An island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, New Zealand features a stunning landscape surrounded by natural beauty with towering mountains, untamed wilderness, golden beaches, mist-cloaked fjords and small towns with lots of charm.

It’s also a popular wellness destination, offering a mix of thermal hot pools along with some of the world’s best luxury spa resorts. Popular activities include surfing, hiking, nature tours and adventures like rafting, sky diving, skiing and more. In addition, New Zealand is home to numerous beauty and skincare brands that are known for utilizing unique ingredients and their emphasis on sustainability.

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Here, we’ve rounded up 18 New Zealand beauty brands that you need to know about—many of which are 100% plastic-free with conscious ingredients, fully compostable packaging, and a commitment to eliminating waste and preserving New Zealand's natural beauty every step of the way.

Earth-Friendly Beauty: Eco-Conscious and Sustainable Brands

Abel Odor

New Zealand-based beauty brand Abel Odor offers complete ingredient transparency with its line of clean, modern and sophisticated perfumes made from 100% plant-based ingredients with no synthetics or chemicals. Abel Odor is vegan certified and 100% natural—no synthetics or chemicals, and all ingredients started their life as a plant and the brand uses recyclable packaging. The brand recently launched Black Anise 100% Natural Eau de Parfum, a sophisticated and genderless scent rthat is warm, smoky and sultry amber.

Buy Abel Odor

Aleph Beauty

Aleph Beauty is a high-performance and multi-functional New Zealand-based makeup collection that incorporates skincare active ingredients to nourish skin, while being consciously formulated. Their products are vegan, toxin-free, GMO-free, cruelty-free, and water-free to avoid unnecessary consumption. Aleph Beauty is transparent about every ingredient as well as the complete packaging process.

Buy Aleph Beauty

ANIHANA

With two little ones and a business to run, ANIHANA’s founder’s escape at the end of the day was to relax in a hot bath with a bath bomb, a moment to relax, and some much needed “me time,” something that is crucial to everyone’s well-being. As the business and product range grew, so did the company’s passion for sustainability and teaching their children there are better plastic-free options out there. Their product range includes everything you need to enhance your bath experience, from bath bombs and conditioner bars to shower steamers and sugar scrubs.

They love the fact that getting clean and hydrating your body does not have to be boring or harmful to the environment. As a family-orientated New Zealand business, they aim to provide consumers with an amazing sensory experience, while ensuring they do their part to protect the planet we live on for future generations.

Buy ANIHANA

Calocurb

Calocurb is a patented, 100% natural supplement that helps you manage your appetite and control cravings with three safe plant-based ingredients. Sarah Kennedy, CEO of Calocurb, is a longtime veteran of the health and wellness industry who started taking Calocurb when the first trial capsules became available after years of extensive research and published study results, and was impressed with how it changed her relationship with food (and her health) for the better.

The supplement includes the active ingredient Amarasate—an extract from hop grown at the top of the South Island in New Zealand—that supports the management of hunger without any harmful chemicals, synthetics, or caffeine. Amarasate was developed as a result of the research of Dr. Edward Walker, a scientist and lecturer from New Zealand who spent the last 13 years investigating plant-based appetite suppressants.

Buy Calocurb

Emma Lewisham

Emma Lewisham is a luxury, scientifically-proven skincare line made in New Zealand that has a positive impact on your skin, well-being, and the planet. Emma Lewisham was inspired to start her own line after discovering that a product she’d been using to combat hyperpigmentation contained potentially harmful ingredients that were banned in several countries around the world.

All of her ingredients are vegan, cruelty-free, child labor-free, and 100% traceable B Corp Certified, Certified Climate Positive, and 100% circular. All products are also refillable and part of the company’s global take back program. Available on Goop’s website.

Buy Emma Lewisham

Ethique

Founded in 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ethique specializes in solid “beauty bars” that nix the plastic-heavy packaging in favor of concentrated formulas in bar form. Founder Brianne studied cosmetic chemistry at university and developed Ethique’s original formulas in her home kitchen; the brand stays true to its roots by making products that are cruelty-free, vegan and palm oil-free, working directly with producers to ensure fair pay and sustainable practices, donating 2% of sales to charity and, of course, remaining plastic-free.

