Beauty Brands – Page 9

Brands 193–216 of 400. Back to page 1 · Browse brands A–Z

Brands

400 brands

U

Ultraceuticals

Australia · Est. 1998 · Luxury

Ultraceuticals is an Australian cosmeceutical brand founded in 1998 by Dr Geoffrey Heber, and it remains Australian owned and founder-led more than twenty-five years later. The first product was the Ultra C Firming Serum. It set the template: stabilised vitamin C at meaningful strength, made to sit alongside in-clinic treatments rather than compete with them. Today the brand is used by more than 2,500 dermatologists, cosmetic physicians, nurses and aestheticians worldwide. Formulations are developed in-house by a team of PhD chemists. The philosophy is complex science distilled into simple solutions. In practice that means graduated strengths, so a clinician can build a client up rather than overwhelm them. Hero products include the Ultra A Perfecting Serum and the Ultra B2 Hydrating Serum, built with multi-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid. The award-winning Ultra DNA3 Complex Recovery Night Cream and the Ultra UV Protective Daily Moisturising SPF50+ Mineral round out the core range. The newest launch, Youth Boost ExoSignal GF2 Facial Serum, is the brand's proprietary skin-longevity complex. Every product is vegan, formulated without animal-derived ingredients or by-products, and the brand is Leaping Bunny approved through Cruelty Free International. Formulas exclude propylene glycol, parabens, synthetic dyes and synthetic fragrance. Around 80% of tubes are fully recyclable, and they are made locally in Australia at a solar-powered facility. All cartons are recyclable and biodegradable. Carbon is offset through a 114-acre sustainable forest programme with Impact International. For anyone researching Australian beauty, vegan beauty or professional cosmeceutical skincare, Ultraceuticals is one of the most credible names in the southern hemisphere. The graduated strengths make it easy to build up safely.

Peach Slices featured image

Peach Slices

United States · Est. 2017 · Affordable

Peach Slices is the younger, more affordable sister brand to Peach & Lily, the Korean beauty company founded by Alicia Yoon. Yoon is a Korean-American esthetician trained in Korea, and she built Peach & Lily around the idea of glass skin. Peach Slices takes the same formulation thinking and points it at everyday problems at drugstore prices. The brand describes itself as built for real skin problems, and the product list backs that up. Acne, scars, ingrown hairs, texture and dullness are all addressed with focused, single-job products. The Acne Spot Dots are the breakout hit. They are medical-grade hydrocolloid patches that pull fluid out of a spot overnight, and at under five dollars for thirty patches they made pimple patches a normal part of Western routines. The Snail Rescue line is the other pillar, built on 95% snail mucin, with a cleanser, toner, eye gel, serum, jelly mask and deep moisture cream. Other favourites include the Fix All Recovery Spray, the L-Glutathione Glow On Brightening Toner, the Smoothing Solution Ingrown Hair Treatment and the Scar Remedy Silicone Gel. Products are rooted in Korean beauty traditions and sourced from Korea. Formulas are dermatologist approved and clinically tested. Many are silicone free, fragrance free and alcohol free, and the Acne Spot Dots are hypoallergenic. The brand is cruelty free and does not test on animals. Almost everything costs between five and twenty-three dollars. For Korean beauty, affordable beauty or targeted everyday skincare, Peach Slices is superb value. The patches alone are worth trying. Most people never look back.

Papa Recipe featured image

Papa Recipe

South Korea · Est. 2012 · Affordable

Papa Recipe is a South Korean skincare brand based in Gangnam, Seoul, and it is best known internationally for one product that turned into a phenomenon. The Bombee Honey Mask made honey a mainstream K-beauty ingredient. It is a rich, drenching sheet mask. It helped move the whole category away from thin, watery essences. It still sells in huge volumes today. The brand tagline translates as acting naturalism. That means nature-derived skincare put to practical use, not treated as a slogan. In practice the range pairs recognisable botanical ingredients with clear, single-purpose products. The Bombee Honey line remains the anchor, with the Honey Pot Intensive Mask Pro as the flagship. Alongside it sits the Blemish Cream, a long-running favourite for congested and breakout-prone skin, and the Blemish Enzyme Powder Cleanser, which uses a powder-to-foam format to cleanse without stripping. The Real Centella Cica Intensive Cream covers barrier repair and redness. The Gaji eggplant clearing peeling pad toner handles gentle daily exfoliation. The Noble Rot Lifting Cream, built on botrytised grape ferment, sits at the top of the range. Prices are affordable, running from about 18,000 to 42,000 won. Products are sold through the brand's own Korean store, and the company runs an active anti-counterfeit programme so buyers can verify authentic tags, which tells you something about the demand. For Korean beauty, affordable beauty, everyday beauty or honey-based hydration, Papa Recipe is a genuine K-beauty classic. The honey mask started it all. It still sells today. Few K-beauty products have lasted this long or travelled this far.

