When we created The Business of Beauty Global Awards in 2024, we set out to identify a cohort of entrepreneurs from across the world who had unique potential, creativity and dynamism. We wanted to surface the next generation of founders who will shape our future industry, but may otherwise not receive the recognition they deserve, not because of any deficiencies in their businesses or lack of demand. Incredible founders often miss out on opportunities because they lack a foothold with investors, retailers, or other backers who could help take their business to the next level.
Last year, we were thrilled to honour sustainable brand Conserving Beauty from Australia, skincare label D’You from India, and makeup line Fara Homidi of the US. Since then, all three have continued to flourish.
This year’s crop was filled with stories of perseverance, scrappiness and impressive growth. Over 100 applicants from across 17 countries and five continents had to be filtered into just 13 finalists. Those in our Emerging Track are start-up brands currently generating less than $2 million in annual revenue, and those in our Breakthrough Track are scaling brands generating up to $10 million in annual revenue.
As always, our selection process had some spirited exchanges as we weighed funding against revenue generated, sampled products and explored innovative credentials, while continuing to ask which brands had the potential to change the global beauty industry and stand out.
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Today, we’re so excited to share with you our 13 finalists.
Emerging Track
19/99
Founders: Stephanie Spence and Camille Katona, Canada
Launched in 2020, 19/99 Beauty is driven by the belief that beauty is self-defined — regardless of age. Co-founded by Camille Katona and Stephanie Spence, who have worked together in beauty for over 15 years, the brand speaks to a psychographic rather than a demographic. The duo started at Bite Beauty, as part of the founding team, and led the North American launch of Shanghai-based Red Earth. 19/99 Beauty delivers high-performance, multi-use products designed for individuals aged 19 to 99 — offering freedom, not rules. The bootstrapped brand has grown organically and is now available at prestige retailers including Space NK, Cult Beauty, Moda Operandi, The Detox Market, and Holt Renfrew.
Lelive
Founder: Amanda du-Pont, South Africa
Lelive skincare was founded by Swazi-born Amanda du-Pont to showcase the quality and innovation of Africa to the world. After rapid growth in South Africa, the brand has launched in the UK, with features in Elle and British Vogue. Lelive blends the highest-quality African botanics with cutting-edge scientific actives for healthy, glowing skin.
Facile
Founder: Danielle Nadick Levy, United Status
Facile co-founder and chief executive officer Danielle Nadick Levy is a business strategist, brand builder and beauty junkie. Working alongside Dr. Nancy Samolitis, the brand’s dermatologist and co-founder, Nadick Levy used her business expertise to develop a clinical skincare line that blends simplicity and function. Her vision has always been clear — bring kind, affordable, and effective skincare to the masses.
Commune
Founder: Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux, United Kingdom
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Commune is a self-care brand from Bruton, Somerset. Founded by husband-and-wife duo Rémi Paringaux and Kate Neal, Commune is a creative expression of their personal journeys — shaped by years spent working in luxury fashion houses including LVMH, Gucci, and Hermès. Commune launched in 2022 with a range of self-care products. Taking a perfumer’s approach to soap formulation, each product is made with plant-based ingredients and natural oils without single-use plastic. With its unique bottle design, packaging is crafted from highly recyclable aluminium, complete with a bespoke-designed, reusable metal pump. Commune’s products are sold at the brand’s own retail and workshop space, and through retailers and hospitality partners around the world including Harrods, Liberty, Mecca, Estelle Manor, Ssense, The Newt in Somerset, and Remedy Place.
Unifrom
Founder: Haisam Mohammed, Sweden
Haisam Mohammed founded Unifrom in Stockholm to shift the fragrance industry away from euro-centric standards and towards new narratives. He has worked in design-related fields, art directing for some of Sweden’s most exciting fashion houses. Unifrom is rooted in Mohammed’s personal story — shaped by movement, migration, and a perspective formed outside traditional beauty norms. Through scent, the brand channels these experiences and offers a new lens on what fragrance can be.
Soshe
Founder: Sahar Rohani, United States
Sahar Rohani is the co-founder and chief executive of Soshe Beauty, an award-winning clean makeup brand redefining beauty through refillable packaging and high performance formulas. Raised in Laguna Beach in an Iranian-American family, Rohani studied Computational Neuroscience at USC, where she met her two co-founders and began her journey into beauty entrepreneurship. Inspired by her mother’s iconic ’90s makeup collection, but unable to find makeup that combined skin-friendly ingredients, conscious packaging, and elevated, inclusive shades, she launched Soshe. It has since gained recognition for its packaging and formula innovations, setting new standards for sustainable beauty.
Manasi 7
Founder: Susanne Manasi, Sweden
Manasi 7 is a Swedish beauty brand founded by an East Indian-born makeup artist. It blends Scandinavian minimalism with ancient Indian natural remedies to create timeless, multifunctional, microbiome-friendly makeup and skin care products for an effortless everyday routine. Combining the high performance of conventional beauty with the healing power of natural, fermented, biotech, wild-harvested, waterless and certified organic ingredients, Manasi offers effective, sustainably produced beauty products that cater to a wide range of skin tones. The collection is available at select global retailers, including Printemps NYC and Fwrd in the US, Content Beauty in the UK, Galilu in Poland, and Rennai in Canada.
