Before we all knew her name, Charlotte Tilbury had already created a beauty icon. Backstage at Fashion Week, the MUA mixed up a cream so transformative it turned exhausted, jet-lagged complexions into lit-from-within skin in seconds. Models called it ‘magic’; and so, Charlotte’s Magic Cream was born. With hyaluronic acid, peptides and botanical oils for nourishing hydration, it quickly became the secret source of Hollywood’s glow – but it wasn’t long before the world discovered who was truly behind this kind of incandescence. “Magic Cream was the very first product I ever created... I was creating skincare innovations long before makeup magic,” Tilbury has said. When it officially launched in 2013, it sold out in hours and has since become a global skincare icon, bringing the star power of Tilbury’s artistry to beauty lovers everywhere.

“When clean beauty began breaking into the mainstream, people started demanding formulas that were high performance as well as clean,” Twine recalls. We’d had never guessed the kitchen experiments of a little girl and her mum (a chemist) in an East Village apartment would rewrite the future of haircare. Nancy Twine carried those early lessons into Briogeo, launching the brand in 2013 with a vision for effective, plant-derived and deeply personal beauty. At the time, Twine says, “People were looking deeper at labels, asking more questions, and expecting brands to deliver on both efficacy and integrity.”

That shift set the stage for Briogeo’s hero product: Don’t Despair, Repair!™ Deep Conditioning Mask. A blend of rosehip oil, algae extract and the perfect balance of protein and moisture, it proved you could repair damage and nourish hair long-term without sulphates, silicones and parabens. “Don’t Despair, Repair!™ is definitely the heart of our brand and it’s more than just a deep conditioning mask, it’s a symbol of self-care and resilience,” Twine explains. It’s since earned 15 beauty awards, a cult following across every hair type and texture, and its place as a true haircare icon.

For decades, MECCA’s number one product hasn’t been a serum or a lipstick – it's a sunscreen. “We launched MECCA COSMETICA’s To Save Face SPF in 2007 as part of MECCA’s 10th birthday celebrations. We heard directly from our store teams that sun damage and pigmentation were major concerns of our customers, and that existing formulas simply didn’t sit well on their skin or wear well under makeup. We went searching but what we could find didn’t truly feel at home on MECCA’s shelves. So we made our own! Informed by our Living Lab of Beauty (our store teams and our customers) and designed with our skincare enthusiasts and makeup lovers in mind.”

MECCA COSMETICA’s To Save Face SPF50+ Superscreen proved sunscreen could finally be something you didn’t just have to wear but wanted to. It was SPF, but not as we knew it. It disappeared into the skin, doubled as skincare and slid under makeup without a trace, making it look even better, all while delivering the highest possible broad-spectrum protection. Its success paved the way for a whole To Save Face family, with each formula developed to suit different lifestyles and skin needs – all in response to what the MECCA community demanded most: suncare that feels good, performs brilliantly and is a genuine joy to use. Beloved across generations, this range has become one of Australia’s most trusted in SPF.

When Frédéric Malle founded Editions de Parfums in 2000, he practically tore up the perfume rulebook. Instead of marketing briefs, he gave world-class perfumers complete freedom to create, publishing their names on the bottles like artists signing their work. In doing so, he turned fragrance into art – and no masterpiece captures his vision quite like Portrait of a Lady. Dreamed up by legendary perfumer Dominique Ropion, it's a bold rose chypre that became instantly recognisable and impossible to forget: a clash of Turkish rose, patchouli, incense and sandalwood. The kind of scent connoisseurs collect and strangers stop to ask you about, Portrait of a Lady is the fragrance that made Malle a legend and ensured every edition thereafter was destined for icon status, too.

There was a time when if you wanted a chemical peel, it meant a white coat, a waiting room and a week of downtime. But as one of New York City’s most in-demand dermatologists, Dr Dennis Gross made it his mission to bring clinical results into bathrooms everywhere. In 2002, he launched the Alpha Beta® Peel Pad  – and in two steps, in two minutes, anyone could achieve skin that looked like they’d just walked out of his Fifth Avenue office. By combining potent exfoliating acids with soothing actives, he cracked the code to powerful and tolerable formulas. It became the gold standard for at-home peels and the icon that made clinical skincare something everyone could finally access.

While TLC Framboos and Lala Retro have ascended to MECCA's Hall of Fame pantheon, there's a special place in our hearts – and the top shelf of our bathrooms – for Protini™ Polypeptide Cream, the moisturiser that made peptides a skincare obsession. When we say this product has an international cult following, we mean it, and those who know, *know*. A peptide-charged gel-cream that strengthens, smooths and revives skin in one addictive swipe, it became the ultimate icon of founder Tiffany Masterson’s idea: biocompatible formulas with clinical-level actives you could cocktail in the palm of your hand as skincare ‘smoothies’, reducing complicated routines to one simple step. Protini™ starred in almost every blend, embodying Masterson’s philosophy to strip out the Suspicious Six (those common ingredients often linked to dryness or sensitivity) while proving skincare could be high-performing. Wrapped in candy-bright packaging that made skincare fun (and very viral), Protini™ turned everyday hydration into a cult obsession and cemented Drunk Elephant’s place as one of the most influential skincare brands of the last decade.