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The trend forecasters may be calling for quiet luxury, but here at Allure, it's all about quiet innovation. Because in a world of AI everything, sometimes what surprises and delights us most is… actually quite simple.
At least, that was the case for this year's Allure Best of Beauty Breakthroughs, which we have been vetting since last year. After combing through 500+ entries, searching for products that had never been made before (or made this way before), we narrowed the list down to 50-odd finalists. Then we put the products through their paces. A dozen very discerning Allure editors and a panel of 17 professional beauty skeptics — including cosmetic chemists, dermatologists, hairstylists, colorists, and makeup artists — dug into the data and swiped, slathered, and spritzed, on repeat, to separate the BS from the brilliant.
What we found is that many of the contenders had all the bells, whistles, and buzzwords of a breakthrough. The word algorithm? Check. Ingredients from outer space? Sure. But they weren't necessarily what bowled us over. What did: Four products that are so subtly genius, we couldn't believe they hadn't been done before. Now, we can't believe we ever lived without them.
Now, keep scrolling to see every brilliant beauty advancement we're celebrating this year. Once you're done, take a peek at the other winners of our 2023 Allure Best of Beauty Awards.
Best of Beauty Awards 2023: Breakthroughs
Jump ahead to a specific product:
- Brella 3-Minute SweatControl Patch
- Violette_FR Invisible Bandage
- MAC Lash Dry Shampoo Mascara Refresher
- Glossier Stretch Face Brush
Brella 3-Minute SweatControl Patch
Why it won: Sweat, at least on the surface, is fairly straightforward. It's about 99% water, plus a touch of salt and fatty acids that emanate from our sweat glands to manage body temperature. But if you have primary hyperhidrosis — defined as excessive sweating, most commonly on the armpits, palms, and feet — it's as if you're living in a house with faulty plumbing. The faucet isn't just leaky… it's flooding. No one really knows what causes primary hyperhidrosis. And if you’re perpetually drenched in sweat, you may not exactly be eager to discuss it with others — including physicians. Of the estimated 15.3 million people with the condition, only half have sought treatment with health care professionals.
The Brella 3-Minute SweatControl Patch — a prescription-only patch you wear for three minutes every three to four months in a doctor's office — could change that by making treatment quick, convenient, and cost-effective. "Quite frankly, this is as easy as it gets," says Stacy Smith, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Encinitas, California, who runs one of the leading hyperhidrosis clinical research centers in the country. It was also one of the testing sites for Brella. (Dr. Smith has no financial ties to the patch or its makers, Candesant Biomedical.)
The patch is a welcome departure from the currently available treatment lineup for the most prevalent type of hyperhidrosis, axillary or underarm. Options involve usually more than one of the following: many, many needles; an hour-long doctor appointment; dry eyes and dry everywhere else; irritation; pain; shelling out a couple of thousand dollars; and, in the case of the topical medication Qbrexza, maybe thinking you might be dying just a little bit. "There are stories of people going to the emergency room with a dilated pupil and getting a CT scan. Turns out, they don't have anything wrong with their brain. They just got a little bit of the medicine in their eye," says Dr. Smith.
These are all side effects the late Jacob Waugh, MD, was looking to avoid when alkali metals first caught his attention in 2016. Dr. Waugh was a prolific physician-scientist with more than 40 patents to his name, and 300+ pending. He knew that heat is produced when an alkali metal like sodium meets water. What if he could somehow leverage that energy to stop sweat?
"What he found was that if you limit the amount of sodium, you get a tiny microthermal reaction, right at the site of the water — in our case, sweat," says Niquette Hunt, CEO and cofounder of Candesant Biomedical, who's spent over 20 years working in health care product development. The reaction, which Dr. Waugh named targeted alkali thermolysis (TAT) technology, generates just enough energy to painlessly inactivate sweat glands in the armpit for up to four months.
Since the reaction needed to be precisely contained in order to work (tossing table salt onto your pits won't cut it), the Candesant team ruled out topical paste early on in favor of a patch. Made of highly malleable pure sodium, it's rolled out like Play-Doh, cut into a rectangle sized to fit most armpits, and affixed between two adhesive sheets. To apply, you peel back one sheet and press it onto the armpit — sort of like if you were applying a temporary tattoo or one of those heat patches for menstrual cramps or back pain.
