Beauty editor Ash Cometti shares her top picks from 12 award-winning makeup brands.
Modern makeup lovers expect a lot from the formulas they choose, whether that’s to conceal or highlight, to accentuate or blur. Which makes my job as beauty editor all the more interesting, helping decipher the thousands of
This year’s Viva Beauty Awards 2025, presented by Glow Lab, aimed to shine a light on the makeup formulations that continue to lead the charge when it comes to finish, ingredient profiles and colour pay-off, with the winners spanning the best local and international makeup brands.
Read the full list of Viva Beauty Award 2025 winners here.
Below, beauty editor Ash Cometti dives into the 12 makeup brands that won their category in this year’s awards or were recognised as a runner-up, along with her recommendations of the best products to shop for from each.
Estee Lauder
Beloved by makeup artists, Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup, $89, remains a firm favourite for its medium-to-full, buildable coverage and longevity. Turns out, it’s a reader favourite too, and was crowned as our Best Base Product winner. Somehow, the unique formulation manages to toe the line between creating a flawless base but without looking mask-like – an impossible ask for foundations of a similar ilk.
The global beauty giant is known for both its enviable line of makeup as much as for its efficacious skincare, and another top beauty pick from the brand is perfect for prepping skin for the makeup steps to follow. Enter Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex, $226, which hydrates and nourishes skin in one fell swoop, helping to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, fending off harmful environmental aggressors and leaving skin plump and firm. As far as makeup prep is concerned, this clever serum promotes an even skin tone and texture, working overtime to reduce pore size.
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For a pretty wash of pink inspired by beet look no further than Ashley & Co. Tint Me Lip Punch With Pink Beet, $15. The Best Pop Of Colour winner sees 100% natural pink beet pigment combine with the local beauty brand’s own buttery balm formula for a lip product that tints and nourishes lips at the same time.
While it’s the only makeup hybrid available from the New Zealand owned and operated beauty brand, it’s not the only one on our radar. Another go-to is the brand’s beloved hand and body wash – Wash Up All-Over in Tui & Kahili, $40, which gently cleanses skin with its blend of plant-based essential oils and extracts. Not to mention, it smells delicious.
MCo Beauty
Known for its dupes, MCo Beauty was awarded Best In Glow for its Super Glow Bronzing Drops, $35, a close replica of Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi Drops. The bronzing serum is designed to be layered over bare skin before makeup application, or worn alone to impart a healthy glow to any complexion.
Recognised in last year’s Viva Beauty Awards was the MCo Beauty XtendLash Mascara, which has been reimagined to include a growth serum in its formula to promote growth and length of natural lashes. The new MCo Beauty XtendLash Mascara Growth Serum Black, $40, is one of the more expensive options in MCo’s makeup stable, but the glossy black mascara is worth its price tag for the serum-infused tubing formula which boosts lash growth in as little as six weeks.
Pure Fiji
Pure Fiji took out many top prizes in this year’s Awards, not least the title of Best For Lips for its Nourishing Lip Balm, $18, which sees fresh coconut milk cocktailed with a blend of plant-based oils alongside beeswax for a soft, supple pout.
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Advertise with NZME.It’s not the only Pure Fiji lip product worth sniffing out, with a variety of sweet-scented options to help hydrate or exfoliate lips.
We love the Coconut Lip Sleeping Masque, $22, to smooth on before you slumber. It’s infused with cold-pressed dilo and coconut oil, plus natural peptides that help to create the illusion of fuller and more defined lips.
Maybelline New York
We’ve waxed lyrical about the benefits of the Maybelline New York Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara, $32, since it first went viral back in 2021. The social media sensation comes in both waterproof and regular versions, and features a unique wand to help collect and coat individual lashes in the lengthening and volumising formula. Plus it took out top prize as the Best For Lashes Or Brows.
One of the newest products from the brand is its Superstay Lipstick Teddy Tint, $28, which envelops lips in a lightweight colour that blurs beautifully and lasts all day. The transfer-proof lip tint is buildable, meaning you can smooth on a light wash of colour or go full-saturation for a bolder finish. It’s equally pretty when blended on the apples of cheeks, too.
