In a year filled with jump-scare headlines and endless invitations to the dreaded doomscroll, we learned an important lesson: sometimes you have to create the joy you want to see in the world. (This sentiment was co-signed by our very first Feel-Good Person of the Year, Amaya Papaya, and that’s how you know it’s true.) This is at the core of everything we do at Popsugar. We aim to be the cozy corner of the internet where you can come for a little reprieve from *points to everything around us.*
That’s why we’re introducing the 2025 Feel-Good Awards, a first-of-its-kind celebration of the products that delivered a hit of dopamine this year, when the world needed it most. Think of it like a reimagined hot list meets Spotify Wrapped, only in this compilation we’re spotlighting the items that sparked the kind of joy you sell at the candy store. We focused on our five core categories – beauty, health, fitness, sex, and home – and looked for face masks that soothed more than our skin, sneakers that inspired us to move, and vibrators that felt good in more ways than one, to name just a few.
Our trusted team of editors and subject-matter experts sifted through thousands of submissions and tested dozens of products – in addition to the hundreds (upon hundreds) that have crossed our collective desks over the last 12 months – to find the ones that truly made us feel like our best selves. A rough estimate of just how many we tested? About 2,138 in total (yes, when we say a lot, we are not kidding). From there, we rated and reviewed each and every one, hand-selecting the winners that met our rigorous mood-boosting criteria.
The result is a list of 25 items across beauty, health, home, fitness, and sex that put feeling good at the top of the priority list. Keep reading to see why.
