Friday marked the advent of a very special day in New York City with the CEW Beauty Awards, the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. There were winners, losers and best of all, there was Mario Cantone, the irrepressibly witty and charming MC of the Awards Ceremony (and one of the SATC2 stars) who was presented with his own Beauty Award.

The 16th Annual Beauty Awards crowned 31 different products as winners in several categories, spanning from masstige to prestige. In addition to the standard categories, the effervescent Indie Award went to Living Proof, a brand near and dear to my heart because the products have a tendency to make your hair resemble Amber Valleta’s.

The celebrities who presented the awards were drool-worthy too. From Malan Breton, Idol finalist Anoop Desai, Supermodel Selita Ebanks, Estelle, Mark Indelicato to Kim Kardashian and Whitney Port, the awards ceremony did not lack star power. Indeed, when the audience applauded, stars fell out of their hands.

Now, let’s talk about the beauty winners, shall we?

We were not surprised at all to see stars like Vaseline Sheer Infusion with Stratys-3 win the Body Treatment Masstige category because the technology of that product is pretty revolutionary. Nor did we bat an eyelash when Lancome’s Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate won in the Anti-Aging Prestige Category because– let’s face it – if a product can capture the power of your youthful genes it deserves to have its own country named after it.

We have always been crazy about Lancome’s Oscillation Powerbooster Primer and were thrilled with Guerlain Rouge G de Guerlain won in the prestige lip product category.

Living Proof’s success is well deserved. The Indie company really understands hair issues and attitude with its groundbreaking anti-frizz technology (the brains behind the brand is an MIT professor, Dr. Bob Langer…need we say more?).

So what was one of the upsets? According to Ron Robinson, cosmetic chemist and founder of BeautyStat.com, one of the biggest upsets was that “Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash did not win because the technology was quite strong.” It lost the crown to Olay Body Wash Plus Tone Enriching Ribbons.

Another upset in our eyes was that Garnier Skin Renew Awakening Face Moisturizer won in the mass category over Olay Pro-X SPF 30.

Beauty Trends at CEW

We did spot some trends among the winning products, and here they are:

– Consumers seem to love the massaging/ roller concept for the face (Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller won in the eye treatment masstige category, and Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Awakening Face Massager won in the mass moisturizing category)

– Consumers can’t get enough of the the no frizz concept (kudos to Living Proof)

– Sensitive Skin products are on the rise (Clinique Redness Solutions Instant Relief Mineral Powder won in the Face Product Prestige category, and Neutrogena Sensitive Skin Sunblock Lotion with SPF 60+ with PureScreen won in the sun product masstige category).

So, tell us, have you tried any of these products? Do you love them? Give us the dish! To get the full list of winners, visit www.cew.org.

– Charu Suri