Before her name became one of our (and the world’s) most-loved brands, Terry de Gunzburg was the (quiet) force behind some of beauty’s most famous creations. A French makeup artist who left medical school to pursue beauty, she went on to transform the industry with her luminous touch – most famously inventing Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Éclat, the highlighter pen that made sheer, glowy makeup a global obsession. In 1998, she launched her own brand, By Terry, with a mission to make couture beauty part of daily life. She was one of the first to put skincare at the heart of makeup, and with rose extracts and sensorial textures, applying each product became an indulgent ritual. More than two decades on, By Terry remains an emblem of Parisian chic and innovation.

A celebrity of her own in the world of beauty, Charlotte Tilbury has always believed in the transformative power of makeup. Long before her namesake brand debuted in 2013, the London-born, Ibiza-raised makeup artist was a backstage fixture at international Fashion Weeks and lending her expertise as a contributing beauty editor at British Vogue. What Tilbury did next, however, was revolutionary: she took her backstage artistry secrets and made them accessible to everyone. Her hero product? Charlotte’s Magic Cream, the skin saviour that transformed tired models’ complexions in an instant and became a global obsession. From there, Tilbury built an empire on launches that soared to icon status (Hollywood Flawless Filter, Pillow Talk) – often imitated, but never (ever) matched.

From the moment Emma Lewisham’s signature purple bottles landed on shelves, skincare was never the same. The New Zealand entrepreneur showed the world that formulas from nature could be as luxurious – and high-performance – as the most coveted names in beauty. What began with her beloved Skin Reset Serum quickly grew into a line that, for the very first time, made refills desirable. Behind the bottles, however, was a serious commitment: Lewisham pioneered the world’s first carbon-positive, circular beauty model – proof that sustainability and science can coexist within the luxury beauty space and cementing her as one of the industry’s true game-changers.

No haircare brand has created as much buzz as Gisou. Founded by Dutch influencer-turned-entrepreneur Negin Mirsalehi, the honey-infused line was born from six generations of Mirsalehi family beekeeping. What started in her parents’ garden quickly became a global phenomenon, catapulting honey from humble kitchen staple to a powerful ingredient for shine, strength and hydration. Launched in 2015 with the now iconic Honey Infused Hair Oil, Gisou became a cult brand on the strength of its unique formulas, dreamy pastel pink packaging and Mirsalehi’s digital influence. Today, the brand continues to build on its buzz with a full haircare lineup, as well as perfumes and nourishing lip oils, while continuing to champion sustainable beekeeping.

After training as a paramedical aesthetician, Kate Somerville opened her Melrose Place clinic, where A-listers flocked for her skin-transforming treatments. Her reputation was built on results, quickly becoming known as the woman who could calm a breakout before a red-carpet appearance, fade years of sun damage and deliver instantly plump, dewy, camera-ready skin thanks to her game-changing Oxygen Facial. In 2005, she bottled her expertise with Kate Somerville Skincare, launching with a roll call of now-iconic formulas like ExfoliKate and DeliKate. Her philosophy was simple but powerful: clinical-grade skincare that was easy to use at home. Today Somerville’s legacy is more than skin deep, bridging the gap between an elite celebrity skin clinic and your bathroom shelf.

From Parisian art school to New York's most glamorous runways and photo studios, French makeup artist Laura Mercier made her mark in the 1980s and ’90s with what was, at the time, a very distinctive approach: creating skin that looked flawless yet natural at the same time. After years backstage at Fashion Weeks, Vogue photoshoots and painting the faces of Hollywood’s elite, she launched Laura Mercier Cosmetics in 1996 with a trailblazing idea: to create makeup that enhanced features, rather than masked them. Her Tinted Moisturizer became an industry-defining launch, blurring, perfecting and leaving skin fresh and luminous in a way nothing else could. Meanwhile, the cult-classic Translucent Loose Setting Powder changed how we approach complexion forever; a setting powder that wasn’t heavy or thick, but light and breathable. And even after all this time, Mercier is synonymous with the kind of French-girl beauty that never goes out of style.

