1. An eye for eye care innovation

Will eye care be the next product category to migrate from the pharmacy to the beauty store? Several enterprising brands at IBE LA are betting on it. From ancient Ayurvedic practices to techie tools, indie entrepreneurs are looking to expand consumers’ healthy ocular options.

Foreo: Beauty tool behemoth Foreo is known for its electric facial cleansing devices, but the Swedish company has expanded into skincare, oral care tools and, with the launch of the Iris tool in 2015, targeted eye area care. “Your eyes reveal a lot about you,” says Ilka Brown, national account manager for Foreo. “That’s why it’s so important to take care of them. So, we created the Iris. [It] can be used with your existing eye creams and serums to help improve their absorption or can be used alone for a relaxing eye massage.” Using alternating so-called t-sonic technology, the Iris is designed to smooth away visible signs of aging and fatigue such as fine lines, wrinkles, under-eye bags and dark circles. The $139 device is made from soft, nonporous silicone to resist bacteria buildup and treat the delicate eye area without damage. Its ergonomic form fits the eye contour to optimally deliver an eye massage.

Paavani Ayurvedic: Ayurvedic personal care range Paavani’s comprehensive collection of merchandise includes an offering many consumers are unlikely to have encountered before: Eye Wash Ritual Kit. “Eye washing is a traditional Ayurvedic self-care ritual practiced for over 5,000 years,” says Paavani co-founder Leah Klatt. “By providing the tools needed to practice this ritual at home, we are merely making this time-tested remedy accessible to anyone looking for a preventative healthcare solution for the eyes.” Klatt continues it’s recommended that eyes are washed once per week to keep them healthy and bright. The ritual is believed to help reduce redness and dark circles, and rehydrate tired, overworked eyes. “We are thrilled to be able to share this practice during a time when we believe that it is especially imperative due to the number of stimuli that we take in visually and the screen time that we are exposed to throughout the day,” says Klatt. “From an Ayurvedic perspective, eye washing soothes excess pitta or heat in the eyes, and can also be beneficial for disorders such as glaucoma, sties and/or conjunctivitis.” The Eye Wash Ritual Kit, which retails for $32, includes a Glass Eye Wash Cup with Muslin Storage Pouch and Paavani’s Floral Water formulated with organic rose and lavender water.

We Love Eyes: Dissatisfied with the eye care products available to her patients, optometrist Tanya Gill launched We Love Eyes in 2017. “I had a patient that asked for an eye makeup remover that was vegan, gluten-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free and cruelty-free,” she recounts. “I went to Whole Foods and was surprised that one didn’t exist. I remember watching my mother removing her facial makeup with oils as Asian women have done for decades before. I took those concepts and ran with it.” Since We Love Eyes’ launch, Gill has grown its selection to eight SKUs. Two products will boost it to 10 SKUs soon. Retail prices for the products, including Tea Tree Eyelid Foaming Cleanser, Eyelid Margin Cleansing Brush and Tea Tree Eye Makeup Remover Oil, range from $20 to $48.

2. Accessibly Clean

Even The New York Times has noticed that high-end skincare and high prices aren’t synonymous anymore. In an article on consumers’ desire for transparency, efficacy and killer aesthetics, Crystal Martin wrote, “The meaning of luxury is broader now.” Once a bastion of exclusivity, the clean skincare segment has become integral in stretching the idea of luxury to encompass affordable merchandise that doesn’t skimp on looks and performance.

Wildcraft: Skincare brand Wildcraft was started five years ago with a mission of making natural skincare affordable without compromising on quality. Founder Laura Whitaker explains she keeps prices down—all Wildcraft’s products are $35 and under—by sticking to classic ingredients such as geranium, frankincense and olive oil rather than injecting rare and trending ingredients into formulas for marketing purposes. “The majority of our ingredients are organic, our packaging is glass, and we believe that our branding is something most consumers would be proud to display on their bathroom shelves,” she says. “Our other big differentiator is that we hand make everything…There is something intrinsically beautiful about something that has been made by hand.” Wildcraft’s bestsellers are Restore Face Cream and Regenerate Face Serum. The brand is available at The Truth Beauty Company, Well.ca and The Detox Market in Canada.