Bramley featured image

Bramley

United Kingdom · Est. 2009 · Mid-range

Bramley is a British natural bath, body, home and skincare brand founded by Chloë Luxton. It started at The Beckford Arms, the family's countryside inn. She wanted guest products made without synthetic ingredients or single-use plastic, could not find them, and made her own instead. Fifteen years later the range has grown a long way, and she is still at the helm. The brand line sums it up. Made by nature, crafted by Bramley. Products are made in the British countryside using pure essential oils, the brand's own apple ingredient and natural botanicals. Bramley is a Certified B Corporation with a strong impact score, and it carries the Buy Women Built mark, so this is a clearly women-led business. All products are suitable for vegans, and none are tested on animals. Formulas contain no synthetic colours, no synthetic fragrances, no parabens, no petrochemicals, no silicones and no sulphates. Everything is biodegradable and marine-life friendly, and no plastic microbeads are used. Refills are available across nearly all home, skin and body products, in biodegradable and compostable pouches, and those have saved 28 tonnes of plastic to date. Bottles, lids, pumps and boxes are all recyclable. Local sourcing is taken seriously, with 55% of purchases from suppliers within fifty miles of head office. The brand donates 1% of every full-size bath, body and home product to the wild plant charity Plantlife, over £15,000 so far. Sub-lines cover children and even dogs. For UK beauty, sustainable beauty or women-owned brands, Bramley shines. The scents are pure essential oil. The refills work properly.

Sana Jardin featured image

Sana Jardin

United Kingdom · Est. 2017 · Luxury

Sana Jardin is a British fine fragrance house founded by Amy Christiansen Si-Ahmed, and it is one of the clearest examples of social entrepreneurship in luxury perfume. She trained and worked as a social worker with struggling families on Chicago's west side, and she sits on the board of Nest, an NGO focused on ethical supply chains. That background shapes everything. The brand calls its model Beyond Sustainability. Fair trade pays people properly for their labour. Sana Jardin goes further and hands them a business. Morocco's flower-growing region produces about 900 tons of orange blossom waste each year. That waste is what is left once the petals have been distilled. Sana Jardin turns that waste into products. Amazigh women flower harvesters sell them locally. They keep 100% of the proceeds. Two micro-enterprises have been created this way, with business training included. The Sana Jardin Cooperative in Tiddas was founded in 2017 by local female harvesters and makes candles, dried flower sachets and Moroccan heritage crafts. In 2024 the brand launched an Accelerator Program with Nest, giving five cooperatives training and grants. The work supports three UN Sustainable Development Goals. The fragrances themselves are Leaping Bunny certified and packaged in FSC certified materials. They are vegan, using premium synthetics in place of animal-derived musks. Scents include Berber Blonde, Tiger By Her Side, Sandalwood Temple, Vanilla Nomad and Jaipur Chant. For ethical beauty, sustainable beauty or luxury fragrance with real social impact, Sana Jardin rewrote the rules. The waste becomes income. The women keep every penny.

Bloomeffects featured image

Bloomeffects

United States · Est. 2019 · Luxury

Bloomeffects is a Dutch-American skincare brand founded in 2019 by Kim van Haaster. Its origin is unusual and completely genuine. Her husband Hein is a fourth-generation tulip farmer, and the family farm, H.M. van Haaster, has been running in the Netherlands since 1905. The brand upcycles tulips from that farm into skincare, which is why it calls itself a field-to-formula brand. Tulip bulb stem cells are rich in amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants, and the brand built its proprietary Dutch Tulip Complex around them. Two Dutch government research grants backed the work. Products are formulated and manufactured in the United States, with tulips from the Netherlands. Certification here is stronger than most. All products are Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free. Palm-derived ingredients come from RSPO certified sources. Mica is sourced through the Responsible Mica Initiative, so no child labour is involved. Cartons are FSC certified, made from recycled material and printed with soy ink. The brand is a Pact Collective member, so empties can be returned. Packaging prioritises 50% post-consumer recycled content, with glass, sugarcane-based tubes and PICEA wood tubes. Almost all products are vegan, and the brand names its four exceptions clearly. Skincare is fragrance free, apart from the lip oils. Best sellers include the Royal Tulip Hydrating Bi-Phase Tonic, Tulipscreen Dew Serum, Royal Tulip Moisturizing Nectar and the Black Tulip Regenerative Brightening Serum. For European beauty, sustainable beauty, cruelty-free beauty or upcycled skincare, Bloomeffects is a lovely find. The farm is real. So is the science behind the tulip complex.