Few founders have shaken up the beauty world like Rose-Marie Swift. A master makeup artist, she spent decades working with supermodels and celebrities before turning her attention to the products she was using every day – discovering that many contained ingredients she no longer wanted to use on her own skin. It was a wake-up call that led her to launch RMS Beauty in 2009, long before the industry recognised ‘clean beauty’. With organic coconut, jojoba and buriti oils at the core of her formulas, Swift’s creations, like Living Luminizer and UnCoverup concealer, became cult staples for their ability to deliver natural coverage and a dewy, skin-like finish. And it wasn’t just her formulas that put her on the map – it was her philosophy: she was one of the first brands to make transparency cool and covetable. What makes Swift herself stand out most of all, though, is her voice; fearlessly outspoken, irreverent and unfiltered, she's captured millions of followers on TikTok where she spills the backstage secrets of her work with Victoria’s Secret models and more.

A decade after Sol de Janeiro first inspired an entire generation to slather delectable creams on every inch of their bodies, the brand is still the most-wanted body care collection in existence – and the reason it's the hottest category in beauty today. When Heela Yang co-founded the brand in 2015, she bottled Brazil’s sun-soaked, body-positive, joyful beauty culture and supercharged it with powerful active ingredients found in the Amazon, like caffeine-rich guaraná to smooth, cupuaçu butter to hydrate and coconut oil to nourish. The result was a golden tub filled with a salted caramel, pistachio and vanilla-scented cream that also tightened and smoothed the look of skin. Cheekily named ‘Bum Bum’, it went instantly viral, sold out worldwide and marked a turning point of treating our bodies with the same care as our faces (and loving every second of it!). Under Yang’s vision, the obsession hasn’t stopped; there’s now a whole collection that carries the brand’s signature gourmand scents and skin-smoothing results.

A whole new era of gentle beauty arrived when Tower 28 was born – creating a safe space for sensitive skin and makeup lovers. Struggling with adult eczema and frustrated by the lack of makeup that was both gentle and fun, founder Amy Liu launched the LA brand in 2019 with a mission to make beauty safe for all skin types. Named after a lifeguard tower in Santa Monica, Tower 28 captures that laidback, California-cool spirit in every product. Liu's hero product, SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray, was what put the brand on the map; its star ingredient, hypochlorous acid, was virtually unheard of in skincare at the time, yet proved instantly effective for calming irritation, breakouts and redness. Soon after, the ShineOn Lip Jelly joined the lineup, sealing Tower 28’s status as a skincare saviour for sensitive makeup lovers. With accreditation from the Eczema Association of Australasia and playful formulas and packaging, Liu has earned something very rare in the beauty world: the trust of even the most sensitive skin.

Makeup artist, creative director and ultimate French-girl muse, Violette Serrat is the reason ‘effortless’ became a beauty revolution. Trained in fine arts before taking the creative helm of some of the world’s biggest beauty brands – Dior, Guerlain, Estée Lauder – she launched VIOLETTE_FR in 2021 as a love letter to Parisian style, with playful pops of colour, unfussy formats and formulas designed to look lived-in. From the cult Baume Shine highlighter to the Bisou Balm lipsticks, her creations capture that je ne sais quoi, the feeling of smudged eyeliner after a night out or a blurred lip that looks like you’ve just been kissed. But more than that, what Violette delivered, with every single one of her launches, was an attitude – individuality over perfection, makeup that gets better as you wear it and impactful shades that turn an outfit into a total look, effortlessly.

Cameron Diaz. Anne Hathaway. Gwyneth Paltrow. Jennifer Aniston. If you’ve ever admired a celebrity’s gleaming complexion, there’s a good chance the woman behind the glow is Gucci Westman. For years, she was the artist these faces (and the world’s biggest fashion houses) trusted to deliver skin that looked naturally dewy and fresh. It’s why she’s considered the queen of ‘no-makeup makeup’, a title she’s carried from red carpets to editorial shoots – and in 2018, to her own brand, Westman Atelier. She was one of the first to infuse makeup with the kind of ingredients usually reserved for serums, and suddenly, if your makeup didn’t also serve as your skincare, you were missing out! Her Vital Skin Foundation and Concealer Stick, Baby Cheeks Blush and Lit Up Highlight Stick quickly caught the attention of beauty lovers worldwide, not only for their buttery textures and skin-loving benefits, but for their stick formats that made application effortless. The packaging was equally iconic: custom grey and pink tubes crafted from recycled sugarcane, satisfyingly weighty in the hand and with leak-proof magnetic closures. Instantly, Westman Atelier became an icon of quiet luxury, allowing anyone to replicate Gucci’s signature second-skin finish.