Gregory Macdonald, Founder of Bathorium, sees indie beauty as a community and bathing as a lost art. In his Indie Beauty Profile, he describes the brand he’s building to reinvigorate the bath category globally.
Ben-Yam Barshi and Elah Barshi, Co-Founders of Moringaia, are part of a new generation of beauty and personal care brands—brands that leverage conventional commercial strategies and CPG brands for social and environmental betterment.
Celeste Lee and Lorrie King, Co-Founders of Caire Beauty, are on the leading edge of the menopause beauty movement. In their Indie Beauty Profile, the industry veterans share good advice on how to get good advice as well as on when to pivot.
In her Indie Beauty Profile Karima El-Hakkaoui, CEO of Six Gldn, shares notes on the brand she and her co-founders launched during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic—a skin care brand that’s all about the golden hour.
In her Indie Beauty Profile Mehir Sethi, CEO of True + Lucious, shares insight into how she launched and led a new color cosmetics brand to $1m in sales during COVID-19.
In his Indie Beauty Profile, Rajiv Chandra, CEO of Mum & You describes building a brand for both expecting and new mothers as well as for their young children. And he shares notes on the importance of having a team of employees that represents the...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Melodie Reynolds, Founder and CEO of Elate Cosmetics, talks about the importance and cultural significance of indie beauty. And she shares insight into how time and tech can be leveraged to make the impossible possible.
In their Indie Beauty Deepika Vyas and Dr. Tanuj Nakra, Co-Founders of AVYA Skincare, describe the origins of a skin care brand that brings ancient Ayurvedic practices together with advanced medical science. And they share advice on what can be a long...
In her Indie Beauty Profile Ester Larrosa, Founder and Formulator at Hyalurgie, shares the background and beginning of a luxury-basics skin care brand, which she expects to resonate with consumers over 40.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Ozohu Adoh, CEO of EPARA, outlines the concept behind a luxury botanical skin care brand created specifically for women of color. And, she shares 3 top tips for cosmetics and personal care entrepreneurs at any stage of business.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Robyn Mclean of The Hello Cup offers advice on the best first step that every indie beauty brand founder should take; and she shares notes on how she and Co-Founder Mary Bond are building a brand that’s simultaneously about...
In her Indie Beauty Profile Ada Polla, CEO of Alchimie Forever, talks about bringing her family’s Swiss skin care brand to the US, the power of patience, and why her team stays focused on safety and efficacy even as clean beauty trends evolve.
In his Indie Beauty Profile, Stan Ades, Co-Founder of the Pacific Shaving Company describes a business built on the courage of the Founders’ convictions that a personal care startup could actually improve the at-mass shave and grooming category.
In his Indie Beauty Profile, Tony Rechtman, CEO and Founder of Australia-based Total Beauty Network, the company behind the INIKA Organic brand talks about his work to make effective natural makeup and skin care a reality and about the sizable company...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Linda Dempah, CEO of Adeba Nature, describes the solid beginnings of the brand she’s built around a single, rare ingredient—Adjoba oil.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Dr. Ebru Karpuzoglu, Founder of AveSeena, describes how she’s bringing the wisdom of immunology to skin care for older, wiser clean beauty consumers.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Asel Hofgartner of Kana Vita (a very new CBD skin care and body care brand) gives a candid snapshot of the beginnings of business and shares a bit of insight into how she and Daren Hofgartner transitioned from being entrepreneurs...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Ming Zhao, co-founder and CEO of PROVEN Skincare, describes how she and Amy Yuan have leveraged AI to formulate skin care and build a beauty brand that’s delivering evermore carefully customized product.
In her Indie Beauty Profile biochemist, microbiologist, practicing ophthalmologist, and long-time beauty innovator Lili Fan, Founder and President of Dr Lili Fan Probiotic Skin Care, shares insight into the growing microbiome beauty movement and succinct...
If wellness is a beauty category and hemp-extract is a wellness ingredient, then this topical and ingestible CBD business is an indie beauty brand. Amanda Matsui, co-founded Yuyo Botanics early last year and already the brand is shipping tinctures and...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Stephanie Leshney, founder of the blend-it-yourself kids personal care brand Dabble & Dollop, talks about how her experience in the cosmetics and personal care ingredient business informed the brand she is building now...
