The 2026 Glossy Pop Awards winners reflect an industry increasingly shaped by community, cultural relevance and experimentation. This year’s winners found new ways to connect with audiences through creator partnerships, social platforms and live experiences while placing greater emphasis on personalization and collaboration.
That shift was evident in the work of MAC Cosmetics, which won two awards this year: Best Use of TikTok for its grand store opening campaign and Best Brand Activation for its U.S. Sephora launch. The Sephora debut became a broader cultural event drawing on MAC’s creator partnerships, experiential activations and social storytelling. The brand’s TikTok Shop campaign similarly combined creators, live commerce and curated products, demonstrating how social platforms have evolved from awareness channels into destinations for discovery and purchase.
The Estée Lauder Companies won Best Brand/Retailer Event for its Celebration on Prince Street activation, which took a different route. Estée Lauder transformed a New York City street into an immersive fragrance experience that engaged leading editors, creators, stylists and tastemakers. The activation made fragrance the centerpiece of a highly shareable moment, extending the conversation onto social media and into beauty and fashion coverage. Together, the MAC and Estée Lauder campaigns demonstrated how beauty brands are building communities around shared experiences rather than relying solely on traditional product-led messaging.