Phenic Skincare: In a nod to co-founder Sophia El-Hayek’s Lebanese heritage, Phenic Skincare’s name comes from the word Phoenician, which refers to the ancient Mediterranean people of Lebanon. The brand’s formulas are rooted in Mediterranean ingredients and skincare recipes passed down from generation to generation in El-Hayek’s family. Her grandmother Marta informed her of ingredients such as olive oil, raw honey and shea butter her mother and her mother’s mother used to make a nourishing cream, and those ingredients comprise Phenic Skincare’s Oil Cream Moisturizer. In addition to the Oil Cream Moisturizer, the brand sells Aloe Vera Serum, Coconut Rose Face Mask and Jasmine & Rose Beauty Oils. Olive-derived squalane oil is the base of most of its products. “Products with good quality squalane oil can be expensive, especially if they are blended with other higher grade oils costing upwards of $50 to $60. Our most expensive product is $40, with our other products in the $30 to $35 price range. We wanted to offer a product with high-end ingredients to our target customers at an accessible price point,” says El-Hayek, adding, “Our target market includes millennials and gen Z consumers who are interested and passionate about beauty, skincare and healthy product alternatives.”

Grace & Stella: Today an extensive brand encompassing skincare, body care and hair care, Grace & Stella began with a bang in 2016 when its Dr. Pedicure Foot Peeling Mask went viral. Currently, its skincare products are big hits. Among Grace & Stella’s bestsellers are Rose Spray, Anti-Wrinkle + Energizing Under Eye Masks, Dead Sea Mud Mask and Cleansing Balm. Housed in minimalist packaging imbued with vibrant colors, Grace & Stella’s products run from $9 to $36, and are sold on Well.ca, iHerb and Amazon. The brand reports it has drawn 4 million loyal customers and registered 6,500% growth since its launch. Its core customers are women aged 16 to 35 years old who are drawn to its cruelty-free, vegan and clean beauty positioning, fun formulas and standout design.

3. NO-NO NAIL PRODUCTS

The green trend has primarily concentrated on skincare, makeup and haircare, but it’s moving the needle in nail as well. While most nail polishes that are cleaning up their formulas are 3-free, indicating they exclude formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate, a handful of brands eliminate nine and 10 ingredients. Now, brands are going further with clean gel polishes and lacquer removers.

Manucurist: The key driver for French nail polish brand Manucurist is to be as green as possible, from the base to the top coat. Its line of nail lacquers offers up to 50 colors, is 9-free and composed of 84% natural ingredients, including coconut oil and bamboo extract. The brand’s latest and most exciting launch is a gel version of the lacquers. It’s a clean alternative—the very first of its kind, the brand tells us—to the typical formulas that often leave nails weak and brittle. Consumers can apply it with a regular base and top coat, and it dries with an LED or UV lamp. When they’re over the color or their polish starts chipping, whichever comes first, they can remove the gel with customary polish remover.

Kapa Nui Nails: Prior to co-founding Kapa Nui Nails, Lyn Lam worked in healthcare. Now, she’s dedicated to educating women about healthy choices, starting with what they put on their nails. “When we discovered the chemicals women were exposing themselves to and the damage being done to their nails, we explored this further and found this is an issue that creates anxiety, discomfort and really detracts from the overall pleasure of adorning ones’ self with polish,” says Lam. Together with an organic polymer chemist, Kapa Nui Nails came up water-based polishes that actually last. They’re priced from $10.50 to $15. “Water-based polish has not had much success due to its limited wear when used alone,” acknowledges Lam. “The breakthrough was our patented dual Base & Top Coat, which gives water-based polish a competitive wear time.” The brand didn’t stop there. Because the polish is water-based, typical acetone removers aren’t effective on it, so Kapa Nui Nails decided to create an eco-friendly product with low amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that would. Lam adds, “Ironically, our remover works extremely well on lacquers.”

Glam & Grace: Amy Cornelius hopes to promote a healthy lifestyle through her beauty brand Glam & Grace. She founded the company after suffering from health issues and developing a sensitivity to chemicals. “I needed products that were simple…products that didn’t cause irritation & inflammation, ones that weren’t harmful to skin and health,” she writes on Glam & Grace’s website. “I knew that, if these were things I desperately needed, others needed them available, too.” She set out on a mission to bring healthy, high-end makeup to the masses and, eventually, extended to nail polish. Glam & Grace’s polish shades are designed to be soft, muted and timeless. They’re also 10-free or, in other words, they steer clear of formaldehyde, toluene, camphor, dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde resin, xylene, ethyl tosylamide, parabens, phthalates and fragrances. The polishes are $10 each.

4. Retro, Deco and Dark

Is it nihilism caused by our tumultuous times? A wish to return to the styles of the past? Or perhaps the subversive side of cannabis culture is casting a gothic glamour on the beauty industry? Whatever the genesis, it was undeniable at IBE LA that brands are embracing the dark side in packaging design, often mingling the moorish with vintage sensibilities.

