Europe’s indie beauty players: 12 make it to Beauty & Money finals

With indie beauty increasingly in the spotlight in Europe, some of the key names to watch may be among the finalists at the Beauty & Money event’s Beauty Spotlight.

Taking place later this month in London, the Beauty & Money event, Europe’s first, will shine a light on investment and opportunity for beauty players across Europe.

It aims to connect investors, multinational strategic brands and independent beauty brands to discuss potential partnerships, whilst providing updates on the latest trends in the European market.

The 12 independent beauty players it has picked out to showcase in its Beauty Spotlight are:

  • BYBI Beauty,
  • ORBO,
  • Rouge Bunny Rouge,
  • Sampler,
  • HO KARAN,
  • Shampora,
  • Electric Hair,
  • BAD NORWEGIAN,
  • Purepotions,
  • Cocunat,
  • My.Haircare
  • Be for Beauty.

These were selected by representatives from some leading companies: Henkel Beauty Care, Unilever Ventures, Piper, L Catterton, TSG Consumer, Otium Capital, Manzanita Capital, BlueGem, Alantra, Founders Factory and Johnson & Johnson.

Skin care out in front

Organisers say that skin care was an area of particular innovation, with six of the final 12 being skin care players.

This reflects the rising interest in skin care, as demonstrated in the latest Beauty Trends report produced by Euromonitor International, and the growing interest in Skin Microbiome ingredients,” they state.

Finalist brands in the Beauty Spotlight have enjoyed market success.

Beauty Bakerie, a Beauty Spotlight finalist at the inaugural event in New York has since seen investment from Unilever, and event organise say it has been achieving significant growth.  

Pulp Riot, a second Beauty Spotlight finalist in New York last year, is a professional hair colouring brand, and has just been acquired by L’Oréal.

Indie beauty: really one to watch?

With internet retail giant Amazon having just announced that it is opening a store dedicated entirely to independent beauty brands​, the potential for indie online has never been clearer.

Smaller, new, niche brands have the speed to maket and ability to react much more quickly than bigger, more established players, and with the internet, they are able to reach consumers bases in a way that simply was not possible before.

Digital is one area where indie beauty players are leading, and we’re also seeing them step into the forefront of the naturals and organic trend innovation.