Power, Pigment, And A Perfect Wing: Inside The ELLE Beauty Awards 2025

The night beauty met its makers, icons, disruptors, and everyone who makes India shimmer. A night that proved beauty isn’t just skin deep, it’s community.

The JW Marriott, Juhu didn’t just host the 19th edition of SSBeauty Presents ELLE Beauty Awards 2025 — it hummed. You could feel it in the air before anyone took their seat. Hair spritzed, lips lined. It wasn’t one of those nights where people pretended to be important; everyone was. Founders, faces, and the quiet power players of Indian beauty gathered under one chandeliered roof.

The show opened the way good theatre does — slow, cinematic, perfectly timed. Chaitanya Sharma and Shweta Tripathi walked on stage like they owned the spotlight, trading charm and timing like old pros. Ainee Nizami Ahmedi set the tone with her welcome — warm, steady, and full of heart. This wasn’t a night about hierarchy; it was a celebration of the people who build, dream, and disrupt beauty every single day.

The People Who Make Us Look Good

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The first half was the industry’s standing ovation to itself — a love letter written in gold envelopes. From thou's hue drops to La Mer’s lip volumizer; every product was a quiet revolution packaged in glass and promise. Wellness icon Deanne Panday, hairstylist Aalim Hakim, and fitness guru Shivohaam took turns presenting, proof that beauty doesn’t live in silos — it sweats, sculpts, and sparkles all at once.
And then came Kriti Sanon, named ELLE Beauty-preneur of the Year. It was the kind of applause that fills a ballroom — for a woman who has blurred the lines between celebrity and CEO, between face and founder.

The Power of the People

The people awards turned the night from spectacle to soul. Dr Hansaji Yogendra took home ELLE Health & Wellness Expert of the Year, her calm radiance anchoring the frenzy. Dr Seema Anand, ever the oracle of intimacy, received the Sexual Wellness Stalwart Award; her video message met with knowing smiles — she’s been teaching India to speak its desires for decades.

The artistry awards followed, celebrating the people behind the transformations.
Amit Thakur, crowned Hair Expert of the Year, reminded everyone why his touch is legendary. Sandhya Shekar won Makeup Artist of the Year; her work proves that subtlety can be as arresting as pigment. And when Dr Jewel Gamadia accepted his award for Skin Expert 2025, the crowd erupted. Few people have shaped India’s approach to modern skincare quite like him.

By the time the eco-pioneer Old School Rituals and the innovation powerhouse Kasaya took their wins, it felt clear: this was an evening honouring not just faces but philosophies.

When Icons Took the Stage

Then came the stars. Sushmita Sen — towering, magnetic — took home ELLE Eternal Muse, turning her walk to the stage into a slow-burn masterclass in elegance. I found myself beside her later, comparing heels, laughing over inches and metaphors. Sonali Bendre floated through the crowd, her poise disarming as ever — the very definition of Effortless Elegance. Nora Fatehi, winning International Power Performer, turned the ceremony into choreography; even her thank-you wave felt like movement.

But the electricity wasn’t just onstage. You could see it in the way the community moved — editors hugging creators, dermatologists swapping product notes with actors, hairstylists fixing flyaways mid-photo op. The beauty world, for one night, looked like a family reunion — sequinned, scented, and sincere.

The Crowd that Couldn’t Stop Clapping

By the time the SSBeauty Select Jury Award, decided over martinis at the ELLE x SSBeauty brunch, went to Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, the night had become a rhythm. Cheers rose louder, camera flashes steadier. Somewhere between the laughter, applause, and polite chaos, beauty stopped being an industry and became a collective memory.

When Aditi Rao Hydari took home Beauty Muse, Fatima Sana Shaikh claimed Game Changer of the Year, it wasn’t about trophies anymore. It was about recognition — of what beauty looks like when it grows up.

The Glow That Stayed After

As the final names were called and the applause softened, no one rushed to leave. Heels came off, suits loosened, and conversations turned into confessions — of products loved, careers reborn, nights like this one remembered.

By the time the lights dimmed, heels were in hand and laughter spilled past the ballroom doors. Awards clutched, lipsticks retouched, and champagne swapped for water bottles. But no one really wanted to leave — because nights like these remind you why this beauty community matters.

Beauty, in all its layers and contradictions, came home to itself that night.
And as the music faded, I realised — it wasn’t just about who won. It was about how it felt to be there.

That’s the real award

Presenting Partner: SSBeauty (@Ssbeauty)