Buy Ethique

Grin

With the mission to provide better oral care that is safe for the families and for the planet, Grin is quickly becoming a leading professional oral care brand that specializes in 100% natural New Zealand made toothpastes and sustainable oral care essentials. Grin believes in treating the causes, not the symptoms. Co-developed with NZ dentists, their toothpastes effectively inhibit the growth of decay-causing oral bacteria, with clean NZ sourced ingredients that are SLS-free, vegan friendly, cruelty-free, and certified palm oil-free. Their flossers and award-winning toothbrushes (with soft charcoal-infused bristles) are ergonomically designed with biodegradable handles made of corn starch.

Buy Grin

Lemon & Beaker

Founded by Hannah Williamson in 2019, Lemon & Beaker is an Auckland-based skincare brand featuring products that are formulated with a focus on ingredients that penetrate deep to improve cellular performance with mood-enhancing additions of natural extracts. The brand offers a wide variety of products ranging from cleansers that reduce inflammation to rigorously tested moisturizers and serums that counteract the effect of biological aging after only two weeks of use.

The brand underscores the importance of thorough research and laboratory testing, while integrating key learnings into simple daily beauty regimens that will make you look and feel wonderful. Lemon & Beaker is also committed to sustainability and Green chemistry, and their cruelty-free and vegan products come in recyclable packaging.

Buy Lemon & Beaker

Olive Natural Skincare

Olive Natural Skincare’s range has been carefully formulated with a range of active botanical ingredients and olive leaf extract to bring you a clean, natural skincare regime that will leave your skin luminous, nourished and protected. The story of Olive Skincare began in 2001 with a simple vision: to make luxurious, all-natural skin care available to everyone. Now, more than 20 years on, they are still proud to produce their products in their rural laboratory and production facility, nestled on the slopes of New Zealand’s largest privately-owned olive estate.

From their New Zealand olive estate they control every aspect of the development and manufacturing process from research and development, product design and testing, through the manufacturing process and logistics to their international network of retailers. Operating under the international standards of Good Manufacturing Practice, the Olive laboratory adheres to the highest standards of quality assurance, safety and quality control on all products and procedures.

Buy Olive Natural Skincare

Triumph & Disaster

The story began with Dion Nash, a professional cricketer, who spent his youth training the harsh elements making him acutely aware of how his skin made him feel. Years later, when a tattered poem given to him by his father when he was age 13 was uncovered and Dion read the line: ‘If you can meet with Triumph & Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same’, Triumph & Disaster and a new challenge was born.

Through trial and error, Nash evolved his ideas on what makes great skin, hair and body care products using natural, plant-based ingredients. He assembled a world-class team to bring his ideas to life across the T&D range. Products range from shave cream and deodorant to moisturizer, pomade and more.

Buy Triumph & Disaster

Karen Murrell

Karen Murrell, a female founder based in New Zealand, has always had a passion for cosmetics. She noticed a gap in the market with no sustainable, clean yet luxurious lipstick options, which is when she decided that if she wanted to see these products, she would need to design and create them. Murrell is not only passionate about what goes in her lipsticks, but that she has a shade for every skin tone and occasion. She knows lipsticks sparks confidence and empowerment when applied, so she wants to ensure the range has a shade to evoke this feeling with every application for every wearer.

Buy Karen Murrell

Ao Skincare

Ao is performance-based skin care that’s clean and clinically proven. Led by Harvard-trained Derm Dr. Mark Gray, they believe that most skincare products do more harm than good – damaging the skin’s barrier function. Ao is about restoring the skin’s barrier so it can protect and defend itself, naturally. Ao has formulated a radical new way to moisturize – instead of slathering moisture on the surface of skin, Ao products use ingredients that help skin make more of its own moisture. Ao also uses preventative ingredients found only in the purest place on earth, New Zealand, and their products are made ‘raw’ – processed cold to retain the full power of every active.