TEMPLESPA featured image

TEMPLESPA

United Kingdom · Est. 2000 · Luxury

TEMPLESPA is a British spa skincare brand founded by husband and wife Mark and Liz Warom more than twenty-five years ago. The idea came to them on a Mediterranean sabbatical, and the brand was named on the day they renewed their wedding vows in Cyprus. The founding thought is still printed across the range. Your body is a living temple. Honour it, enjoy your life and live it to the full. The positioning is Science with Soul. Mediterranean ingredients such as olive, grape, truffle and citrus meet clinically proven derma science, and products are built to what the brand calls the Power of Three: texture, experience and performance. Products are developed in the UK at head office and are widely used in luxury spas and hotels around the world. All products are now suitable for vegans. TEMPLESPA does not test on animals, and never has. It is upfront that it does not limit itself to natural ingredients, combining naturally derived actives with carefully chosen synthetics. Everything is dermatologically tested and safety assessed by independent toxicologists. Sustainability figures are unusually specific. 92% of components are recyclable in UK homes. 75% of packaging includes at least 30% recycled content or sustainably sourced material. 100% of tubes are recyclable, and all paper and card are certified sustainable. Removing plastic airbags saves over 0.7 tonnes of plastic a year. Best sellers include TRUFFLELIXIR, QUENCH mask, LIFE DEFENCE SPF and SUGAR BUFF. For UK beauty and luxury spa skincare, TEMPLESPA is a standout. The scents are part of the treatment, not an afterthought.

JUNOCO featured image

JUNOCO

United States · Est. 2018 · Affordable

JUNOCO is an affordable American skincare brand developed in California, and it has built a real following on one idea. Skincare should not feel like homework. The brand argues that most products overcomplicate something that ought to feel good, so it makes things you will actually reach for every day. That sounds like marketing until you use the products, which are unusually pleasant to apply. The breakthrough was the Jade Clean 10 Cleansing Balm. It went viral, and it is still the hero, a ten-ingredient balm that melts makeup and sunscreen without leaving a film. It sits alongside the Jade Clarifying Cleansing Powder, the Full Body Nectar Serum, The Body Oil Rinse and the Nail and Cuticle Polishing Gloss. Every product is 100% vegan and cruelty free, with no animal-derived ingredients and no animal testing. Formulas are gluten free and suitable for sensitive skin. Where JUNOCO really stands out is packaging honesty. Refill pods cut plastic use by 78%, and the pods are recyclable polypropylene. The Full Body Nectar Serum and Body Oil Rinse use 50% post-consumer recycled PET. Cartons are FSC certified paper printed with soy ink, and the interior trays are 100% paper. The brand also states plainly which parts are not recyclable, including certain pumps and caps. That kind of disclosure is rare. Prices run from $10.99 to $26. For American beauty, affordable beauty, vegan beauty, cruelty-free beauty or zero-waste routines, JUNOCO offers a genuinely easy place to start. The textures are lovely. The prices are kind.

Hyper Skin featured image

Hyper Skin

United States · Est. 2019 · Mid-range

Hyper Skin is an American skincare brand founded by Desiree Verdejo, who previously ran the Harlem beauty store Vivrant Beauty. Widely covered in the beauty press as a Black-owned brand, it was built to answer a gap the industry had ignored for decades. Most brightening and dark spot products were developed and tested on light skin, then sold to everyone. Deeper skin tones are more prone to hyperpigmentation and also more likely to react badly to aggressive treatment, which is a difficult formulation problem. Hyper Skin set out to solve exactly that. The brand describes itself as clinical skincare rooted in diversity and joy, developed for all skin types and tones through the lens of skin of colour. Formulas are hyper-balanced, meaning gentle enough for deeper and sensitive skin, yet strong enough to work. The range is small and focused. Hyper Even Brightening Dark Spot Vitamin C Serum is the award-winning hero, built with vitamin C, turmeric and kojic acid. It sits alongside the Hyper Even Fade and Glow AHA Mask, the Gentle Brightening Cleansing Gel and Hyper Daily Invisible for All SPF 50 Sun Drops, a sunscreen made to leave no white cast. The brand is vegan and does not test on animals, testing instead on people across a wide range of skin tones. Parabens, sulfates and phthalates are avoided. Prices run from $28 to $48. For American beauty, affordable beauty, vegan beauty or hyperpigmentation care that actually accounts for deeper skin, Hyper Skin matters. The range is short by design. Every product has a clear job.