"What's great is that it can be bigger than the area where you're sweating because it's inert unless it touches water," adds Hunt. This self-limiting precision is also why it's not ripe for off-label use if you don't have hyperhidrosis, which Dr. Smith defines as producing around 150 milligrams of sweat from both armpits in five minutes. If you aren't sweaty enough, it just won't do much.
Initially, the patch was designed to be held directly against the underarm for three minutes, but Hunt pivoted to add a flexible, adhesive layer at the suggestion of a physician advisor. The clinician can mold the entire patch to the underarm, says Hunt, so you have as smooth a surface as possible to maximize contact between the patch and the skin.
"The mechanism is quite clever, relying on water from sweat and the metals in the patch," says Robert Anolik, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. "It's also clever because it’s a completely novel method of sweat reduction compared to other modalities."
Brella's pilot study, published in the journal Dermatologic Surgery, "was impressive because it was a well-designed study and the results clearly show benefits: The control group didn't improve while the patch-treated patients did," says Dr. Anolik. "That all said, this is still a small study and the endpoint is only six weeks. More is needed to better understand it, but it is exciting to have this novel tool." Two subsequent clinical tests were performed on larger groups of 110 participants for longer time periods, though these have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals.
In one of these larger follow-ups, conducted for FDA clearance, 60% of treated subjects showed a 50% or greater reduction in their amount of sweat — on average, a difference of 57 milligrams in five minutes — as measured by gravimetric sweat production. (Sweat production when weighted paper is placed under the armpits, says Dr. Smith.)
Perhaps just as impressive as what the patch does is what it doesn't do: The FDA trial had no serious adverse events, a.k.a. side effects. "I was really pleasantly surprised by how well tolerated Brella is," says Dr. Smith. "When you think of this heat reaction, you may think it's really going to burn and sting. And that was not the case."
Like most hyperhidrosis treatments, Brella isn't covered by insurance. It began rolling out at select doctors' offices in late summer and will have a full nationwide rollout early next year. (You can find a doctor who's offering it at MyBrella.com.) The price will vary, depending on provider and location, but you can likely expect a number in the $350 to $500 range for the underarm area. Dr. Smith notes it requires far less time and overhead for providers compared to other similarly effective, in-office modalities, such as Botox injections, which run around $1,000 for both armpits, and miraDry, which costs about $3,000. "It's a much faster heat-generation treatment than miraDry," echoes Dr. Anolik. That heat-based device requires local anesthesia and works by beaming microwave energy into your armpits to permanently eliminate sweat glands, though the longest period studied is two years.
For now, the patch is only FDA-cleared for in-office application on the armpits, but Hunt says they're planning to explore its expansion. To the hands, feet, groin… and couch? "In our wildest dreams, could we adapt our technology to an at-home, over-the-counter version?" Hunt teases. "Perhaps." But for now, the potential for misapplication-related irritation is too high to have patients using the patch unsupervised.
Violette_FR Invisible Bandage
Why it won: Pro tip: If you'd like absolutely everyone to notice your pimple, try concealing it. Like Leonardo DiCaprio going "incognito" in a black baseball cap, that plaster-like ring around your inflamed skin isn't fooling anyone.
Since breakouts are usually slightly raised and semi-slick, most concealers tend to slide on down like a slo-mo avalanche. Hydrocolloid patches pose the same slip 'n slide problem. Concealer also settles into dry flaky spots around the pimple, and formulas that aren't made for acne-prone skin may contain pore-clogging waxes and oils.
Violette, a makeup artist in New York City and Paris, knew this dilemma well when she was facing a similar problem. An in-office laser treatment gone awry had left her with burns. "I started to dream of a liquid bandage I could put on that would treat and protect the skin like a shield, while also priming for makeup," says Violette.
