair Growth

Your Wellness Winners of 2026

Best Wellness Tech

Best Wellness Brand

Best Supplement Brand

Best Supplement

Best Wellness Tech

Best Wellness Brand

Best Supplement Brand

Best Supplement

Our Team's Top Picks of 2026

Staff Choice

Best Clinic Treatment

Best Brand Moment

Staff Choice

Best Clinic Treatment

Best Brand Moment

Face the Future Beauty Awards Winners

How The Winners Were Chosen

A Look Inside the Beauty Awards 2026

Not Sure Which Winner is Right For You? Take Our Free Skin Test

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