Geek & Gorgeous featured image

Geek & Gorgeous

Hungary · Est. 2017 · Affordable

Geek & Gorgeous is a Hungarian skincare brand founded in 2017 by Judit Rácz together with Helia-D, a Hungarian heritage beauty company. Rácz is a computer scientist turned cosmetic formulator. She built Hungary's largest skincare review site in 2010, founded the ingredient database INCIDecoder in 2015, and earned a Cosmetic Scientist diploma from the Society of Cosmetic Chemists in the UK. The brand motto is short. Less fluff, more stuff. What that means in practice is high levels of clinically proven actives, with the exact percentages printed on the pack. Very few brands at any price do that. Geek & Gorgeous is also refreshingly blunt about clean beauty. It states that it does not consider the ingredients other brands demonise to be toxic, and that it does not believe in fearmongering. It leaves out fragrance, including natural fragrance, plus colorant and drying alcohol, and it frames those choices as tolerability decisions rather than safety ones. Products are made through contract manufacturers rather than in-house, and the brand is now stocked in more than 5,000 drugstores across Europe. Almost everything is vegan, with one exception, Calm Down, which uses lactobionic acid from lactose. It is 100% cruelty free. Best sellers include C-Glow 15% vitamin C serum, Zero Feel SPF 50, Power Peptides and A-Game 20 retinal serum, which the brand launched in 2020 as the first affordable retinal on the market. Prices sit between about €12 and €23. For affordable actives, this is the benchmark. The percentages are printed on the pack. No guesswork is needed.

Burren Perfumery featured image

Burren Perfumery

Ireland · Est. 1972 · Mid-range

The Burren Perfumery sits in the Burren, a limestone landscape in County Clare on Ireland's west coast, and it is one of the oldest perfumeries in the country. The place matters as much as the products. The Burren is a rare habitat where Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean plants grow side by side, and that flora shapes what the perfumery makes. Everything is made by hand, on site, in batches of thirty to fifty units. The company deliberately holds no large stock. It makes only what it needs, which keeps products fresh and cuts waste at the same time. There is an organic herb garden on the property, planted in 1999, and the herbs grown there feed into the range. This is a family company run at small scale with local staff. The ambition, in their own words, is to be better than the best of the large brands on quality. Several products are certified organic by the Soil Association and carry the COSMOS Organic mark. The Calendula Herbal Balm, for instance, is 100% organic. Best sellers include the Lost Garden Rose Facial Serum, the Lavender and Lemon Organic Night Cream, the Summer Harvest Body Lotion and the Organic Castile Soap. The fragrance range is the other half of the business, with scents such as Autumn Harvest, Frond, Ilaun, Man of Aran and Winter Woods. Prices run from about €18 to €38. For Irish beauty, organic beauty, natural beauty, small-batch skincare or handmade natural perfume, this is a treasure. Nothing is mass produced. Everything smells of the place it comes from.

Kinvara Skincare featured image

Kinvara Skincare

Ireland · Est. 2012 · Mid-range

Kinvara Skincare is an Irish natural beauty brand founded by Dr Joanne Reilly, who holds a natural sciences degree from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD. She started the business from her home in south Galway, and named it after Kinvara, a coastal town on the Wild Atlantic Way. The vision she set out is clear. Give women everywhere skincare that respects their values without asking them to compromise on results. Every product is made in Ireland, in GMP and ISO certified facilities. The range is 100% vegan and cruelty free, and it is approved by PETA. It also carries the Guaranteed Irish mark and works with Beat the Microbead. Active ingredients are Ecocert approved, and the formulas are developed to COSMOS guidelines. The free-from list is long and specific. No parabens, no SLS or other sulfates, no propylene glycol, no mineral oils, no petroleum byproducts, no PEG, no synthetic colours or fragrances, no GMOs, no silicones, no EDTA and no animal derivatives. Products are non-comedogenic. The brand has won more than fifteen Free From awards. The 24Hr Rosehip Face Serum is the hero, alongside the Active Rosehip Day Cream and the Absolute Cleansing Oil. That cleansing oil comes with a refill pouch designed to cut plastic waste by over 85%, holding two and a half bottles. Amber glass and sugarcane-derived plastic are used elsewhere. Impact partner Greenspark collects ocean plastic with every order. For Irish beauty, vegan beauty, natural beauty or cruelty-free skincare, Kinvara is excellent value. The founder is a scientist. It shows in the formulas.