Buy Ao Skincare

Essano

Essano skin care is crafted in New Zealand on the belief that everyone should have access to natural products that deliver amazing results but don’t cost the earth. To do this, they hand-select ingredients proven for their effectiveness and reject any harsh chemicals that could be unsafe. With one of the strongest free-from products promises in the world, Essano guarantees what’s not in their products. They then have their own amazing in-house chemists, an on-site lab and own manufacturing facility to control every step of the process. Essano is proudly 100% cruelty-free and only ever tests on some lucky, lovely humans.

Buy Essano

Trilogy

Pioneers and experts in pure natural plant oils and clean beauty formulations, their products work in harmony to restore skin's natural vitality and radiance. Trilogy was founded in 2002 by two New Zealand sisters when they discovered the renewing properties of their first product hero: rosehip seed oil. This pure oil set the tone for creating a simple, easy to use skincare range with an unwavering focus: everything your skin needs, nothing it doesn’t.

Made in New Zealand, their clean beauty collection consists of 40 award-winning products. Each innovation is packed with powerfully natural actives that are responsibly, sustainably, and ethically sourced. As well as creating clean, natural beauty products, they're committed to navigating their practices with a steady moral compass. To do that, they work closely with their partners and suppliers to find sustainable and environmentally-conscious solutions, support communities and back causes they believe in.

Buy Trilogy

Syrene Skincare

Syrene is an active marine-based skincare range to hydrate, nourish and repair the skin. Made in New Zealand, Syrene’s moisturizing gifts from the sea share the healing powers of nature through a results-driven collection formulated with miracle marine algae extracts and natural locally grown botanicals that brings pure radiance to every woman’s skin.

Their goal is to support the Syrene woman through a sensorial experience that suspends the moment, while nurturing her skin to care for her outward beauty as she continues to conquer her world. Syrene has been created to capture, nurture, and regenerate both body and soul. Syrene is more than skin deep.

Buy Syrene Skincare

Melora

Melora was founded with a passion for unlocking the magic of the Manuka plant. Their mission is to help people discover the therapeutic benefits of Mānuka through science, innovation, and sustainable partnerships. They work to use all parts of the Manuka plant in their products, not just the honey, creating products that are naturally anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and nourishing. All of their products contain the highest-grade Manuka honey, Manuka oil and hydrosol, and all raised and produced by them. They can trace each drop back to the plants and bees that helped them create these potent Manuka products.

Buy Melora

Antipodes

At Antipodes, science unites with nature to inject global beauty rituals with the world’s purest pollution-free ingredients. Our natural, ultra-clean, independently certified, and sustainably sourced formulas deliver genuine results for healthy-looking skin. Discover nutrient-rich avocado oil, revolutionary antioxidant Vinanza® Grape, world-famous manuka honey, and Vitamin C-rich kiwi seed oil in our organic, vegan, and vegetarian products. Our premium recyclable packaging has saved more than 10 million plastic containers from landfill to date, and we partner only with ethical suppliers who share our green beauty ethos.

Buy Antipodes

Skin By Dr. Sharad

Founded by renowned professor, skin cancer specialist and master skincare formulator Dr. Sharad Paul, Skin By Dr. Sharad is a line of New Zealand skincare products that feature a revolutionary patented compound that takes safe yet effective skin care to a new level. Dr Sharad’s 25 years of experience and clinical studies on skin ageing have supported the creation of the proprietary compound, NO-TOX®, which has been integrated into each product in the Skin By Dr Sharad range. NO-TOX® is vegan, natural, toxin-free and cruelty-free, and targets the signs of aging through prevention and treatment. It can be used in conjunction with or in lieu of botox for a more natural look, and has been approved for a World Health Organization medical trial to show its effectiveness on fine lines and wrinkles in comparison to prescription-grade retinol.

Buy Skin by Dr. Sharad

For more information about these New Zealand brands and others, visit New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s website. Follow them on Instagram: @nzte

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[Images courtesy of brands]

18 New Zealand Beauty and Wellness Brands You Need to Know About