Bésame Cosmetics: If Eva Peron were alive today, she’d likely be a fan and user of Gabriela Hernandez’s Bésame Cosmetics. The author, historian and designer immigrated to the United States from Argentina at 12 years old with what would become her life-long love affair with vintage beauty already in full bloom thanks to a fascination with her grandmother’s sophisticated beauty routine. Hernandez founded Bésame in 2004 and quickly acquired a cult following of vintage enthusiasts who appreciate the brand’s cruelty-free formulas encased in meticulously designed packaging. The comprehensive range of products fashioned in gilded metal cases are retro not only in form, but in function. The brand’s bestselling cake mascara comes in square tin instead of a tube and is applied to lashes with a mini brush, not a wand. Beauty fans can experience all of Bésame’s modern takes on makeup of yore at the brand’s boutique-cum-cosmetic museum in Burbank, Calif.

Rituel Beauty: Founder Dara Gerson describes Rituel Beauty’s packaging aesthetic as old Hollywood glamour meets Art Deco with a modern, rock ‘n’ roll edge. She says, “The design of the bottle was highly important from the very beginning. What’s inside the bottle is so unique and special that I knew the bottle had to have the same magic and allure.” She adds that the bottle is a nod to London’s iconic Biba department store, which shuttered four decades ago. The luxury of Rituel’s doesn’t come at the expense of the earth. Gerson was mindful of the environment in its creation. She says, “It’s inevitable that more thoughtful and well-designed packaging will evolve in the industry, especially around sustainability and reducing our footprint of plastic.” Although it recently launched, Rituel is already available at a number of lifestyle retailers, including Dover Street Market, ABC Carpet & Home and 10 Corso Como.

Make & Mary: Many CBD brands hone in on face creams and muscle rubs. Make & Mary founder Yvonne Perez Emerson aspired for her line to be different. It has cannabis and essential oil inhalers and roll-ons, a bolo tie and a cannabis candle as well as a face and body serum. She also aimed for a different look, and Perez Emerson completed a refresh last August that uses the colors dark blue, black, copper and rose gold. “The first time around it was pretty and safe, but not really me. This time, I took longer to think about the essence of the brand. I wanted something that represented my style, and I had a few muses,” she says, pointing to Versace, Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith. “I wanted it to be stylish, feminine and rebellious. I drew the art with plant medicine and its culture in mind. It has a vintage flair, but it’s sophisticated.” The Let Your Soul Shine Cannabis Candle is illustrative of the design direction. It’s dark and beautiful, but also substantial to hold. The candle holder’s airtight lid protects the potency of the nine essential oils in the candle, and Perez Emerson explains the ornate holder allows consumers to recycle the ornate black case as “a stash jar to preserve your favorite flower…or treasures.” Make & Mary is sold in 30 retailers across the country, and it’s available at The Salon Project at Saks Fifth Avenue.

5. Next Gen Collagen

Even your unhealthiest friend has probably heard of and perchance tried collagen. The darling of the ingestible beauty category is consumers’ first foray into the world of wellness, but plain collagen powder has turned off possibly as many people as it hooked. Ever the innovators, independent brands have gotten creative with ingredient, coming to market with novel flavors and formats promising to deliver beneficial results.

Hech: Family-owned and -operated German brand Hech has been a leader in luxury nutrition supplements for over 40 years. Hech has created ranges of collagen powders, capsules and drinking ampoules for both women and men. “We recently launched a special nutrition collection for men, including a collagen product with marine collagen peptides and amino acids,” shares Nathalie Bittner, Hech’s head of brand communication. “It’s one of the first products for men on the beauty nutrition market combining beauty and support of a healthy lifestyle.” One of the company’s top sellers, Caviar Collagen Ruby Elixir, offers the highest amount of pure marine collagen available at 11.000 milligrams per ampoule. The brand’s ampoules are travel-friendly, single-serving glass vials of the elixir that can be imbibed on the go. As the name caviar might suggest, the elixir is not cheap. A box of 12 ampoules retails for 65 euros or nearly $71 at the current exchange rate. Hech products are sold in over 40 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Aura Inner Beauty: Avalon Lukacs launched ingestible brand Aura Inner Beauty after the power of ingestible probiotics cleared up a myriad of her chronic skin issues. The brand today boasts several collagen elixirs that can be easily added to any beverage. “Unlike most hydrolyzed marine collagen products that come in a flavorless, powder form and leave much to be desired, we wanted to create something that people would enjoy,” says Lukacs. “By stretching the boundaries of what is possible and creating a liquid elixir, we have reimagined collagen so that you can look forward to each and every serving.” She mentions Aura’s marine collagen is sourced sustainably from wild-caught fish. Its elixirs, which retail at $65 for a 35-day supply, come in two subtle flavor profiles of coconut and wildberry hibiscus, and are housed in premium glass spirit bottles, complete with wooden caps and paper labels. Aura’s collagen products are available through the brand’s online store as well as within select cafes, beauty retailers, skin studios, spas and resorts in Canada.

