Marie Claire UK Prix D’Excellence Awards 2024: Everything you need to know

For over 30 years, the Marie Claire UK Prix D’Excellence de la Beauté awards have celebrated the very best in beauty. The crème de la crème of beauty awards, the Marie Claire UK Prix D'Excellence awards are, without question, the biggest night in the beauty calendar.

Each year, our testing panel (made up of industry professionals across the globe) meticulously tests countless of products to carefully select the best beauty products or campaigns in the world. All of which, to crown them as the Prix Awards 2024 winners.

The ceremony brings together the beauty industry's biggest names to celebrate the innovative winners and highly commended nominees. This year, we returned to The Corinthia Hotel for a suave gathering in its Ballroom. With over 200 attendees, including leading beauty experts, journalists, and the biggest brands in the industry.

The award ceremony began with Marie Claire UK Editor in Chief, Andrea Thompson who kicked off the evening by marking the core values within Marie Claire. "My mission since I became Editor-In-Chief four years ago, has been to celebrate the diversity of women’s lives, while empowering them to fulfill their potential on their own terms. The key to this has been safeguarding the core values of Marie Claire - its spirit for purpose-driven journalism and campaigning - while harnessing the digital expertise and innovation of Future."

Following on, we welcomed Beauty and Style Director, Lisa Oxenham who outlined the core values that involves the judging process, "With decades of experience under our belts, when evaluating products for awards, we prioritise those that cater to diverse beauty standards, acknowledging the varying beauty needs across cultures."

Finally, we were joined by Senior Beauty Editor, Katie Thomas who emphasised the importance of our Prix D’Excellence de la Beauté awards, "Working closely with our sister Marie Claire editions, we also ensure that not only is the Marie Claire voice heard in every corner of the globe, but also that we’re making the most informed editorial decisions that resonate in every market."

We swiftly moved on to the awards - here are all the details.

The winners

This year, we welcomed a couple of our guest judges and notable beauty insiders to partake in awarding the selected brands. 

We welcomed women's rights advocate, author, brand entrepreneur and model, Charli Howard who presented our British Female Founder Award to Lisa Eldridge. Beauty journalist, broadcaster, and diversity advocate, Dr. Ateh Jewelwas on hand to present Trinny Woodall with the British Beauty Community Award. Two very important accolades that have been recently introduced to our Prix awards roster.  

Our international winners were also announced as Orveda, L’Oréal Paris, Lierac, Clarins, Sisley Paris, and Guerlain, as well as our Transatlantic Award, which went to Armani Beauty.

You can see a full list of the evening's winners here.

A moment for sustainability

At Marie Claire, sustainability is at the heart of what we do and we don't forget about it when it comes to beauty. And for this year's British Winner, Sustainability Award, we crowned the well-deserved, The Body Shop. 

Andrea Thompson introduced the brand by warmly noting the brand's strong ethos and sustainability practices. "Sustainability isn’t just a pillar in this British brand’s ethos, it’s in its lifeblood. It was there at the brand’s conception and it’s been seen in every single launch since - from its impressive refill rollout to the recent announcement that it is the first-ever global beauty brand with 100% vegan product formulations, and, of course, its iconic partnership with Plastics for Change," she continued. 

"They have set the precedent for sustainable practices across the industry. It’s a brand that we will continue to stand behind and support. Because a beauty industry without this brand would be very bleak." 

What we wore

For the event, our team worked with close beauty and fashion partners to make sure we looked our very best. Editor-in-Chief, Andrea Thompson, Senior Beauty Editor, Katie Thomas, and Executive Beauty Editor, Shannon Lawlor, had the pleasure to work alongside Chanel Make-up artist, Mary Greenwell. Katie opted for bold red lips, Shannon had a sultry smokey eye, and Andrea opted for a classic glowy look. 

And the hair? Well, Shannon created her super slicked-back low-bun using Zara hair products. As for Katie, Lisa, and Andrea, they enlisted the experts at some of London's best hair salons. Katie worked with Hershersons Blow Dry at Selfridges to create a bouncy ponytail, while Andrea paired with Leah Hill at Aveda for her soft waves, and Lisa opted for a cut, blowdry, and colour by the expert team at John Freida.

As for the fabulous outfits, Shannon rented her 70s goddess Rixo dress via Hurr. Whilst Andrea wore a dashing silver number from The Vampire's Wife. Lisa wore a chic black silk number from Yolke. And Katie chose a baby blue pastel midi dress from Sister Jane.

Of course, the glamour didn't stop there. For nails, Lisa enlisted the super handy (no pun intended!) Bio Sculpture via elim, which enlists professional technicians to support your beauty treatments from the comfort of your home. Katie opted for the full salon experience and visited one of MC's must-go nail salons, Townhouse. 

What we ate

Before everyone sat down to enjoy the award ceremony, everyone enjoyed a fine selection of canapés. From tomato, basil, and mozzarella cones, to vegetable fritto misto, and a seaweed emulsion. Our guests were particularly fond of the Heritage beetroot, goats’ cheese, parmesan, and nigella seed shortbread, and the decadent King prawn skewer, saffron emulsion. 

After the awards, we snacked on bowls of macaroni cheese, with dried mushroom crumb and vegetables, along with smoked spiced chicken, avocado, gem lettuce, and sesame seeds.

For dessert, there were mini apple tarts and raspberry jaffa cakes.

What we drank

The champagne flowed on the night, with glasses of 2022 Viognier, Dellas Freres, Rhone Valley, 2021 Syrah, Dellas Freres, Rhone Valley, Laurent-Perrier, La Cuvée Brut NV, or an Elderflower cooler as the non-alcoholic alternative.

Inside the goody bag

Every fantastic event has an even better goody bag and our Prix swag bag did not disappoint. As guests left the Corinthia doors, everyone was talking about the full size Naturium The Perfector Salicylic Acid Body Wash and how they couldn't wait to try the award-winning L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Clinical SPF50+ Invisible Fluid. Here's the full list of everything Prix attendees went home with:

• Dr. Hauschka Hydrating Hand Cream 30ml
• L'Oréal Professionnel Metal Detox Anti-Deposit Protector Concentrated Oil
• Living Proof Triple Bond Complex
• Lierac Deluxe Mini-Model 13ml of Premium Serum
• Lierac Travel Size CLEANSER
• Clarins Lip Comfort Oil
• Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
• Naturium The Perfector Salicylic Acid Body Wash
• Tatcha Hinoki Body Milk 50ml travel size
• L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Clinical SPF50+ Invisible Fluid
• Weleda Skin Food Nourishing Day Cream
• Garnier Body Superfood Vitamin C & Mango Cream
• Elizabeth Arden Retinol + HPR Ceramide Rapid Skin-Renewing Water Cream
• Shiseido Revitalessence Skin Glow Primer
• Clinique High Impact High-Fi Full Volume Mascara
• Sculpted by Aimee Cream Luxe Glow 

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And with that, we concluded another successful Prix D'Excellence Awards and already looking forward to next year's celebrations! To check out (and shop) the winners, check out the link here.