BREAKTHROUGH TRACK
ESW Beauty
Founder: Elina Sofia Wang, United States
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ESW Beauty is founded by Elina Sofia Wang, who after struggling with stomach ulcers for many years decided to start a cleaner lifestyle. By changing how she approached her food choices, she also began to transition her beauty vanity to clean skincare products. She decided to launch her own brand in 2019. She has released collections inspired by healthy drinks from raw juices and plant-based milk, including sheet masks and lip treatments. Since launching the brand, ESW Beauty has operated without relying on institutional funding and has built a near eight-figure product business. The brand can be found in more than 8,500 retail doors, including 1,200 Target stores, 4,500 Walgreens stores, Whole Foods Market, Barnes & Noble, Anthropologie, World Market, and more.
Olfactory NYC
Founder: JJ Vittoria, United States
JJ Vittoria is the founder of Olfactory NYC, a direct-to-consumer fragrance brand redefining how people experience and purchase scent. He began his career in finance but was inspired to enter the fragrance industry after recognising a disconnect between the creativity of fragrance development and the mass-market retail experience. Early exposure to the behind-the-scenes world of perfumery, through an uncle who worked at a fine fragrance house, sparked Vittoria’s interest in the industry. In 2017, Vittoria launched Olfactory NYC. By working directly with top perfumers and offering a customisable product experience, the brand delivers high-quality, unique fragrances in a modern, accessible way. Vittoria earned his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2021, where he focused on entrepreneurship and strategic brand building.
Ruka
Founders: Tendai Moyo, United Kingdom
Moyo is an award-winning entrepreneur driven by the power of community and purpose-led innovation to create global impact. As the co-founder and chief executive of Ruka, she’s on a mission to transform the hair extensions industry with a game-changing, patent-pending sustainable alternative to human hair, rooted in biomimicry and supply chain disruption. With a background in business, maths and statistics from LSE and experience consulting for major FMCG brands at Bain & Co, Tendai took the leap in 2020 to build her business. Since then, Ruka has opened the first-of-its-kind retail space at Selfridges, served customers with textured hair worldwide, and most recently launched an industry-shifting afro-hair education partnership with Got2B and Schwarzkopf Pro Academy. To fuel this mission, she’s raised over £7 million ($9.2 million) in venture capital and grants.
Yse Beauty
Founder: Molly Sims, United States
In April 2023, Molly Sims launched Yse Beauty (pronounced “wise”), a results-driven skincare brand designed for women seeking effective solutions without complicated routines. Inspired by her battle with hyperpigmentation and a desire to help women who felt underserved and overlooked, Sims spent over three years in research and development, testing hundreds of formulas to perfect her regimen. Sims is the author of two bestselling books and hosts the top-ranked podcast Lipstick on the Rim, which features industry experts and friends discussing beauty and wellness trends. She also leads Something Happy Productions, a multimedia company behind several high-profile projects. Sims works closely with Baby2Baby, a leading nonprofit providing diapers and essentials to children living in poverty across the US.
Ciele Cosmetics
Founder: Nikki DeRoest, United States
Chief executive officer and co-founder of Ciele cosmetics, Nikki DeRoest is a trusted beauty expert with over 20 years of experience as an LA-based celebrity makeup artist, educator, product developer, and beauty connoisseur. With a reputation for exquisite artistry and an unparalleled understanding of skin, DeRoest has become a trusted name in the industry, working with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Phoebe Dynevor, Emma Corrin and Behati Prinsloo. DeRoest’s signature aesthetic is built upon the art of flawless complexion, where radiant, luminous skin takes center stage. This expertise seamlessly translates into her creation of Ciele Cosmetics, skin-driven makeup designed to deliver both exceptional glamour and artistry standard performance.
Akt London
Founders: Ed Currie and Andy Coxon, United Kingdom
Ed Currie and Andy Coxon are the co-founders of Akt — The Personal Performance Company — and former West End performers-turned-entrepreneurs. They met in rehearsals for a West End show, where eight performances a week under hot lights in the same costumes led to one inconvenient truth: mainstream deodorants weren’t cutting it. They spent three years in their kitchen developing what would become Akt’s cult product: The Deodorant Balm, plastic-free, aluminium-free, and gender-free. First tested by the West End and Broadway theatre communities, the balm quickly built a reputation for its unmatchable efficacy, fine fragrances and unwavering staying power — even on a two-show day. The growing range includes their multi-award-winning Body Wash Concentrate, Foaming Body Scrub and Body Conditioning Balm — all proudly made in the UK, tested on dancers (not animals), and built to last.
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The Business of Beauty Global Awards 2025 are made possible by our Awards Partners Sephora and L’Oréal.
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