Esquire Approves: Our Testing, Explained

• What Is Esquire Approves?
• How Does Esquire Approves Differ From Other Product Recommendations?
• How The Esquire Lab Tests
• Food & Drink
• How To Join Our Consumer Panel
• Does Esquire Receive A Commission If You Buy Through A Link On An Esquire Approves Product?
• Can Brands Purchase The Esquire Approves Endorsement?

They test everything from champagne to hair clippers. Now, here’s all you need to know about our expert testers, and what our Esquire Approves logo means.

If you’ve already acquainted yourself with our booze and grooming edits, you will have seen the Esquire Approves logo adorning certain products. This seal of approval represents hours of in-depth testing by our expert team and helps you buy in confidence.

Our dedicated testers provide detailed, unbiased product reviews you can trust, recommending everything from the finest champagnes and single malt Scotch whiskies to the best hair clippers and moisturisers.

Below, we explain everything you need to know about the Esquire Approves team, including how we test.

What Is Esquire Approves?

The Esquire lab – located in Soho, London – is where our expert testers devote their days to testing thousands of wine, spirits and grooming products to find the crème de la crème.

The team uses a potent blend of their own knowledge and industry experience to put brands’ claims to the test. They use specialised equipment to check everything from the smoothing skills of a beard oil to whether that whitening toothpaste actually leaves your teeth any sparklier.

Each product is judged against a strict set of protocols split into three main areas: ease of use, performance and design. Following a tough assessment in the lab, it is awarded a final score.

Where relevant – for example with beard trimmers and electric toothbrushes – we will also send products to a panel of consumers to try at home, taking care to ensure that it reflects Esquire’s diverse readership. These testers then complete a feedback survey, which also counts towards a product’s final score.

Rest assured that our Esquire Approves logo will only appear on products that have been tested in this way, and excelled. If products do not meet or exceed our pre-set pass rate, they are deemed to have failed our testing and we do not recommend them to you.

How Does Esquire Approves Differ From Other Product Recommendations?

The Esquire Approves logo is a simple way to signpost where more rigorous testing has taken place, often focusing on products that make measurable (rather than subjective) claims.

This sets us apart from the deluge of product reviews flooding the internet, as instead of taking glossy marketing material at face value, we recruit thousands of consumers and experts to check it rings true.

You won’t see this endorsement against all of the products that we feature, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth buying. Our Esquire editors also recommend their favourite products online and in print, based on years of industry experience and insider know-how on the latest consumer trends.

How The Esquire Lab Tests

Food & Drink

Looking for some molten gold tequila to liven up your margaritas, a fine red wine to serve oenophiles or a grown-up non-alcoholic spirit for non-drinkers? Esquire’s wine and spirits experts – all WSET-accredited– sip their way through hundreds of tipples a year to find the best beverages you can buy, which then earn a coveted spot in our Esquire Bar Cart.

Our tasting panel, consisting of consumers and said experts, try the latest wines and spirits – all blinded to avoid brand bias – and give us feedback on their appearance, aroma, flavour and mouthfeel.

Drinks that score above our pre-set pass rate will be featured with the Esquire Approves logo.

Grooming

From hair growth shampoos to shaving subscription services (try saying that after one too many Japanese whiskies), our experts trial the latest grooming products using a combination of lab tests and consumer feedback.

The team, who are all cosmetic scientists, uses a variety of equipment in the Esquire lab to find out if a product lives up to its promises. They use:

The Diastron – this machine analyses hair swatches to test how effective grooming products are, such as how smooth a beard oil leaves facial hair.

The Multi Skin Test Centre – this machine assesses hydration, skin barrier function and oil/sebum control when testing skin and hair care products. This means we can find out how effective a moisturiser is at hydrating, or how well a cleanser combats acne.

The VISIA Complexion Analyser – this machine tests anti-ageing skincare by measuring skin characteristics such as number of wrinkles, texture and pore size; it can even work out your skin age versus your real age. It’s also used when testing teeth whitening kits.

Noise Meter – this machine measures the sound levels of electricals such as electric toothbrushes and hair dryers, helping you choose the products that don’t sound like a Boeing 747 taking off.

To judge how products fare in real life, we also ask our panel of consumers to try them out at home over a set period of time. Products are blinded (to avoid brand bias) before being sent to our panel, who report back on everything from design to performance.

The results of both our lab and consumer testing are carefully analysed before we stamp the top products with our Esquire Approves logo.

How To Join Our Consumer Panel

If you’d like to join one of our consumer panels and test the latest products for Esquire, please click on the relevant links below and fill out our survey.

Does Esquire Receive A Commission If You Buy Through A Link On An Esquire Approves Product?

In our online articles, we provide links to Esquire Approves products so that you can easily buy them or find out more. We aim to keep these links as up to date as possible to ensure that products are always in stock when you need them.

We may earn a commission if you buy through one of these links, but this does not influence our reviews.

Our experts test products separately from our commercial and editorial teams, and they will only recommend products that pass our strict testing protocols. Products that fail are not eligible for our endorsement and are never recommended to you by Esquire.

Can Brands Purchase The Esquire Approves Endorsement?

Yes, we do allow brands to purchase the Esquire Approves logo, but only after their product has passed our rigorous tests. Brands have no say in how we test products, as all testing is completed independently from our commercial and editorial teams. Brands whose products fail are not allowed to purchase our endorsement.

Is your brand interested in our endorsement? Contact accreditations@hearst.co.uk for more information.

Who Do I Contact If I Have A Question About Esquire Approves?

Note: Esquire Approves is a subsidiary of the Hearst Institute.