6. Empowered Showers

Baths have gotten more than their fair share of Instagram-enabled buzz. But the truth is that most of our baths don’t look anything like the glorious baths on social media—and we’re largely taking showers anyway. The good news for shower-taking regular folks is that beauty brands are paying attention to their mundane personal maintenance rituals to enhance them with distinctive shower-specific products.

NHCO Botanical Bodycare: To ease restless feet stemming from her use of fertility drugs, NHCO Botanical Bodycare founder and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) sufferer Nicole Hawthorne took baths steeped in her brand’s bath bombs, but she didn’t want to limit the soothing experience to the bath. She developed shower steamers to be shower counterparts to the bath bombs. Priced at $8, the disc-like shower steamers can enrich two to four showers. They’re available in seven natural scents—eucalyptus menthe is the most popular—and colored with organic ingredients such as spirulina, turmeric and beet root powder. The shower steamers are carried by Tender Loving Empire, Cambridge Naturals and A-Town Boutique. Hawthorne says, “Breaking the steamer in half, inhaling the aroma, and the clever use of spices, makes a complete pampering experience. Every scent provides its own sanative benefits, providing spa time at home.”

Laki Naturals: Tiffany Lerman, founder of Laki Naturals, which sells a popular magnesium bath soak, is intent on not overlooking shower enthusiasts. Last year, her brand introduced a shower fizzy product in four varieties: lavender, aloha rose, eucalyptus peppermint and neroli. The fizzies are priced at $11.99 for a pack of two. “The idea behind them is simple,” says Lerman. “Water droplets from the shower activate the fizzies, and that creates steam and clouds of aromas that fill your shower and stimulate your senses. So, if you want to feel energized and wake up in the morning, then you would place a eucalyptus peppermint fizzy in your shower and, if you want to calm down at the end of a long day, then you would place a lavender fizzy in your shower.” Customers can purchase the fizzies at select Whole Foods locations in California and Erewhon, and on Amazon.

Nude & Crude: Nude & Crude is turning showering into a more sustainable activity. The new brand from the maker of Way Of Will is starting with shower powder, a cleansing alternative to solid bar and liquid formats, that’s packaged in a plastic-free carton. “The goal of Nude & Crude is to create a line of affordable, sustainable wellness and body care products that are good for the body, but also environmentally-friendly,” says Willie Tsang, founder of Nude & Crude and Way Of Will. “During our research process, we noticed there were a lot of pros and cons with existing products in the market. People seem to love the convenience of using shower gel, but don’t like the idea of using a plastic container. On the other hand, bar soap doesn’t require a plastic container, yet it is messy and an inconvenience to store.” In addition to its plastic-free packaging, the shower powders are packed with ethically sourced natural ingredients, including aloe, kaolin, oatmeal and potato starch. Priced at $12.99 for 40-plus washes, four types of shower powders—tranquilizing lavender, uplifting lemongrass, energizing sweet orange and purifying peppermint—will be available in March.

Daily Concepts: Daily Concepts touts that its products are for individuals who think and sing in the shower. Its latest product, Multi-Functional Soap Sponge Charcoal, will definitely inspire both. The brand describes the product as having a sponge on the inside and mild textured detoxifying soap on the outside. At $8, the product is a cost-effective way for consumers to avoid having to buy two items when one suffices. After the soap is finished, they can recycle the sponge. Compact in size, the combo sponge-in-soap that cleanses while it exfoliates is perfect for traveling, and Daily Concepts is coming out with a larger version soon for consumers desiring more.

7. Better Body Care

The indie beauty segment has focused intensely on the face. That focus makes perfect sense. Body care accounts for a sliver of beauty sales, and consumers have traditionally been unwilling to pay a premium for products designed to be used below their necks. However, brands like Nécessaire and Kayo Body Care have arrived on the beauty scene to convince consumers not to cover their bodies in the usual junk they run across at drugstores. At IBE LA, they were joined by a crop of brands elevating body care to face care status.