Skingredients featured image

Skingredients

Ireland · Est. 2019 · Mid-range

Skingredients is an Irish skincare brand created by Jennifer Rock, better known as The Skin Nerd. She is a dermal facialist, skin tutor and CEO, and she launched the range after building one of Ireland's best-known skin education platforms. The brand is education-first, and it shows. Every product explains what it does and why. The philosophy is simple. Skincare can be simple and still deliver results, as long as the levels and mix of ingredients are right. The range splits into two parts. The Key 4 covers daily essentials. Match + Mix handles targeted concerns. Best sellers include Skin Shield SPF 50, Skin Veg hyaluronic serum, Skin Protein retinoid serum, Skin Good Fats ceramide moisturiser, PreProbiotic Cleanse and Sally Cleanse. Everything is entirely fragrance free, with no synthetic scents and no essential oils, because as the brand puts it, smells don't change cells. Products are vegan friendly and not tested on animals. Ingredients use RSPO certified sustainable palm oil, and manufacturing runs through ISO14001 certified factories. Refills are central to the design. Each product has a durable tube for life with refillable inner tubes, and the pumps are built for at least four refill cycles. Using refills four times a year cuts carbon emissions by about 60%. The brand also partners with Plastics for Change on an annual pledge that removes 28,000kg of plastic waste. Prices run from €9 to €57. For Irish beauty, fragrance-free skincare, sustainable beauty or refillable routines, Skingredients leads. The teaching comes first. The products follow from it.

Tromborg featured image

Tromborg

Denmark · Est. 2003 · Luxury

Tromborg is a Danish luxury skincare and makeup brand founded in 2003 by Marianne Tromborg, a former professional makeup artist who is still founder and CEO. Her husband, biochemist Tim Schyberg, developed the product collection. That pairing shapes everything. One side of the business understands how a product must look and feel on real faces. The other understands what the chemistry can actually do. It is a Danish family-owned company, and it makes its own products in its own factory in the Danish countryside. Very few brands at this price point own their manufacturing outright. The positioning is straightforward. Combine organic and natural ingredients with serious science. In practice that means aromatherapy and Scandinavian botanicals sitting alongside peptides and biotech actives such as exosomes. The plants used are organic, and raw materials are traced from field to jar. Suppliers are largely Scandinavian, chosen to keep transit time short. The Anti-Aging Wrinkle Cream is a signature, built with thirty-five active ingredients and six different peptides. The Anti-Aging Molecular Messenger Cream sits at the top of the range. The Deluxe Face Cream, Below 10 Degrees Cream and Pure Control Cream cover different skin needs. The SUN MOOD line uses physical mineral filters only and leaves out endocrine-disrupting chemicals and chemical filters. The Young Mood range is natural, organic, vegan and completely fragrance free. Prices are firmly luxury. For Danish beauty, luxury skincare or family-run brands that make everything themselves, Tromborg is a genuine rarity. It owns its factory. It also owns its results.

Loelle featured image

Loelle

Sweden · Est. 2012 · Mid-range

Loelle is a Swedish natural skincare brand founded in 2012 by Dominique Guellouchi. It blends Scandinavian formulation with North African raw materials, and that mix is what makes it distinctive. The guiding line is blunt. If you would not trust having something in your body, why put it on your skin? Ingredients are sourced directly from small-scale producers and women's cooperatives around the world, including in Morocco and Ghana. That direct sourcing is the brand's social backbone, not an add-on. Apart from the soap range, everything is made or bottled in Sweden. The brand describes itself as 100% natural, organic and effective, and says it uses certified organic ingredients wherever certification is possible. It has collected a large number of international awards, which is unusual for an independent brand of this size. Formulas contain no synthetic fragrance, no parabens and no harsh chemicals. Packaging is recyclable. The hero product is the Reboost Balm, a multi-purpose organic balm the brand nicknames nature's Botox, and it carries hundreds of customer reviews. The Lift Serum, Recovery Serum and Renewal Serum anchor the face care line. Rose Water and liquid African Black Soap are long-standing favourites, and there is a Protect Stick SPF50 for daily use. Prices run from around 229 to 999 Swedish kronor, so the range sits mid-market rather than prestige. For Swedish beauty, natural beauty, organic beauty or ethically sourced skincare with a real fair-trade story behind the ingredients, Loelle is well worth knowing. The sourcing story is real. The awards back up the formulas.

