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If there's one thing connecting the 2024 Readers' Choice Awards Breakthrough Award winners, it's Allure readers' insatiable pursuit of a head-to-toe glow. Haus Labs by Lady Gaga Triclone Skin Tech Foundation gives your complexion instant radiance while boosting skin's natural brightness under its long-lasting medium coverage. Drunk Elephant B-Goldi Bright Drops also imparts immediate luminosity as its ingredients (like niacinamide) get your skin increasingly closer to more-than-fine. Packed with niacinamide (like another one of its fellow 2024 inductees), Necessaire The Body Acne Solution lets you aim for clear skin from literally any angle. And K18 Molecular Repair Hair Oil's groundbreaking approach to frizz control translates to stunning shine no matter the hair type.
Every year, we see innovation in the beauty industry, but what bubbles to the very top of the cosmetic chemistry cauldron is always what best fulfills the wants and needs of shoppers and these four new formulas represent revolutionary approaches to hair, makeup, skin, and body in ways that easily earned fans for life.
Not yet familiar with the trailblazing beauty formulas that thousands of your fellow Allure readers voted for? Read on to get to know this year's Breakthrough winners and hear from experts on why these products deserve their growing fanbase.
Be sure to check out our other 2024 Readers' Choice categories, like skin and makeup, to see if your favorite products made the cut.
- The skin winner: Drunk Elephant B-Goldi Bright Drops, $38
- The body winner: Necessaire The Body Acne Solution, $25
- The makeup winner: Haus Labs by Lady Gaga Triclone Skin Tech Foundation, $45
- The hair winner: K18 Molecular Repair Hair Oil, $65
Readers' Choice Awards 2024 Breakthrough Winners:
Drunk Elephant B-Goldi Bright Drops may impart a golden luminosity, but this isn't your conventional bronzer or highlighter. Yes, this illuminator makes your complexion look brighter with light-reflecting pigments, but it's skin care rather than makeup, working underneath that instant glow to bring out a more even, radiant skin tone.
Made to be mixed with your go-to moisturizer, serum, or oil, B-Goldi Bright Drops are a great option for anyone dealing with unwanted hyperpigmentation. As board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, explains, its "niacinamide is a potent antioxidant that helps to even out skin tone and reduce sun damage" (which is why tweens may want to take a pass on this particular Drunk Elephant product). "Ubiquinone [also known as coenzyme Q10] acts similarly," she says.
Also helping to even your skin tone over time are diglucosyl gallic acid and mulberry leaf extract, which, according to board-certified dermatologist Brendan Camp, MD, "brighten skin, modify pigment production, and provide protection from free oxygen radicals that can contribute to the formation of dark spots."
While all of this is happening behind the scenes, B-Goldi Bright Drops acts as an incredibly natural-looking illuminator thanks to perfectly sized mica particles. "Larger particles give a sparkling appearance," says Dobos, and that's not what's happening here. "Smaller particles that are less than 20 microns (much less than the width of an average human hair) provide more diffuse reflection of light and a luminous appearance."
The result isn't so much a bronzer or highlighter effect but something that seems more lit from within. "I go for a soft sheen, so I love that this formula doesn't have any glittery flecks or unnatural sparkles. It wears thin—a plus for me—and glides onto the skin without disrupting any base products you already have on," says Allure shopping director Shanna Shipin, who applies B-Goldi like a liquid highlighter. "It leaves you with the kind of luminous, allover glow that a celebrity may otherwise credit to eight hours of sleep or water."
It's no surprise that Necessaire's The Body Acne Solution relies on salicylic acid for its skin-clarifying power; it's a gold-standard acne fighter, after all. But body blemishes can be more complicated to treat than facial breakouts. "Body acne can be exacerbated by sweat and oil trapped by fabrics and frictional forces from clothing or back," Dr. Camp says. "Logistically, treating back acne is more difficult because of the large surface area and difficulty of reaching certain areas."
Because of these additional challenges, in addition to that beloved beta hydroxy acid, Necessaire has incorporated other breakout-busting ingredients, like zinc PCA and niacinamide. And packaged them all in a game-changingly reliable and convenient spray format.
"Zinc PCA and niacinamide have both been studied for their ability to regulate sebum production and because zinc PCA also has some antimicrobial properties, this is a one-two punch to bacteria that exacerbate acne by feeding on excess sebum," Dobos explains.