Burt’s Bees
A lip balm is a handbag mainstay, as evidenced by Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, $9, taking out the Best For Your Handbag award. The brand is universally loved for its suite of scented lip balms, including the effervescent aroma of Strawberry Lemonade. It leaves behind a subtle pink wash, and moisturises lips using beeswax, nourishing oils and fruit extracts.
Other moreish scents include Vanilla Bean, Pomegranate, Coconut & Pear and Sweet Peach.
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani’s Luminous Silk Foundation, $132, came a very close second in our Best Base Product category. Another makeup artist favourite, the radiant finish foundation recruits high-impact pigments to correct and perfect complexions. It’s available in a whopping 40 skin-flattering shades, and is suitable for use on all skin types – from combination/oil to dry or sensitive.
The Prisma Glass Lip Gloss, $75, is another top pick from the brand – an oil-in-gloss formula, which delivers a sheer wash of vibrant colour in one swipe. It contains a 15% concentration of hydrating squalane to care for lips at the same time, and comes in a range of shades from glossy clear and classic nudes to punchy pinks and vibrant reds.
Benefit Cosmetics
It took out the top spot in last year’s Beauty Awards for the Best Pop Of Colour, and now Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Lip & Cheek Tint, $57, has come in a close second. The multi-use tint is perfect for lending a touch of colour to cheeks or lips, helping to achieve a monochromatic makeup look with ease. For best results, pressing the lightweight formula in with fingertips makes for better blending – the product warms to skin and settles beautifully.
The brand’s Gimme Brow+ Brow Volumising Gel, $51, is one of its top-rated on the Sephora NZ website, with over a thousand users singing its praises for helping create fuller-looking brows. The unique tinted gel uses microfibres that stick to skin and hair, helping create the illusion of fullness and definition.
Bobbi Brown
Bobbi Brown’s Highlighting Powder, $116, is one of the brand’s signature glow-givers, a pearlescent powder that reflects light and leaves a strobing effect when swirled onto the high points of the face. The highly-reflective pigment powder is silky to apply to skin and can be dusted on lightly or built up for a more eye-catching effect. It’s easy to see why it came runner-up in the Best In Glow category.
Equally impressive is Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin Enriched Face Base, $124, a luxurious primer that has hit icon status for its hybrid formula which moisturises and preps skin for makeup at the same time. The richly textured cream is hydrating but not greasy, leaving skin hydrated, soft and ready for the makeup steps to follow.
The Ordinary
The Ordinary Squalane + Amino Acids Lip Balm, $20, was awarded runner-up in the Best For Lips category, a cosseting lip balm which harnesses skin-caring ingredients to hydrate and replenish dry lips. It contains amino acids identical to those found in skin to promote long-term hydration, alongside squalane to promote a healthy moisture barrier. Try it on any patches of dry skin including elbows and cuticles, too.
Keen to try something else from The Ordinary? Consider the Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, $35, which works to replenish the skin’s moisture levels and leave it feeling hydrated and soft all day long. The formula harnesses five different types of hyaluronic acid, plus ceramides and pro-vitamin B5 to lock hydration into skin and keep it there.
RevitaLash
It’s the original lash growth serum, so we were delighted to see RevitaLash Advanced Lash Conditioner, $209, receive runner-up in the Best For Lashes Or Brows category. The physician-developed serum helps to restore dry or brittle lashes with patented BioPeptin Complex, which helps to boost flexibility, hydration and shine. The result? Lashes that appear naturally lifted, soft and healthy-looking.
Brows in need of a boost, too? Consider RevitaBrow Advanced, $169, which includes the same BioPeptin Complex ingredient to achieve a similar result – fluffy, healthy, full-looking brows with ongoing use.
Gisou
Honey is the hero throughout Gisou’s range of lip and body care, including its Honey Infused Lip Oil, $55, which came runner-up in our Best For Your Handbag category. It couples Mirsalehi honey and the brand’s proprietary oil blend to nourish and lock in moisture to ensure lips remain hydrated and glossy (but never sticky). Alongside the original Honey Gold, it now comes in 10 shades spanning Watermelon Sugar to Strawberry Sorbet.
Find Gisou’s Lip Oil twinned with its signature Honey Infused Hair Oil in the new Honey Gloss Duo, $85, a limited-edition set available exclusively from Mecca.
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