Verso Skincare featured image

Verso Skincare

Sweden · Est. 2013 · Luxury

Verso Skincare is a Swedish brand founded in 2013 by Lars Fredriksson. The name is Latin for reverse, and reversing visible ageing is what the brand was built to do. Verso is unusually clear about what it is not. It says plainly that it is not a natural or organic brand and that it uses high-quality synthetic ingredients where those perform better. That honesty is rare, and it is why the brand has a strong following among people who read studies rather than labels. Vitamin A is the heart of the range. Verso developed Retinol 8, a complex designed to give retinol-level results with far less irritation. It followed that with NEAR 1, a patented molecule joining vitamin A and niacinamide, developed over eight years. Products are made in Sweden and manufactured within the European Union. The look is pure Scandinavian minimalism, and the routines are short by design. Best sellers include the Super Facial Serum, Night Cream, Daily Glow, Super Eye Serum and Deep Cleanse. The range is vegan apart from the Lip Serum, which contains under one percent beeswax. Verso does not test on animals, and no third party does so on its behalf. Most products are fragrance-free or use under one percent White Tea Flower. On packaging, the goal is 75% recycled plastic across airtight formats, with the first launched in 2022. Outer packaging shrank by 14%, and dropping cellophane saves over 200kg of plastic a year. For Swedish beauty or minimalist science-led skincare, Verso delivers. It is honest about using synthetics. That honesty is part of the appeal.

Santaverde featured image

Santaverde

Germany · Est. 1988 · Mid-range

Santaverde is a German natural beauty brand founded in 1988 by Sabine Beer. It began on a small finca in Andalusia, Spain, where the brand still grows its own aloe vera. The leaves are processed on the farm itself, which keeps the plant fresh and the supply chain short. The founding principle has never changed. Active ingredient instead of water. Where most skincare uses water as its base, Santaverde uses pure aloe vera juice. That single decision is why the formulas feel and perform the way they do. The certification list is exceptional. All products are NATRUE certified and have been since 2014. The range is 100% vegan and carries the Vegan Society flower. The aloe is EU organic certified. Coconut oil is Naturland Fair certified from Sri Lanka. Packaging paper is FSC certified, and promotional material uses Blue Angel 100% recycled paper. Most products contain over 95% organic plant ingredients. Mineral oil derivatives, synthetic colours, synthetic fragrances and synthetic preservatives are all excluded. Airless dispensers and some tubes have used over 40% recycled plastic since 2022. Tube walls were made 30% thinner. The enzyme peeling powder comes in compostable Sulapac packaging. Best sellers include aloepur juice, aloe vera gel pur, age protect cream and the sleep and repair night cream. For German beauty, certified natural beauty, organic beauty or vegan skincare, Santaverde is properly credentialled. Very few brands grow their own hero ingredient. This one does.

Hildegard Braukmann featured image

Hildegard Braukmann

Germany · Est. 1962 · Mid-range

Hildegard Braukmann is a German skincare house founded in 1962 in Großburgwedel by Hildegard Braukmann herself. She trained at the cosmetics school in Dresden and ran the company until she was seventy-eight. In 1990 she handed it to the Strenger family, who still run it today as a family business. Holger Strenger is managing director. His wife Britta heads cosmetology. Research, production and administration all sit on one site in Burgwedel, near Hannover, in one of Europe's most modern cosmetics plants. Products are still packed by hand. The brand describes itself as herbal cosmetics, or Kräuter-Kosmetik, and the guiding idea is to help skin find its own balance again rather than simply mask a problem. The range is large, with around a thousand products and roughly 380 sold online, and it reaches customers mainly through more than 1,500 partner beauty institutes. Best sellers include the Vitamin Reinigungsmilch, Vitamin Tonic, SENSITIV Face Cream SPF 50 and the 7 Kräuter shower gel. Recent launches target menopausal skin. The brand has never tested on animals, a decision made when it was founded in 1962. It is refreshingly honest about limits. It says three quarters of the range is already free of synthetic polymers, and that small amounts of silicone are still used where they improve feel. Prices sit between about €5 and €36. For German beauty, affordable beauty, family-owned brands or gentle herbal skincare with real manufacturing depth, this is a quiet classic. It has been trusted by German beauty therapists for decades.

