There's a reason so many brands and products feel the same—because they are. Me-too branding, private label and dupes will only get you so in a landscape that has never been more crowded. Competition in the mind of consumers and on shelves is fierce.
The intrinsic value placed on both in the consumer’s mind is the result of a collection of experiences and associations with a brand and product at all touch points. A brand is a promise that becomes an expectation and the best become love marks among the consumers they serve.
The common denominator for brands that made the cut as BeautyMatter NEXT Award finalists is their ability to break through the noise and rewrite the rules with forward-thinking concepts that challenge the status quo. When others zig they zag. The brands defining the tomorrow of beauty and wellness have clarity in what they stand for and what they represent.
The criteria applied by our judges while evaluating submissions included:
The Judges:
Best Breakthrough Beauty Brand: Recognizes innovation by a beauty brand stemming from the creation of a product/service, consumer engagement, marketing or design; can be a new brand initiative from an existing brand or a new-to-market brand launch.
BYOMA: The brand was founded as a response to a growing problem: people were using more scientific, performance-driven skincare than ever before, which coincided with rising rates of self-reported skin issues– like redness, dryness, sensitivity. BYOMA was born to change the conversation and cut through the confusion – the solution was to help people achieve better skin by educating clearly and repairing and restoring people’s broken skin barriers.
From day one, BYOMA has always behaved and thought differently from other beauty companies – the brand thinks as a tech house, and this approach inspires everything from operations through to innovations. BYOMA’s goal is to BUILD BETTER BEAUTY by inspiring a positive change through actions – working hard to elevate industry standards.
BYOMA wants to move the industry forward in a significant way, by shifting perceptions within the industry – changing the main business objective from “how do we SELL?” to “how do we SERVE.” Everything the brand does is about the consumer– pinpointing unsolved needs as the basis for innovation. Shifting from serving versus just selling has long term effects that can and will make the industry a better place. BYOMA is Building Better Beauty.
Cécred: A haircare line founded by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, created to be an inclusive force in haircare while celebrating hair rituals across global cultures and helping dispel hair myths and misconceptions on all sides. Cécred devoted years of research to redefine keratin recovery science with their patent-pending Bioactive Keratin Ferment, inspired by Beyoncé’s lived experience navigating the coloring, high-tension styles, hair adhesive and build-up generated by her life as a performer.
They ignored industry norms by only working with global labs that prioritized inclusive testing on textured hair. This exhaustive research, development, and evaluation resulted in a performance-driven, expert-vetted, validated range of hair solutions beneficial for all hair textures. By addressing the challenges of dry, breakage-prone hair, Cécred met the needs of all hair types requiring extra strength and moisture.
DEINDE: Inflammation skincare has previously been designated only for those with acute inflammation and conditions like eczema or dermatitis, and has not been recognized as a daily necessity to address in order to protect and promote skin health. DEINDE is educating consumers on managing chronic low-level inflammation, otherwise known as inflammaging, as an essential step in a proactive skincare routine.
Understanding that preventive health care is the key to overall well-being, DEINDE harnessed cutting-edge biotech innovation via its parent company, Debut, to apply this philosophy to proactive skincare. This regimen ultimately boosts their skin health by covering core fundamentals including managing inflammaging, while also tackling skin barrier management and antioxidant support.DEINDE saw the opportunity to address consumers’ functional needs for adopting a preventative skincare regimen.
Dr. Diamond’s METACINE: Developed by Dr. Jason B. Diamond, M.D., F.A.C.S., double board-certified facial plastic surgeon who has been at the forefront of bioregenerative medicine for his 20+ year career; along with co-founders Dr. Jessica Combs, CEO, double-board certified physician and wife of Dr. Diamond; and Tammy Goodarzi, Chief Brand Officer, who has been an integral part of building Dr. Diamond’s Beverly Hills-based clinic, The Diamond Face Institute.
Six years in the making, Dr. Diamond’s METACINE was inspired by biomimetic technology and proprietary in-clinic treatments that take a synergistic approach to skincare. The brand debuted in May 2023 with the goal of delivering results from topical skincare that could once only be achieved in an office setting. Patients and procedures at The Diamond Face Institute have always been the inspiration behind the team’s skincare approach. The brand launched with the InstaFacial Collection, based on Dr. Diamond’s A-list-favorite treatment, the Diamond InstaFacial.
Provence Beauty: Born in 2023 Provence Beauty is an indie skincare brand that’s modernizing French skincare staples and making them accessible to all launching with natioinal distribution with Ulta Beauty.
Calling on French-inspired roots they combine our proprietary Provençal Complex with proven ingredients to deliver truly transformational products for $25 or less.
Our Founder and CEO, Jeremy Abesera, is the third generation in his family to bring French skincare to the US market and, after years of witnessing how his parents’ generation fell in love with traditional French formulas, he saw an opportunity: to reimagine those classics for a new generation.
Metamorphosis Skincare: Founded by Vanessa Gray Lyndon, a luminary in the realm of organic skincare formulation, the brand traces its origins back to 2009 when she introduced the Vanessa Megan range acclaimed today as Australia’s premier skincare brand. Metamorphosis meticulously crafted to cater to the specific requirements of Peri to Post-Menopausal skin.