Salud: Salud began with sustainable fashion in 2015, and expanded into beauty three years later first with facial merchandise before branching into body care with considered items. Its Body Oil arose from a trip Ayurveda practitioner Alison Rojas Metcalfe took to West India several years back. During the trip, she learned that some body types run dry from within and a remedy recommended for those body types is sesame oil applied as a moisturizer. She incorporated sesame oil in Salud’s Body Oil, which comes two scents: Everyday Radiance featuring crisp, light bergamot, and Modern Empress featuring jasmine. It’s priced at $28 for an 8-oz. bottle. Discussing sesame oil, Rojas Metcalfe says, “Most people get turned off by the name alone, but it’s not the same bitter smell as sesame oil used for cooking. It’s particularly clear in smell while rich in minerals and fatty acids. It’s like a delicious cocktail for our body.” In addition to Body Oil, Salud’s assortment contains a plastic- and aluminum-free Deodorant Cream and Madre, a ceremonial oil with lavender, sweet almond, bergamot, sweet grass and ylang ylang essential oils produced in small batches and meant to celebrate womanhood.

Everyday Oil: On Everyday Oil’s website, the brand describes its signature oil as both an old kind of product and a new kind of product. It’s old because it relies on ingredients such as olive, argan, jojoba and castor oils that are certainly time-tested. It’s new because it’s an antidote to conventional body care loaded with fillers, and it stuns on the shelf in straightforward, striking glass packaging. “It is so important to pay attention to what we put in and on our bodies, and Everyday Oil is like freshly prepared vegetables for your skin, only the cleanest and best organic whole plants,” says Everyday Oil founder Emma Allen. Originally formulated for the face, Everyday Oil is ideal for all body parts. The brand notes it can function as a natural insect repellent, massage oil, beard oil, bath soak, face cleanser, after-shave, post-sun soother and cuticle oil, to name a few of its uses. There are two varieties priced from $14 for a 1-oz. size to $48 for an 8-oz. size: the mainstay blend with palo santo, lavender, geranium and clary sage essential oils, and an unscented blend. Bird Brooklyn, CAP Beauty, Creatures of Comfort, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, The Now and Otherwild are among the retailers stocking Everyday Oil.

I+I Botanicals: I+I Botanicals’ hero product is CBD Infused Coffee Body Scrub, and the hero product’s hero ingredient is fair-trade coffee from Yirgacheffe, a town in central Ethiopia. If they weren’t used in the foaming scrub, the coffee beans would have otherwise been trashed. Selam Kelati, who founded the brand with Jennifer Culpepper, elaborates, “Prior to the roasting process, the beans that are too small are often discarded to prevent a bitter taste from over-roasting. Though not suitable for your triple latte, we are happy to save them from going to waste, thus giving them a new purpose. Typical coffee scrubs are made from grounds that have already been brewed, thus stripped of their nutrients while our beans are still jam-packed with skin-benefitting nutrients.” The coffee beans are coupled with Irish seaweed moss, aloe vera and 200 milligrams of CBD in the scrub. On top of the scrub, I+I Botanicals’ body care collection includes CBD Infused Dry Oil Body Mist, a pairing of 20 milligrams of CBD with jojoba and moringa oils. The brand’s prices range from $29.99 to $69.99.

8. GLITTERY AND GREEN

While it’s certainly eye-catching, glitter can be environmentally destructive. All those tiny plastic particles found don’t simply disappear into thin air. They often wind up in oceans. Conscious of the problem, several beauty brands are experimenting with glitter options that are as sparkly as they are earth-friendly.

Johnny Concert Makeup: Johnny Concert Makeup co-founder Joanna Gatto’s impression of the beauty industry changed after she landed an internship with Elle magazine in 2005. “It was through testing out various beauty products that I discovered there was lead in my lipstick and other carcinogens in the rest of my makeup,” she says. “I didn’t feel right being paid to promote products that I knew could harm others.” So, she walked away from the job and manifested another one by starting a clean and ethical beauty brand from scratch. “Clean beauty really wasn’t a thing at the time, let alone bright and vibrant cosmetics that were nontoxic,” she says. “I loved edgy and fun makeup, but didn’t like the ingredients or the potential harm their products could have.” Glitter was an ingredient she worried a ton about. Gatto says, “We decided to show the world you can still sparkle without harming others and came up with our smudge-resistant, cooling glitter gels, Glitz.” The shine in the product is from non-GMO Spanish eucalyptus trees. The material is compostable and safe for marine life. “It is very important for our products to be part of the solution rather than the problem, and if we can offer a better and safer alternative we will go through any lengths to make it happen,” says Gatto. “There is nothing beautiful about harming others for the sake of looking good.”

