The Handbag Beauty Awards 2007

Must-Have Beauty Products Revealed

Today handbag.com, the top women's website in the UK, revealed the results of the 2007 Handbag Beauty Awards. A shortlist was selected by a panel of experts including celebrity make-up artist Jemma Kidd. The final winners were chosen by handbag readers themselves.

Kate Creasey, Beauty Editor, said: ‘The handbag beauty awards are important because they are voted for by our readers - the real women who are going in store and buying these products. It was very interesting to see such a broad range of products scooping best in class - a real mix of old favourites, modern-day classics and more unexpected, niche beauty buys'

The 56 categories cover every beauty need imaginable, and the role call of winners provides an indispensable shopping list for beautiful women everywhere. Here are some of the highlights:

Popular with make-up artists, beauty Editors and novices alike, Maybelline Great Lash Mascara has been on shelves and in our make-up bags for 36 years and as our 2007 beauty awards prove, there's still no other waterproof mascara to rival it. Simple and affordable, it beat off competition from more premium mascaras to scoop the prize for Best Waterproof Mascara, making it a true cult classic.

MAC proved they reign supreme when it comes to dressing up our eyes, winning both Eyeshadow and Cream Eyeshadow categories. Marie Bolton-Jones, a devout handbag.com reader, make-up junkie and part of our expert panel, said of MAC shadows... 'The colours! Oh, the colours! More variations than Dulux paint charts and a price reasonable enough that you can easily fill up a palette. Warning - these are dangerously addictive.'

Chanel held on to their title as the scent brand, picking up two of our four fragrance awards, whilst Clinique proved to be the big winners in the make-up and skincare categories, picking up a fabulous 5 awards, including Best Day Cream with SPF for Superdefence, and Best Cream Blusher for Touch Blush.

For further information please contact:

Louise Bury

<font style="color: #0000ff">louise.bury@hearstdigital.co.uk</font>

Notes to Editors:

About Handbag.com

Handbag.com was the first dedicated women's lifestyle website to launch in the UK, and is now the market leader.

Handbag is a stylish, glamorous, trusted and informative editorial environment that provides the inside track for busy women online, on everyday important issues like relationships, health, careers and beauty. With the luxury look of a glossy and the lightening reactions of a daily, Handbag.com offers a breadth of coverage from expert writers that has established its reputation as the leader in a crowded field.

Launched in 1999, it now includes the subsidiary sites getlippy.com, aimed at 18- to 30-year-old women, allaboutyou.com for women aged over 35 and gomamatoday.com, a pregnancy and birth site.

The Handbag network was acquired by the National Magazine Co. in October 2006.

About The National Magazine Company

The National Magazine Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation established by William Randolph Hearst in 1910.  NatMag publishes 15 consumer titles in the UK: Coast, Company, CosmoGIRL!, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan Bride, Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Prima, Prima Baby, SHE, You & Your Wedding, and Zest.  The group publishes a further two magazines, Men's Health and Runner's World, through a joint venture known as NatMag Rodale and three large scale weeklies, Best , Reveal and Real People through a joint venture known as ACP-NatMag.

About The Hearst Digital Network

The Hearst Digital Network, a division of NatMag, publishes the websites for NatMag magazines, including the Handbag network.