We’re drowning in superlatives: the 100 best restaurants, the best TV shows of the 21st century, the 50 best hotels in the world, the best vegan lunch in a Tulsa mall. Beauty products also get the superlative treatment, with best-of-beauty lists from every other magazine, Substack, podcast, and retailer. Some of them are helpful, some are thinly disguised thank-yous to advertisers—and some are entirely my fault.
When I was the editor of Allure, I decided to create a list of the best beauty products and publish it in the October 1996 issue of the magazine. The idea came from a routine trip to CVS for a bottle of shampoo. I stared at the wall with its volumizers, clarifiers, straighteners, de-frizzers, color protectors, hydrators, and dandruff-fighters until my eyes crossed. It was impossible to choose, even for me, and I knew all the products. If I was stumped, I figured everyone else must be, too.