Niacinamide is also anti-inflammatory, which means it can help reduce post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation left behind by previous acne lesions, says Dr. Gohara.
"Y'all can never tell him I said this on the internet, but my boyfriend has a bacne problem. It's not his fault he's got a very sweaty job. As soon as I came across The Body Acne Solution, I knew what had to be done," says Allure senior news editor Nicola Dall'Asen. "This is the first among many products we've tried that can more or less erase said acne without flaring up his hypersensitive skin in the process."
And with the help of a 360-degree spray, there's no broken-out area you can't confront. "It's not just the formula that makes this product tick, it's the packaging," Dall'Asen says. "Specifically, it's the nozzle that works no matter the angle you're spraying at, which makes it easy to apply everywhere, no beauty editor-girlfriend supervision necessary."
Whether your foundation priority is how it looks, how it feels, or how it functions—or all of the above—Haus Labs by Lady Gaga Triclone Skin Tech Foundation checks off every box like very few foundations can. The brand's R&D team spent over 1,000 hours testing more than two dozen formulas before it confidently launched what has quickly earned a stellar reputation as a product that both cosmetically and cumulatively improves the way skin looks.
One of the reasons Haus Labs by Lady Gaga Triclone Skin Tech Foundation is considered such a skin-friendly formula is because it features arnica. "Arnica is a botanical ingredient that reportedly has multiple skin benefits," says Dr. Camp. "These include reducing inflammation, helping to clear bruises, wound healing, and reducing puffiness or swelling." But it's not just any arnica that's in this foundation—it's a fermented form of the plant's extract.
According to Gloria Ryu, chief product officer at Haus Labs, fermented arnica is a powerful bioactive ingredient that's significantly more potent than conventional arnica. This veritable super arnica tops off a list of 20 skin-care ingredients, including hyaluronic acid and peptides.
All of this skin-care focus doesn't mean cosmetic compromise, though. "The formula also contains flexible film formers that help hold pigments in place," Dobos says. Interestingly, it also contains high-shine silicones like diphenylsiloxy phenyl trimethicone that are more common in hair care, "but when carefully combined with other ingredients in this foundation give a luminous finish."
"I find it to be very buildable and it blends beautifully on my skin," says Allure audience development director Lexi Herrick, who loves the sleek packaging. "It's not too heavy but has excellent coverage for acne and scarring."
The concept of using a hair oil to reduce frizz is nothing new. Also not new: disappointment when hair oil fails to reduce frizz. Depending on your hair type or the product, you might end up as frizzy as you were before applying, or you may find your hair weighed down—which technically counts as frizz reduction, but at what greasy cost?
"Most oils weigh down fine hair types or aren't hydrating enough for dry hair," explains Rita El-khouri, PhD, vice president of innovation at K18, which makes Breakthrough winner Molecular Repair Hair Oil. "K18 has created a concentrated formula that requires just one to three drops and absorbs into versus sitting on top of the hair." But this absorption is only part of why it works so well; once absorbed, it functions differently on a molecular level.
You're likely familiar with seeing peptides in your skin care, but K18 has developed one that does the heavy lifting (or considering its lightweight texture, not-so-heavy lifting) in its Molecular Repair Hair Oil. The amino acid chain sh-Oligopeptide-78, known as K18Peptide in the US Patent and Trademark Office, is able to smooth hair and encourage repair in a way that translates to far less frizz going forward.
According to cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos, sh-oligopeptide-78 is a peptide that has a structure corresponding to a specific part of the hair's keratin structure. "Keratin is the critical protein in skin, hair, and nails that provides strength," she says. "This peptide is purported to penetrate the hair fiber and reconnect broken bonds in the cuticle and deeper cortex."
And instead of silicone, Molecular Repair Hair Oil coats hair in avocado oil not only for additional smoothing power, Dr. El-khouri says, but also because it has "one of the highest natural smoke points and helps provide 450° F heat protection." A little goes a very long way, which means it's easy to overdo it. But, on the very bright side, once you nail that perfect little amount, the silky results will last and last and last. "All I need is a drop or two to instantly smooth my frayed blonde ends," says associate beauty director Sarah Kinonen. "And because it's a dry oil, it doesn't leave any greasy residue on my hands or my hair!"
