Restorsea, SpaRitual And Other Indie Favorites Win IBE Best In Show 2018 Awards

Reflecting the range of indie beauty itself, the 28 brands Indie Beauty Media Group revealed today as 2018 Best In Show winners run the gamut from months-old skincare upstart O’o Hawaii to 15-year-old veteran hand and nail care specialist SpaRitual.

The 30 categories is up from 28 the previous year. After the pruning of a handful of categories, new categories added this year are best bath product, deodorant, eye makeup, SPF, impulse buy and gym product. Winners were selected from a pool of more than 350 nominees, the largest number ever in the four years of the BIS program, culled from 538 Indie Beauty Expo exhibitors participating in at least one of last year’s four exhibitions: Los Angeles, Dallas, New York and, for the first time, London. The BIS awards span categories such as Best Shampoo/Conditioner (Groh came away with the win), Best Ingestible (Hum Nutrition) and Best Facial Cleanser (Code of Harmony). Code of Harmony also represents a category, CBD, that is likely to have its own award for the 2019 season, according to Jillian Wright, co-founder of IBMG, producer of IBE and owner of Beauty Independent.

“We are beyond excited and grateful to have won Best in Show from IBE in the Body Scrub and Nail Polish category for our Earl Grey Sugar Scrub and Nourishing Vegan Color,” says Shel Pink, founder of SpaRitual. “Thank you IBE for your dynamic and innovative platform, and to the judging committee for selecting SpaRitual. What an honor! We are filled with gratitude.”

A team of industry experts comprised of retail buyers, influencers and editors—among them Credo co-founder Annie Jackson, The Detox Market founder Romain Gaillard, Revolve beauty buyer Kandice Hanson and PopSugar senior reporter Kirbie Johnson—acted as Best In Show product evaluators. They were assigned specific BIS categories and tested the nominated items within their assigned categories for a six-week period. During that period of scrubbing, shaving, spritzing and shampooing, finalists were selected and, ultimately, a single winner was chosen for each BIS category.

Though the BIS evaluation process is a significant time commitment for these beauty professionals, many have found the process instructional—and fun. “Having the opportunity to deep dive into lines I admire while discovering new brands brought me back to the purity of the beauty industry and exactly why I started writing in this vertical so many years ago,” enthuses Rachel Anise, the creative force behind The Beauty Professor. “As a beauty journalist, it’s rare to encounter fresh, high-quality  brands that haven’t been on my radar in some capacity, but this judging experience introduced me to a host of products that felt equal parts novel and innovative. I am excited for the lines that receive IBE recognition and am thrilled to have been a part of the process.”

2018 Best In Show winners include Ere Perez for Best Natural Cosmetics, 37 Actives for Best Facial Serum/Oil and Way Of Will for Best Foot Care.

In the face of the stiffest BIS competition yet, Restorsea and SpaRitual, both first time exhibitors with IBE, managed to snag two 2018 awards each. The group of winners is rounded out by a mix of emerging international brands—Barcelona-based Apoem won for best face mask and New Zealand’s Girl Undiscovered took the award for best packaging design—as well as US-based brands like ingestible specialist Hum Nutrition and Texas-based skin and body care range Beauty By Earth. “It’s no easy feat being honored by industry professionals and rising to the top of a group of 350 brands to be recognized as high-performing, well-packaged and standouts in a highly competitive space,” declares Wright.

It’s also no easy feat to decide on the nominees from the curated collection of independent beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands that displayed merchandise at IBE in 2018. IBMG considers several factors in the nominating process, most importantly feedback from buyers, editors and consumers attending the expos. BIS nominations for last year were officially closed at the conclusion of the final show of the 2018 season.

Beyond bragging rights, BIS winners are featured in a Best in Show Beauty Collection. The collection is sent to top beauty buyers and editors, and available for purchase exclusively on IBE’s website for $295. In its third year, the Best in Show Beauty Collection has quickly become a consumer favorite. This year, it’s already amassed a waitlist of 1,000 beauty enthusiasts looking to get their manicured hands on the over $1,000 worth of products the collection contains.

Though the year-long Best In Show effort is spearheaded by Wright, the opportunity to recognize standout brands and products is welcome by all of Indie Beauty Media Group. “Our entire team loves Best in Show, it’s a great capstone to each exhibition season,” says IBMG co-founder Nader Naeymi-Rad. “Best in Show is an opportunity for us to step back, recognize and celebrate the amazing innovations indie brands are bringing to the market and highlight those that stand out in a very busy field. This year’s winners once again prove that indie brands are at the forefront of innovation. We are very happy for and proud of all the finalists and winners and are honored to have counted them as our exhibitors in 2018.”

The complete list of winners is available on the Indie Beauty Expo website.