Quest for the best

A lot of women feel intimidated by department-store beauty counters because the salespeople often glare if you try out some of the products on offer, but then decide against buying any. Here’s a great chance to try new products and feel like a boss, because you'll be there in the role of a judge.

Marie Claire Best Beauty 2014 judges.

Marie Claire Best Beauty 2014, now in its fourth year, is back to delight women and men with a well-crafted list of the best beauty products voted for by celebrities, beauty experts, ordinary people and beauty journalists.

After three years of overwhelming success, Marie Claire Best Beauty has won a special place in the hearts of those in beauty circles. This year, the judges include 14 famous faces, including Marie Claire Thailand editor Pilan Sriveerakul, make-up artist Apichart "Ped" Norasethaporn, Metinee "Lookkade" Kingpayome, beauty influencer Amata "Pearypie" Chittasenee, dermatologist Thidakarn Rujipattanakul, Virithipa "Woonsen" Pakdeeprasong, Saharat "Kong" Sangkapricha, Nathasedh "Top" Poonsapmanee and Yuthana "Toomtam" Puengklarng.

Sirimon Na Nagara, managing director of Post International Media, revealed that the Marie Claire Best Beauty Award is held with the aim of acknowledging beauty products based on a long-established award, the Marie Claire Prix d’Excellence de la Beaute, that has been given out by its parent company for 28 years now and is recognised internationally as the "Oscars" of the fashion and beauty industry. Thailand’s Marie Claire Best Beauty also seeks to acknowledge and award outstanding beauty products utilising international standards and criteria to choose the best categories of beauty for its invited judges to consider and make awards.

Look for the Marie Claire Best Beauty 2014 sign at beauty counters to test and vote for your favourite beauty products.

Each chosen product must undergo a trial period of three months under exacting standards for each category to ensure fairness and suitability for Thai women or other target buyers (depending on the product being judged).

"As with other previous years, every woman can take part in the most prestigious beauty award in Thailand in search for the best beauty products. Now the award is in its fourth year and we are making it bigger and better than ever. We have Test & Vote activities at Marie Claire Best Beauty On-Location events to let the public decide which products should win the Marie Claire Readers' Choice Awards. The Test & Vote events will take place at Zen and four branches of Central Department Stores in Bangkok, namely Central Plaza Lardprao, Central Chidlom, Central Pinklao and Central Bangna. This will also mark the first year that we branch out to Central Festival Chiang Mai, which will give Marie Claire readers and beauty lovers a chance to take part in the activity. The Test & Vote period began in the last week of May and will run throughout June," said Sirimon about this year's award.

Last year, more than 1,800 people joined the Test & Vote activities, testing selected beauty brands and voicing their honest opinion, which plays an important role in this campaign. This year, with more products submitted and wider coverage of the On Location activity, the number of votes is expected to increase.

You are more than welcome to try the products at any beauty counter that displays a Marie Claire Best Beauty 2014 sign. This year, over 700 products have been submitted in hopes to win the much coveted title of being a Marie Claire Best Beauty winner, and only 33 products will win this year and winners will be announced in August. Marie Claire Best Beauty 2014 is divided into five categories, namely: 19 Marie Claire Best Beauty Awards; five Marie Claire Special Awards; three Marie Claire Men’s Skincare Awards; four Marie Claire Readers' Choice Awards; and two prizes in a newly introduced category, the Marie Claire Journalist Award.

The Test & Vote results from the On Location activities will be collected at the end of the campaign to find the four winners of a Marie Claire Readers' Choice Award, the categories being: skincare, make-up, fragrance and service.

Virithipa, the well-known VJ, actress and model, is new to the campaign, and admitted that it has been quite a challenge.

"I have to be really disciplined because I have to personally try all of the products, and there are more than 700 of them. As challenging as it is, it has been great fun.

"I've always heard people talking about how great some products are, but never really got to try them, and here's my chance. I've also discovered some really great products which I've never heard of. It's been a delightful experiment for me," she said.

Marie Claire Men’s Skincare Awards is another category that has received great attention since it was introduced last year. Nathasedh, as a judge of the men’s products, commented that it has been an eye-opening experience for him. Although he normally uses a lot of personal-care products, he did not know of the existence of so many men’s products.

"I have a lot of personal-care products, but I must admit they are mostly women’s products. Men’s products don’t get many reviews and not many people know about them. Now I’ve found that some of them are really great, and the results would really help a lot of men out there who want products that suit them, but have no idea what products are good," Nathasedh said.