PATYKA featured image

PATYKA

France · Est. 2002 · Luxury

Patyka is a French skincare brand born in Paris in 2002. The name comes from the Greek apoteke, meaning pharmacy, and the pharmacy influence runs right through the range. Patyka calls what it makes Biotech Skincare. That means pairing plant actives with biotechnology, borrowing from both aesthetic medicine and herbal tradition. Products are formulated in-house at the brand's own Paris laboratory and made in France. Over half of the plant actives are sourced in France. The certification list is one of the strongest in French beauty. Every product is COSMOS certified by ECOCERT. Patyka was one of the first brands in the world to gain that status, back in 2002. It became a B Corp in 2023 and a member of UEBT the same year, which covers ethical sourcing of shea butter and aloe vera. It holds Engagé RSE at Confirmé level from AFNOR. Since November 2020 it has been an Entreprise à Mission under French law, only the third cosmetics company in France to take that status, with mission reports verified by KPMG. Formulas leave out parabens, SLS, silicones, mineral oils, phenoxyethanol, phthalates, PEGs, EDTA and synthetic dyes. Almost every product is vegan, with three named exceptions that use ethically harvested beeswax. Packaging is 79% recycled plastic, and 19 tonnes of virgin plastic were saved between 2020 and 2023. All glass jars are refillable. Every product has a carbon footprint and life cycle analysis behind it. For French beauty, organic beauty or ethical luxury, Patyka delivers. The claims are all backed by named certifiers. That is rare in this space.

BY TERRY featured image

BY TERRY

France · Est. 1998 · Luxury

By Terry is a luxury French makeup and skincare house founded by Terry de Gunzburg. Her credentials are hard to match. She trained at Carita in Paris, then spent fifteen years as International Makeup Designer at YSL Beauté. In 1992 she invented Touche Éclat, still one of the best-selling beauty products ever made. She launched her own collection in 1998. By Terry began life as a bespoke, couture beauty line, with made-to-measure cosmetics sold from a first flagship in the Galerie Véro-Dodat in Paris. The brand's aim is makeup that cares for skin, so formulas are built with skincare actives rather than pigment alone. Baume de Rose is the icon. It came out of a lab accident in 2004 involving double rose butter, and the brand calls it the Rolls Royce of lip balms. Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder followed as a mattifying setting powder with a clean formula. In 2021 the Hyaluronic Global Face Cream launched with eight forms of hyaluronic acid, the first of its kind. Other favourites include the Rouge Opulent Refillable Lipstick, Matcha Mist Elixir, Tea to Tan Face & Body, Hyaluronic Glow Setting Mist and Hyaluronic Serum Concealer. There are dedicated vegan makeup and vegan skincare edits, so a large part of the range is vegan. Refills are offered on the Rouge Opulent lipstick and the Global Eye Serum. Prices run from about £20 to £174. For French beauty, luxury beauty or skincare-led makeup with real technical pedigree, By Terry stands on its own. The textures are the giveaway. Nobody else gets them quite right.

Joone featured image

Joone

France · Est. 2017 · Mid-range

Joone is a French family brand founded in Paris in 2017 by Carole Juge-Llewellyn, its CEO and founder. It started with nappies and grew into baby care, maternity skincare, supplements and textiles. Its whole reason for being is transparency. Joone was the first in its category to publish full toxicology and clinical reports on its own products, and it still does. The brand sums up its values in three words. Trust, truth, transparency. Most products are made in France or elsewhere in Europe. Cosmetics and baby care are made in France. Textiles are woven, printed and sewn in Parisian workshops or near Troyes. Supplements are developed near Montpellier. Nappies and pants are made by a Danish partner. Baby care and women's cosmetics are certified organic by ECOCERT. The nappy cellulose comes from well-managed Finnish forests and is FSC certified under licence C153851. Swaddles and bodysuits are Oeko-Tex certified. Nappies are Total Chlorine Free, with no glyphosate, chlorine or dioxins, and they are hypoallergenic and dermatologist tested. Care products are over 98% natural in origin. The toothpaste is fluoride free. Supplements have no colouring, flavouring, preservatives or gluten. Joone also runs a blockchain traceability platform called DOORZ so parents can follow the supply chain. Water wipes are compostable. Shipping partners are chosen for lower-carbon transport. Prices are accessible, from $14.90 to $39.90. For French beauty, organic beauty, clean beauty or affordable family care, Joone is one of the most openly documented brands you will find. The reports are public. Anyone can read them.

