Introducing: Refinery29’s First-Ever MVP Awards

If you’re an R29 regular, then you may already know our Shopping team’s motto: We’re here to help you navigate the overwhelming world of stuff. What does that look like? Us nine writers and editors combing through the internet's every nook and cranny to find the worthiest buys — from sale scores to new launches and soon-to-sell-out stock. Even when we're not searchin’ from nine to five, you can catch us on product duty around the clock; sussing out a potential purchase's quality vs. value, asking complete strangers to dish on their best-kept shopping secrets. We’ve researched, added to cart, tested, and penned virtual love letters to thousands of items across fashion to beauty and lifestyle. We have a team member who can name thirty different pairs of white sneakers, another who’s sampled 20 eyeliners specifically for their cat-eye readiness, and one who hunts the pages of Amazon to find every single one of its hidden gems. But, despite the cacophony of noise that is all this stuff, it’s finding those really good goods in the online haystack that keep us coming back for more. So, in the strange year of 2020, we decided to make it official and host our first-ever Refinery29 MVP awards — an annual celebration in which we highlight what we consider the 29 most outstanding products of the previous 365 days.

While we always follow our hearts when it comes to choosing products that actually excite us, each of our MVPs was selected based on more than just gut instinct. Using our anonymous audience data, we took a more analytical look at the top-shopped items year-to-date and pulled out the goods that our team approved for being tried-and-true from first-hand testing and everyday use. We then weighed those standouts based on their aesthetics, value, sustainability, inclusivity, and multi-functionality magic; we narrowed it down to our award-winning list of reader- and us-approved items (plus, one crowd-sourced wildcard!). We also chose goods that felt particularly emblematic of our current climate into consideration — including (but not limited to) quarantine-friendly goods like matching sweatsuits, bike helmets, and home office chairs. The awards serve as a badge of honor for the 29 that delivered on their promise of improving our lives, whether it was in a big obvious way or a teeny-tiny subtle one.

We do live in an overwhelming world of stuff, with many brands out there vying for our precious dollars. So, whether you have stacks on stacks to spend on a new mattress topper or $5 to splash out on a top-rated hand sanitizer, you’re making an investment — and we're here to help you make the one that's right for you. Plus, because we can't resist a good deal, we went ahead and haggled a discount on some of our award winners (more on that to come later this week). But enough from us, let's kick this thing off: click here for Refinery29's selection of the 29 Most Valuable Products in 2020, or scroll through the items below.