Vanessa’s unwavering ethos centers on the belief that ”you should never put anything on your skin that you couldn’t eat.” With Metamorphosis, she delves deep into the realm of 100% natural ingredients, emphasising the potency of phytoestrogens, ceramides, and plant-based peptides specially tailored for women undergoing significant hormonal and life transitions.
Metamorphosis not only adheres to this natural philosophy but also challenges the conventions of the skincare industry by offering alternatives that surpass synthetic and prescription products in efficacy. The meticulously curated range of 20 products addresses a spectrum of concerns from collagen restoration to age spots. Vanessa alsointroduced two innovative treatments that are heroed in top spas across Australasia.
Best Breakthrough Wellness Brand: Recognizes innovation by a wellness brand stemming from the creation of a product/service, consumer engagement, marketing or design; can be a new brand initiative from an existing brand or a new-to-market brand launch.
Kintsugi Space: Founded by a small group of wellness seekers women with a strong passion for holistic health in 2023. Kintsugi takes its name from the Japanese art of beautiful repair of broken pottery making them even more precious than before as a metaphor for wellness. The brand opened the first women-only, holistic member’s club in Abu Dhabi, offering a sanctuary for rest, repair, reset, and renewal.
Kintsugi is a holistic concept that combines the expertise of some original and committed international wellness practitioners and progressive teachers who trained and inspired the resident team of selected therapists with exceptional backgrounds and a genuine love of helping others, creating a multicultural and rich environment, and delivering a sense of kind luxury.
Quantum healing is based on the premise that our thoughts and intentions can have a powerful influence on our health and well-being, to bring the body and mind into a state of harmony, and create more awareness and grounded presence. The Kintsugi method guides its members towards a new, higher frequency where life feels more joyful and nourishing as it is tuned with each personal paths and personalities: this is made possible with the technology used at Kintsugi and the holistic care and interactive spaces.
Medicine Mama: The only female physician run feminine skincare brand that provides solutions for women of all ages and stages. Medicine Mama we are tackling the next frontier of skincare - Vulva Care putting women in touch with themselves, their bodies and womenkind. For far too long vulvas have been censored, hidden behind subliminal objects that imply we must smell like a flower or taste like a peach and nicknamed to avoid others’ insecurities. No vag, hoo ha, kitties!
The packaging and brand aesthetic is both intentional and beautiful, meant to educate on shelf, but also sit amongst the coveted skincare.
By focusing on vulva care instead of a specific time in a woman’s life (e.g., menopause or menstruation) the brand fosters more honest and open intergenerational dialogue about changes that are inevitable.
For far too long feminine care has been lumped into one grouping yet care for your specific feminine parts could not be more linked to wellness. Medicine Mama is pushing the boundaries of what wellness means with skincare designed for the vulva.
Revive Collagen: Co-founded by Samantha Faiers and John Bailey in 2020 after two years of extensive research and working with the top laboratories in the UK. Dismayed by the limited quality options available on the market, especially tablets and the inconvenience of powders addressing this gap by creating a premium high-dose, single-serve ready-to-drink collagen supplement. They've pioneered the introduction of ready-to-drink collagen supplements with one of the highest doses of liquid collagen on the market.
Revive Collagen champions ‘beauty from within’, and its mission is to provide best-in-class collagen supplements for women at each stage of their beauty journey; from initial collagen loss in the mid twenties through to the menopause. They've challenged the traditional look of the wellness market by disrupting the white jar and white lid aesthetic by prioritizing beauty benefits and incorporating elegant packaging elevating the consumer experience and differentiated the brand in a populated market.
Rebalance Health: The company began with President and CEO Justin Hai researching ways to help his wife, who was diagnosed with Cushings – a condition characterized by an overproduction of cortisol levels in the body. As he talked with cortisol experts Hai recognized a disconnect in supplements that help support hormones. With solutions that tend to only focus on symptoms, instead of the solution, he set out to change that with a team of experts and specialists in endocrinology, naturopathy, cortisol, and age management focused on creating supplement systems that actually work.
Rebalance is on a mission to allow every person to unlock their full health potential through balanced hormones. Rooted in science, education and guided by a commitment to transparency, safety, quality, and efficacy, they craft products to support balanced hormones. The Rebalance Systems are three daily lozenges, in different formulations, that help with hot flashes, anxiety, or testosterone throughout the day and night.
Sybil Wellness: The concept is designed to improve the very structure of life and the aging process blossomed from a challenging experience. For entrepreneur Molly Blasier, it took four decades for her to launch Sybil Wellness, the brand of dreams that would quickly become known for successful, organic solutions to longevity, focus, brain function, rest and restoration for a demographic looking to age gracefully with strength and balance.
Named after the word “sybil,” meaning “prophetess,” to honor the women in Greek mythology who harnessed powers of the future. Through potent, natural formulas that can easily be integrated into daily routine, Sybil Wellness equips everyone with the sybils’ believed capacity to see long into their futures filled with health, beauty, and balance.