Cosmetics 27 featured image

Cosmetics 27

France · Est. 2008 · Luxury

Cosmetics 27 is a luxury skincare brand created by Michèle Evrard, a pharmacist with a background in cosmetic research and development. The company behind it, ME Skinlab, is based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris. The name refers to age 27. That is the point at which skin renewal starts to slow, and the whole range is built to answer it. The brand calls its approach green-tech and biomimetic. In plain terms, that means plant actives chosen to mimic what skin already makes for itself. The signature ingredient is Centella Asiatica. It powers the patented CICA-MA2 complex, which combines asiaticoside, madecassoside and asiatic acid. These are the molecules behind Centella's reputation for repair and calming. Baume 27 is the hero. It is a rich, regenerating balm that built the brand's cult following, and it now sits alongside Baume 27 Sérum, Baume 27 Crème Riche, Huile 27, Cleanser 27 and a lip and eye balm. Formulas contain at least 92% plant-based ingredients of natural origin. The brand keeps its own Black List of ingredients it will not use. Products are not tested on animals. Sourcing favours short supply chains and European producers. Glass is used wherever possible, with recycled and recyclable plastics for pumps, caps and tubes. Packaging components have been cut back step by step. Prices run from about €58 to €150, so this is firmly prestige. For anyone looking at European beauty, clean beauty, natural beauty or luxury skincare built on one very well-studied botanical, Cosmetics 27 is a serious pick. The range is small. Each product earns its place.

EDOBIO featured image

EDOBIO

Japan · Est. 2018 · Mid-range

EDOBIO is a Japanese skincare brand launched in 2018 by GE Wellness in Tokyo. Two phrases sum it up. Back to Basics, and Biotiful Inside Out. The name joins Edo, Japan's great era of beauty ritual, with bio, for the biotechnology inside every formula. Women in the Edo period used rice bran to cleanse and mask. EDOBIO uses the same starting point in a modern way. Its key ingredient is BiProGE, a lactic acid bacteria complex made from rice bran. It is designed to support the skin's own microbiome. The brand also uses sake lees ferment extract and Kunisato 35 blueberry leaf and stem proanthocyanidins. Everything is made in Japan. Formulas leave out mineral oil, parabens, synthetic fragrance, synthetic colorants, ethanol and petroleum-based surfactants. The brand lists all of this plainly on its own site. Key products include the Intensive Hydration Serum, the Moisture Lock Cream and the Fresh Balancing Toner. The Vegan Black Soap is another favourite. So is the FLORADIANCE Moisturizing Soufflé Soap, which comes in a hinoki cypress box made by hand from thinned forest timber. Sustainability here is about upcycling. The Saketernal line turns sake lees, a by-product of brewing, into skincare. The brand also chooses lower-impact materials for packaging and print where it can. Prices sit in the mid-range, above drugstore but below prestige. For Japanese beauty, clean beauty, natural beauty, paraben-free skincare or microbiome care rooted in real heritage, EDOBIO is a quiet standout. It also makes a lovely gift, thanks to that wooden box.

Celimax featured image

Celimax

South Korea · Est. 2019 · Affordable

Celimax is an affordable South Korean skincare brand based in Gangnam, Seoul. It runs under Absolb Lab. Its tagline sums up the approach. Skin health we create together. Celimax sits at the dermocosmetic end of Korean beauty. It builds focused products around a few well-chosen actives. There are no long multi-step routines here. The brand built its name abroad on single hero products rather than marketing. The most famous is the Noni Energy Ampoule. It is built on noni fruit extract, and it helped make noni a known ingredient in Korean skincare. The Noni Balancing Toner anchors the same line. The Cica Eraser Pad put centella calming into an easy pad format. The Niacinamide Cica Serum pairs brightening with barrier support. The Retinal Shot Tightening Booster Spot Cream delivers retinal in a targeted treatment. The Tranexamic Acid Brightening Cream Wrapping Mask works on dark marks overnight. Prices stay in the affordable band, usually between sixteen and forty-five thousand won. That matters. It puts current actives like retinal and tranexamic acid within reach of a daily routine. In Western skincare, the same strengths often cost far more. Everything is developed and sold from Seoul. For Korean beauty, affordable beauty, everyday beauty or simple routines built on single strong actives, Celimax keeps things clear. Known ingredients, focused formulas and prices you can keep up with. That is exactly why its hero products travel so well outside Korea and keep selling year after year. Few brands make strong actives this easy to afford.

Can't find what you're looking for?

We add new sites every week but if you have a specific request, let us know.