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"[#image: /photos/577182378d432b9e20f8d95d]||||||\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nYesterday, *Allure's* beauty department met for four hours of smudging and smearing\u2014for the first of several meetings to test eye shadow, lipstick, nail polishes, fragrances, and candles to determine which products should win 2010 [Best of Beauty Awards](http://www.allure.com/beauty/best_of_beauty). Yes, this is a pretty cool job, but one of the hazards? We tried on hundreds of lipsticks and had to clean and blot our lips between each one; needless to say, our lips were on fire by the end of the day! Here's an inside look at how we get our [Best of Beauty](http://www.allure.com/beauty/best_of_beauty) issue ready.\\n\\n\\n\\n__Makeup:__\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  The challenge is to find shades that look good on fair, medium, *and* dark skin. We test everything on staffers with different skin tones, because what looks pretty on our beauty editor's olive skin might look terrible on my pale complexion. A few key things we've discovered over years of testing makeup:\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n \\n\\n- Brown and beige eyeshadows are usually most flattering when they have a little shimmer. Otherwise, they can look muddy or washed-out.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  - Purple is one of the most universally flattering colored shadows\u2014it looks good on all skin tones and really brightens the eyes (it brings out green and gold flecks in your irises).\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  - A lipstick's formula is just as important as the color. Yesterday we came across a line with the most beautiful shades\u2014but the formula really drags over your lips as you apply it. You want something smooth and softening, and easy to apply.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  - The hardest category to find one universal shade is nude lipstick. For this reason, we often name two nude lipstick winners: one for fair skin (which needs a pinkish nude) and one for medium and dark skin (which needs a caramel undertone).\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n__Nail Polish:__\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  We first eliminate anything obviously unattractive (too much iridescence; brushes that glop color all over your skin), then we start painting the shades on our fingertips. Once we've selected between five to ten colors in each category (red, pink, nude, and bright), we enlist the help of our interns: They paint each of our narrowed-down options in one category on each of their nails, and then we pick without knowing which brand it is. This helps us compare reds with reds, pinks with pinks, and so on.\\n\\n\\n\\n__Fragrance:__\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  This is the category that inspires the most animated banter among us, since fragrance is such a personal thing. What might smell sexy to one person reminds another of \\\"a cleaning solution\\\" or \\\"a man's deodorant.\\\" So when we find a scent that our entire beauty department loves, we know it's a winner. We first smell the scents by spraying the fragrance into the cap (a good way to get a general feeling for a fragrance), and then on paper scent strips. Once we like a scent that way, we test it on the skin. It's amazing how different a fragrance can smell on paper versus on skin\u2014or even on one person's skin versus another. After you smell a certain number of scents, you start losing the ability to smell them properly or tell one from another. So we always bring a couple packets of coffee grounds to the meeting to smell between fragrances; they're like a palate cleanser for your nose.\\n\\n\\n\\n__Candles:__\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  The tough thing about choosing the winning candle is to find one that a) smells good, but also b) looks good. Sometimes you get an amazing fragrance but it's in a container you'd never want to display\u2014and vice versa. The other thing is to make sure the scent isn't overpowering or, on the other end of the spectrum, barely existent, and that it doesn't smell like a Christmas tree or cinnamon cookie.\\n\\n\\n\\nStay tuned for all our picks (plus many, many more that the entire staff of the magazine participates in testing, such as hair volumizers, skin creams, lip balms, and more) in the October issue!\\n\\n\\n\\n__RELATED LINKS:__\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  [*Allure's Best of Beauty Begins!*](http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2010/05/allures-best-of-beauty-begins.html)[Best of Beauty: Nails\\n](http://www.allure.com/beauty/bestof/2009/10/best_of_beauty_nails)\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n  [Best of Beauty: Scents](http://www.allure.com/beauty/bestof/2009/10/best_of_beauty_scents)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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