Her dream was already a partial reality. First-aid liquid bandages have existed for decades, but they aren't meant for the face and they aren't meant for use with makeup. "I've kept some in my kit for anything on the body that may need tending to, but I've avoided using them because many [clients] have complained about it stinging and having the liquid bandage on for days until it came off on its own," says New York City-based makeup artist William Scott. "I would never use one of those products on the face."
While Violette was in the early stages of launching her own line, Violette_FR, in 2018, she added her beautified bandage — a.k.a. Invisible Bandage — to the wish list.
"The main ingredients in a standard liquid bandage are solvents and film formers," explains Kelly Dobos, a cosmetic chemist in Cincinnati. Solvents help all the ingredients in a formula mingle, deliver them to the skin, and then, poof, evaporate into thin air — in the case of liquid bandages, leaving film formers behind so they can grip onto the skin. The roles of solvent and film former are usually played by alcohol and nitrocellulose, respectively. The latter was originally used in explosives before it was introduced in car paints and nail polish for "its ability to form a durable, long-lasting film," says Dobos.
Alcohol? Fine. But nitrocellulose was a no-go for a matcha-sipping makeup pro. So, Luc Jugla, a cosmetic chemist in France (who helped pioneer the organic beauty movement with the skin-care line, Doux Me) and Violette_FR's head of product development, started exploring natural alternatives. He eventually landed on polysaccharide xanthan gum (a thickener that's often used as a food additive) and acacia gum (an amber-like sap sourced from acacia trees). The tricky part was figuring out the right concentrations: Too much alcohol dilutes the film formers, too little produces a longer dry time and a more obvious film. "When the liquid dries down on the surface, the agents have the tendency to become thicker — you will see that through the makeup," says Jugla.
After much trial and error — about 50 versions worth — Jugla found the perfect balance to deliver a super-thin layer that would look and feel like skin. "It lives up to its claims well: It dries quickly, sealing the blemish so makeup can go over it and stay put," says Scott. "It's light on the face, but stands up to the elements and oils in makeup and skin care. I have tried next-to-imperceptible pimple patches on the face, but those don't work well under makeup. This product does."
But creating a topcoat-like seal over the skin was only half the plan. Liquid bandages usually have strong antiseptic ingredients, which is why they sting, but they don't usually have any ingredients to calm. Jugla wanted to create "a multi-shield" against external aggressors (like makeup) that could stoke the flames of inflammation, but also internal ones that were causing all the fuss.
So he brought in a lineup of anti-inflammatories, including a Finnish mushroom extract, CM GlucanGranules (a derivative of beta-glucan), and niacinamide — which Jugla calls a Swiss Army knife for skin problems. "Niacinamide has been shown to speed wound healing in the laboratory setting," says Dr. Woolery-Lloyd, "It has also been used for hyperpigmentation because it helps decrease the transfer of melanin in the skin." Both boons for breakouts and the traces they may leave behind.
Beyond the formula itself, the packaging also required several revisions. They quickly decided a sponge-tip applicator wasn't up to snuff: "It had these little holes that hold onto the formula," says Violette, and that created a contamination issue. Plus, the applicator dragged across the skin for an uneven finish. A synthetic brush, on the other hand, provided "more control and quickly lays the formula flat on skin," says Violette.
To apply, take off the gold cap and twist the brush head clockwise so that the arrow points to on. (When you’re finished, make sure to set it back so the arrow points to off. This means the formula is locked into the tube, primarily for sanitary reasons, but also so you don't leak any liquid-bandage goodness.) Then simply coat the blemish with the brush, like you're applying a nail polish topcoat.
Allure's testers found it takes about three minutes for the formula to dry, after which you can apply concealer or foundation with a makeup sponge or finger. Scott was impressed by how user-friendly it is. "The wearability of this liquid bandage on the skin is better than other products I've tried," he says. "Anyone who wants to cover blemishes and keep them clean under makeup will see the value in this product. It will save them time in perfecting their skin and allow their blemishes to heal with less interruption." Plus, he adds, "the seal stays dry and doesn't crepe under makeup."