True + Luscious: When Mehrbano Sethi launched vegan makeup company Luscious Cosmetics in 2007, she was venturing into untrodden territory in the beauty industry. “There was a white space in the makeup category to grow parallel with consumers adopting clean skincare routines,” she says. “It’s a logical next step to sync clean makeup with clean skincare and add skincare benefits where possible.” She’s taken that next step with the new brand True + Luscious, which has a lipstick, pressed powder foundation and face palette along with makeup-related skincare, including a setting spray, and lip and eye serum. While most of the the brand’s products don’t contain glitter, Sethi says it is “firmly resolved to only use eco-friendly glitter” for the ones that do. Forthcoming liquid eyeshadows contain plant-based glitter. Although the glitter alternative narrows the shade options, according to Sethi, she’s excited about their gleam. “My goal is to grow True + Luscious into an iconic brand for makeup,” says Sethi.“We’re building the new, clean Urban Decay.”

Au Naturale Cosmetics: While working as a nuclear analyst in Washington, D.C., Ashley Prange noticed women would sport clean color cosmetics during the day when they turned to a natural look, but they’d switch to conventional color cosmetics at night for bold, long-lasting wear. She didn’t want them to have to switch away from clean cosmetics. So, she decided to give them some they could rely on during the night and day. In 2011, Prange launched Au Naturale with a clean color cosmetics range that now spans creme concealers, vegan mascaras, highlighters, bronzers, foundations, lipsticks, blushes and more. For the items that have a bit of shine to them like Pure Powder Blush and High Lustre Lip Gloss, Au Naturale uses various minerals to get the right sheen. “In lieu of glitter, we use minerals capsulized in titanium dioxide and coated in micas that lend pearlescence,” says Prange. “All materials that we use in Au Naturale are naturally derived, hence we have always relied on alternatives to glitter. There are also sustainable lab-manufactured colorants that could be utilized.”

9. MULTIFACETED LIP CONCEPTS

Lipsticks, lip glosses and lip tints are no longer restricted to being swiped only the mouth. Brands are coming up with new ways to stretch the products and their uses. Part of their agenda is to cut down on consumption.

Roar Cosmetics: Roar Cosmetics has started with one product. That one product—the Rock’n’Roar Hot 24—comes in 24 colors and three formulas. It resembles a lip gloss, but is meant to be used however a consumer sees fit. It can be swiped on the eyes and checks as well as lips. “At Roar, we understand that today’s modern beauty consumer isn’t asking for more,” the website reads. “S*He is demanding less.” Catchy shade names include Go Baby Glow, Gold Save The Queen, Gimme Some Toffee and I Shot The Cherry.

Y Cosmetics: After working in PR and media for almost 17 years, Tess Finkle could be a bit jaded by the beauty industry. Instead, she says she sees it as a platform “to speak to a vast group of people that are grossly marginalized,” primarily women. “My work in this space allowed me to discover a lane to share a message to women through beauty in a way that is from the heart—and a female lens—and designed for all of us to feel better about ourselves and each other,” she says. Her brand Y Cosmetics’ products have big messages. For example, it has liquid eyeshadows named I am Kind, I am Loved and I am Strong. Developed in collaboration with perfumer Sarah Horowitz of Sarah Horowitz Perfumes, an upcoming release called Why Not Both? has a pen-sized lip gloss on one end and perfume on the other. It comes in three different varieties: Sexy & Safe, Ambition & Respect and Options & The One. “Women are told they have to pick one over the other, but who made that rule?” asks Finkle. “Not us! So, let’s reset the standards we live by.” The collaboration is set to hit the market in the spring.

Mad Hippie: Mad Hippie is a veteran in the indie beauty segment. Skincare with a focus on antioxidant protection, sun care, exfoliation and hydration put the brand on the map. Now, it’s extending for the first time into color cosmetics. “Our recent makeup launch is a further iteration of our less is more philosophy, a condensed line of makeup essentials packed with skin care actives that address underlying skin concerns,” co-founder Dana Stewart tells us. The brand’s Cheek & Lip Tint comes in three versatile shades that can be applied to the cheeks, lips or eyes. It’s formulated with plant-based silicone alternatives, sea buckthorn berry, blueberry, shea butter and jojoba oil for added hydration. The packaging includes eco-friendly glass tubs with bamboo lids.