In his Indie Beauty Profile, Luca Burnett, founder of YANTRA Beauty, describes a hair care brand that puts the insights and experience of professional stylists into products for everyday consumers.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Stephanie Kim, Co-Founder of Moonlit Skincare, describes how she and Kriszta Matyi have created a cross-sector beauty brand dedicated to skin care, sleep, and wellness.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Melanie Cruickshank, founder of da lish cosmetics, describes the inspiration and effort behind one of the early color cosmetics brands to compete in the current clean beauty movement. And she makes the case for an entrepreneurial...
ATEM is where modern-day entrepreneurship and K Beauty converge. In her Indie Beauty Profile Susan Im, founder of ATEM and co-founder of the skin care brand’s parent company Fifteen Degrees, talks candidly about indie beauty as a consumer-led movement...
In their Indie Beauty Profile, Profile Dr. Marc Ronert and Janna Ronert, founders of the luxury beauty supplements brand Hush & Hush, describe how they identified an opportunity in the wellness supplements market and emphasize how valuable the right...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Katherine Tomasso, national director of education at YON-KA Paris, describes a business with decades of market experience, generations of passionate brand leaders, and all the attributes of an on-trend contemporary indie skin...
In their Indie Beauty Profile, Tish Bellomo and Snooky Bellomo, Founders of the bold, iconic hair color brand Manic Panic discuss their experience of running an independent business (for decades), share the product development advice that they give themselves...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Jasmine Lawrence, Founder of EDEN BodyWorks, shares insights and highlights about the hair care brand she launched 15 years ago this month. She’s grown the brand in that time to some nine product lines (including body care...
In her Indie Beauty Profile Michele Gilfoil, founder of Planet Botanicals, describes building an accessible personal care brand with sustainably sourced natural ingredients. And, while sharing her story and advice of entrepreneurship, she notes that building...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Michèle Evrard, Founder and CEO of Cosmetics 27, describes how she intentionally evolved her career in and beyond corporate beauty to become a successful entrepreneur. And she explains how a single skin balm grew in to a simultaneously...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Shaffali Miglani, Founder of the ayurvedic and aromatherapy – based skin care brand Shaffali, describes the patience and perspective she has gained in over a decade of brand ownership, the value of self-awareness in entrepreneurship,...
In her Indie Beauty Profile Evelyn Subramaniam, founder of the luxury wellness brand BIJA Essence, talks about the power of passion in entrepreneurship, and about how her deceptively simple essential oils brand is leveraging another power—the power of...
In his Indie Beauty Profile, Michal Berski, CEO of Curlsmith, describes a hair care, treatment, and styling brand developed for people with curly hair—a brand he believes is unlike any other on the market. And he offers advice for other personal care...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Kara Brook Brown, the creative director at Waxing Kara, presents a delightfully well-conceived personal care brand, offers insight into the regulatory challenges of building a consumer goods brand, and explains why hers is...
Recently, brands featured on the Indie Beauty Profile column have been asked to define or explain their thinking on what makes a cosmetics, personal care, or fragrance brand independent. Here, Cosmetics Design has complied a selection of the replies in...
Consumer hunger for the latest niche offering in the naturals and organics beauty space has never been higher. Here are our top picks for independent companies leading the pack.
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Gretchen Chevalier, founder of ittsē, explains how her work in beauty manufacturing led her to develop a distinctive color cosmetics brand around functional, stylish packaging. And, she shares practical yet daunting advice...
In her Indie Beauty Profile, Lori Machiorlette, founder of Worth Beauty—the company behind the blendSmart mechanically rotating makeup brush—talks about how her business has progressed to become a “spinning revolution” around the globe. And she reminds...
Late last week the pharmaceutical and consumer products company announced it has acquired the organic sunless tanning and skin care brand founded by CEO Alyson Hogg. Crown Laboratories sees the global brand as a fitting addition to their existing sun...
One of the predictions in last December’s Cosmetics Design video ‘Top ten cosmetics and personal care trends for 2017’ was that, “Women will stand out in 2017 as the founders, inventors, and business leaders in personal care and cosmetics.” Here, we’ve...
This year independent cosmetics, personal care, and fragrance brands became so prominent, Cosmetics Design launched a weekly column dedicated to these innovative startups and their founders. The Indie Beauty Profile is on vacation this month. But in the...
Since early this year, Cosmetics Design has been publishing the Indie Beauty Profile column weekly, showcasing the inspiring work of cosmetics and personal care entrepreneurs and their innovative brands. Now after nearly 30 installments, we pause to reflect...