According to Kassidy Silva, Allure's associate director of social media, "It wears really nicely under makeup, doesn't dry you out, and sits like a primer on the skin. It's definitely better than an acne patch since it's invisible; it has more of a pore-less effect." Her only advice? Avoid putting it on your flakier breakouts, where the skin is too uneven to allow for a smooth seal. But that's a breakthrough for another year.
MAC Lash Dry Shampoo Mascara Refresher
Why it won: Neuroscience research shows that nothing good happens to our brains after midnight. Beauty-wise, we'd argue it's all downhill after 3 p.m. It's that witching hour when our once-buoyant hair falls flat, our skin dulls, and we reach for a puff of dry shampoo and a mist of rosewater to tide us over till bedtime. But there's one area that hasn't had an instant pick-me-up option until now — lashes. Consider MAC's Lash Dry Shampoo an espresso shot for your weary mascara.
You are probably well aware that if you apply mascara in the morning, very often it starts to droop and flake by midday. What you might not know is that the reason it does this is hidden in the ingredient list. Most mascaras are emulsions — a base of water and oil, plus pigments to darken, and a blend of starches, fibers, waxes, and film formers to add length and volume. This is true whether they cost $5 or $50. The waxes are multipurpose; they help distribute the pigment and they also provide shape and hold. Film formers are a bit like a cellophane wrapper that locks the whole formula in place.
"When you coat your lashes with mascara, the wet ingredients evaporate leaving behind the waxes and film formers, which need to be dry so they don't smear and transfer onto skin," says Los Angeles-based cosmetic chemist Valerie George. And that's the problem. "These waxes continue to dry and harden over the course of the day, becoming brittle and flaky," George adds.
It's a dilemma the product development whizzes at MAC know very well. Removing and reapplying mascara is time-consuming and messy. Putting new mascara on top of old mascara tends to look like an arachnophobic fever dream. So they set out to create a topcoat that would simply refresh your mascara instead of attempting to re-create it.
Now, this isn't exactly uncharted territory. Back in 2015, Urban Decay launched a product called Mascara Resurrection, a glycerin-packed clear serum that freshened up already mascara-ed lashes. A glorified lash primer, it required applying another coat of mascara on top. It created clumping when you used it with volumizing formulas and was soon discontinued.
"We needed a texture to be slightly less viscous than a standard mascara in order to clean up and really comb through the lashes without damaging them," says Jamie Lynch, MAC's executive director of global product development for eye makeup (and no relation to this writer). But they also needed something that didn't require any extra steps. Unsurprisingly, that meant creating a formula…that looks a lot like a mascara, with some key adjustments.
First, Lynch skipped the typical bells and whistles like lengthening fibers, dialed down the amount of wax and pigment (though it has an inky-black color, unlike the UD product), and added a higher concentration of emollients like stearic acid, argan oil, and panthenol. "You already have a coat of dried mascara on, so the formula you put on top has to be a little bit thinner to emulsify the existing one," says Lynch.
The real pièce de résistance — and pain in the ass to develop — was the brush, which is often overlooked by consumers, but as critical to any mascara as the formula. "A beautiful formula isn't any good if it's not spread appropriately on the lashes," says George. Well, lashes are ultimately just hair, thought Lynch. So, she and her team took inspo from hair brushes. "There's a paddle brush that smooths out the hair. There's a round brush where you get that curl. We wanted to combine both," she says.
After approximately 30 custom iterations, they had a winner. "We call this the lash teaser brush," says Lynch of the superthin applicator. It features a plastic brush head with twisted-in-wire bristles. Similar to one of those teeny-tiny reusable straw cleaners, it's made by placing bristles between two wires and twisting them. "It teases the lashes back up and helps them to stay in the position you want. That means you can really manipulate the formula to build back the look that you had at the beginning of the day."
To ensure that the perfect amount of formula gets onto the brush, they made the wiper, a sort of internal drain plug in the tube, slightly tighter than that in a typical mascara. "The wiper is really important because it does what it says. It wipes off the product from the brush before you use it," says Lynch. "It's really important to get the exact ratio of product that you would want to optimize the formula on the lash. We really had to do a lot of revisions because we wanted to make the wiper tight, but not too tight."
