For the annual Beauty Insider Awards, CEW members spent hours testing, smelling and swathing products entered for consideration from a record-breaking 900 entries from 500 brands. Armed with the knowledge to select beauty’s best, 228 finalists were chosen, across 40 categories. View the complete list of finalists here.

Now in its 23rd year, the Awards celebrates the most innovative new beauty products and continues to be the only beauty awards program selected by industry executives.

“The continued growth of the Beauty Insider Awards signifies the importance of innovation in the beauty industry, and provides consumers with a ‘seal of approval’ from industry insiders,” said Carlotta Jacobson, President of CEW.

New this year, three new indie award categories were added as part of CEW’s mission to increase its commitment to emerging indie beauty brands. Presented by Financo, the categories are: Indie Skincare, Indie Makeup and Indie Fragrance. Additionally, another new category, Tools of the Trade, presented by Anisa, was added to highlight innovative tools that aid or enhance application of makeup products.

For the second year, CEW has partnered with the Meredith Corporation to launch the Iconic Consumers’ Choice Beauty Award, which enables consumers to select a Beauty Insider Awards winner in two categories (one in mass, one in prestige). The finalists for this award were announced at an intimate breakfast at The Monkey Bar in New York City last week. From now until April 24, consumers can log onto beautybash.me to vote for their iconic favorites. Every voter can enter into a drawing to win one of four gift bags filled with more than $1,000 worth of products from the Product Demonstration.

All Beauty Award winners will be announced at a Luncheon at the New York Hilton in Midtown Manhattan on Friday, May 12. To register to attend, click here.