10. Hyaluronic acid trips

Hyaluronic acid seems to be tied with CBD and vitamin C in a race for most popular skincare ingredient. With the super hydrator becoming a staple, brands are pursuing strategies to push it to new heights and pump consumers up about incorporating the ingredient into their routines.

Good Science Beauty: Good Science Beauty founder Suzanne Saffie-Siebert is an expert in silicon technologies, which involve the micromineral present in human bodies, not artificial silicone, that direct ingredients into the skin. Each of Good Science Beauty’s product combines two ingredients to address one common skin problem, and the latest product tackles the persistent issue of dry skin. The 003-Hy: Hydrating Face Cream incorporates the carrier system Good Silicon+ with hyaluronic acid and marine omega-3. “Omega-3 interacts with Hyaluronic Acid and prolongs its activity,” says Saffie-Siebert. “It also strengthens the skin’s barrier function.” She continues, “It’s the only hyaluronic acid delivered to the skin in Good Silicon+—our proprietary courier—which is bioavailable, bio-absorbable and allows to deliver the hyaluronic acid to where it needs to go to deliver benefits, while the GoodSilicon+ metabolizes into orthosilicic acid, a process also benefiting collagen production.”

Rael: Founded by three Korean-American women living in LA, Rael started in 2016 as an organic and natural feminine care line. It’s gone far beyond a narrow definition of feminine care. “Our vision has been to grow Rael as a brand that provides holistic care to women everything around their hormonal cycle with innovative, clean and effective solutions,” says co-founder Yanghee Paik. In 2018, Rael introduced sheet masks and pimple patches to address skin issues triggered by hormonal changes. They were well-received, and the company sensed it was onto something with skincare. It has an office in Korea to be close to the country’s innovation and has tapped it for its latest launch, Moisture Melt Snowball, a capsule that contains 90.95% hyaluronic acid. “We freeze-dried it in order to make it highly concentrated, and it’s activated with our Good Chemistry Advanced Antioxidant Serum,” says Paik. “The two together work like magic to provide 24-hour moisture to your skin, which we saw through our clinical testing.”

Timeless Skin Care: Timeless Skin Care’s objective is to “provide effective and affordable skincare solutions using high concentrations of quality ingredients,” according to its site, and that’s exactly what the brand does with its Hyaluronic Acid Serum. The product contains 1% hyaluronic acid in its purest form. “Anything more will begin to gel up,” explains co-founder Veronica Pedersen. By keeping the formula simple and stripping it of any unnecessary fillers, Timeless Skin Care guarantees “freshness and potency.”

11. Refill At Retail

As beauty brands battle waste, some are setting up product refill stations at retail partners. While the concept isn’t completely new, clean beauty retailer Follain has had in-store refill stations for its eponymous line of liquid soaps since 2013, more brands are creating incentive programs to make it as easy as possible for shops and shoppers to fill ‘er up instead of throw ‘er out.

Java Skincare: Six-year-old clean beauty brand Java Skincare officially launched its ReFill Bar concept at IBE LA, though it tested the program locally in New England leading up to the expo. “We’ve been piloting the program with five of our local boutiques and spas, but we are very excited to be in discussions with over a dozen new retailers that we met at IBE LA,” says Java Skincare director of logistics Denise Drouin. “It definitely resonated with people. We know this is a whole new way of implementing sustainable skincare practices in-store, and it takes retailers a minute to wrap their heads around it. Once they do, it’s amazing to see how excited they are. So many people have told us that this is exactly the kind of thing they’ve been looking to offer their customers.” Java offers nine of its 23 products in its refill program, including Eye Serum, Face Serum, Body Serum, Body Wash, Body Scrub, Lip Scrub and Bar soap. The brand allows retailers to pick from a combination of products. Drouin says, “They can decide they only want to offer eye serum bulk, or they can have all nine SKUs.” When retailers order bulk product, they receive roughly 20% off their order, a savings they can pass to their customers, who receive 20% off of the product when they refill.

Flower and Bone Supply: Small-batch skincare specialist Flower & Bone Supply also introduced its refill program to the retail realm at IBE LA that utilizes its products Miracle Skin Oil Cleanser, Nourishing Toner and Miracle Skin Face Oil. The brand is already working with three retailers on refills and solicited a ton of retail interest at the trade show to build its program. Flower & Bone Supply founder Heather Ciprani estimates customers save around 34% off retail prices by purchasing through the refill program, with retailers still making their 50% margin. Though only three of Flower and Bone Supply’s 23 SKUs are part of the refill program currently, Ciprani hopes to expand it to other oil-based products. She says, “It’s a huge part of my sustainability mission and, to me, would also help drive traffic to retail locations when the customers can save so much on an already great price point. The product really speaks for itself. A huge portion of my sales are from repeat customers.”