Per our testers, they got everything Goldilocks-level just right. "It melts into the older mascara to save clumps from falling and allows me to stretch them out along the lash again," says Scott. "I was happy to see how it cut through clumps and separated lashes. It slicks over the older coat so lightly and stays workable so that you can fully comb through."
Lynch says that their internal testing found the ideal time to apply the refresher is about four or five hours after your mascara application. Then you just pull out the wand (no pumping!) and coat lashes like you normally would. The formula dries in under a minute and can be used on top of pretty much any mascara — although it will work best on non-waterproof formulas, says Lynch.
"I'm shocked how much I love this stuff," says Allure's deputy digital director Kara McGrath. "So far, it's worked on every mascara I've tried. Your lashes are separated and lifted again." Will they look like they did in the morning? Maybe even better.
Glossier Stretch Face Brush
Why it won: Even if you're not the type of person who carries around a vanity's worth of beauty products every day, chances are there's been a time you've thrown a foundation brush into your bag with the intention of using it to touch up later.… only to discover that the bottom of your Telfar tote is now wearing more makeup than your face.
If that sounds like an all-too-familiar scenario, Glossier Stretch Face Brush is the simple yet genius Breakthrough that might just change your life (or at least extend the life of your makeup bag). The palm-size, circular brush features a swivel-style cover that locks in place, so you can take it on the go without creating a mess inside your bag — or risk the bristles picking up the germs and debris lurking within it.
Of course, Glossier is not the first to create a makeup brush with portability in mind. There are plenty of brands that make brushes with a removal cap intended to shield bristles. However, our editors have found that such caps have a tendency to pop off in transit, leaving a trail of bronzer as evidence. And even those rare caps that stay on until you choose to remove them aren't exactly travel-friendly: "I'll inevitably drop it in the back of the Uber I'm doing my makeup in," says Allure's senior editor Jesa Marie Calaor.
Therein lies the brilliance of the aforementioned swivel-style cover on the Glossier Stretch Face Brush, which does not detach but rather retracts when the brush is in use. And when it isn't, thanks to a click-lock mechanism that keeps the cover firmly in place, you can throw the brush into your bag with confidence.
It's the locking mechanism that turned the initial prototype presented by a brush manufacturer into a first-of-its-kind innovation unique to Glossier. "We had to perfect the level of pressure required to unlock [the cover]," says design director Jenny Kim. Too much would cause consumers to struggle; too little and the mechanism would unlock on its own.
Kim also felt strongly that the material for the cover should be metal instead of the plastic originally presented by the manufacturer, citing both performance and durability. Plus, metal mirrors the packaging of the brand's new Stretch Fluid Foundation and Stretch Balm Concealer. Both formulas were designed to be "flexible" and move with the wearer — which initially sparked the idea to create an on-the-go brush with which to apply them.
Of course, you can use the Stretch Face Brush with formulas other than those by Glossier. Los Angeles-based makeup artist Robin Black used it to apply both liquid and cream foundations for a smooth, even finish. "The ergonomic shape makes blending easy," she says.
When designing the sloped shape of the densely packed bristles, Kim and her team were inspired by the way gua sha massage tools hug the contours of the face. Allure's associate manager of special projects Talia Gutierrez says she found the shape especially useful when applying blush along her cheekbones (but added that it didn't really make a difference when blending foundation across her forehead).
The handle — or lack thereof — was also designed ergonomically. "It fits nicely in my hand," says makeup artist William Scott of the circular base. Our executive beauty director Jenny Bailly agrees, and says that when she uses the Stretch Face Brush she has "more control over the placement of my foundation versus when I use a traditional wand brush." Though it took a few applications for her to get used to the feeling of working with a handle-less brush, Bailly says the brush is now "vying for the top spot" in her collection. "It's also pretty damn cute," she adds. "The first time I pulled it out of my bag, my nine-year-old said, 'Is that like a Pokeball?'"
Glossier fans who appreciate cuteness will notice that the bristles appear to be tinted to match the brand's signature shade of blush. And while Kim and her team are nothing if not detail-oriented, in this particular case, it was merely a happy coincidence that the undyed state of the synthetic bristles just so happened to be pink.