Nooii: Founder Daniela Schweingruber launched Zurich-based body care brand Nooii at last March’s IBE Berlin. She had a refill program incorporated into Nooii from day one. “Our focus lies on sustainability and, therefore, I am constantly trying to think about how our products can be sold with the least amount of waste,” says the former model and beekeeper. At the moment, two restaurants in Zurich participate in Nooii’s retail program, and Schweingruber reports another too will participate soon. How it works is the brand delivers 1-ltr. glass bottles to restaurants, and picks up finished ones to clean and reuse. In the next three months, Nooii plans to introduce a refill system for bulk areas, too. The refill initiative is a portion of a broad sustainability effort at Nooii. The brand only uses 100% reusable glass and aluminum packaging. “If you buy a wash or lotion from us, the products will come with a lid and a separate pump in an organic cotton bag,” details Schweingruber. “We made a point of avoiding secondary packaging that involves cutting down trees. All the necessary information is written on the labels, which are made from rock powder, where there is no wood involved. Our secondary packaging is the organic cotton bag, which you then can reuse for all kinds of different purposes.” She adds that Nooii uses pumps with 1-ml. outputs rather than the 2-ml. outputs of most pumps so the products last longer.

12. Cannabis PRODUCT Propagation

Skincare was CBD’s initial home in beauty. Today, the ingredient is filtering into every product imaginable, from toothpaste to towels. Its crawl into a multitude of consumer packaged goods crevices was evident at IBE LA with exhibitors that integrated it into foundation, sunscreen and breath mints.

CBD+Nature: Growing up in California, CBD+Nature founder Katharine Marinaro, who’s lived in Malibu for 25 years, always slathered on mineral sunscreen. After starting her brand in 2017, she sought to create a cleaner version of the sun care product she’d been used to. The result is the stick sunscreen Baby Face SPF 30. Marinaro says the product is “one of the first to market all-natural CBD sunscreens, carefully crafted with ingredients that hydrate and heal while protecting you from the sun.” Priced at $40, its zinc formula has 25 milligrams of CBD, squalene, aloe vera, shea butter, and red raspberry seed, carrot seed and vitamin E oils. CBD+Nature is carried by Dillard’s, ABC Carpet & Home, Svn Space, 10 Corso Como, Takamichi Beauty and Free People’s website. Besides Baby Face SPF 30, its top products are The Tincture, Relief Cream and Radiant Face.

Mi Moi: CBD has entered the complexion category. Priced at $68, Mi Moi’s foundations contain organic hemp seed oil, full-spectrum CBD, aloe vera, shea butter, rice powder, vitamin E, vanilla bean and chamomile. Mi Moi founder Marissa McGarry explains her sensitive skin led her to developing the formulas. “I like to look polished and put together with minimal effort, so I needed something I could wear daily and occasionally wear to bed, a product that combined skincare and coverage all in one,” she says, continuing, “We specifically chose six neutral tones to work with all color ranges. Mi Moi is about streamlining your beauty routine. It’s really as simple as knowing your general tone…As independent, busy women, it’s time for a makeup routine that can allow us to multitask like we do every day.”

Lucent Botanicals: Following an expansive career encompassing furniture, iced coffee, private equity and online stock quotes, Chris Cooper launched CBD-driven Lucent Botanicals in late 2018 after seeing cannabis work for his parents. “We were able to solve pain, inflammation and sleep problems that had been unsuccessfully addressed before,” he says. Lucent Botanicals specializes in mints and has seven varieties: calm, energy, focus, inflammation relief, mood lift, pain relief and sleep. A box of 40 mints is $29.99. “Mints are the perfect solution to consuming CBD. They are fast-acting because they are absorbed in your mouth, not your stomach. They are small, discreet and shareable. Perhaps most importantly, they taste great,” says Cooper, adding, “In many of our retailers, our CBD Mints are the bestselling CBD product in the store. People are so used to oils and tinctures that taste like swamp water that, when they find something that really tastes great, they are quick to switch.” The mints are stocked by over 300 retailers, including Wegmans, CBD Plus USA, CBD Kratom and Columbia Care.