Meet 9 Indie Beauty Brands Refreshing the Body-Care Aisle – Latest Fashion Trends & Style Tips April 18, 2025 at 05:30PM

📰 Meet 9 Indie Beauty Brands Refreshing the Body-Care Aisle

✨ Fashion Insights & Trends:

Between legacy labels occupying significant shelf space and a growing consumer appetite for authentic storytelling, the body-care industry is overdue for a refresh. Modern indie body-care brands are set on revamping the category, ensuring that shoppers don't have to sacrifice high-performance formulas for a captivating scent (and vice versa).

Kate McLeod crafts essential oil-infused solid lotions (or "stones") that melt upon contact, while Sidia corners the market on "personal scent care" via its formulas merging fine fragrance with efficacious ingredients. Indie body-care brands are increasingly bringing storytelling to the forefront: Lilis centers Korean spa culture with its gentle exfoliating peel and 54 Thrones spotlights African beauty rituals with its ultra-hydrating body butters featuring ingredients sourced from the continent.

"Being independent gives us the freedom to be agile, take creative risks and build a brand that truly resonates with our audience, rather than following a one-size-fits-all playbook," Hanni Founder Leslie Tessler tells Fashionista.

From emerging lines spearheading innovations to under-the-radar staples, we've rounded up nine indie body-care brands reimagining the body-care industry, below.

54 Thrones

Inspired by "a deep, personal connection to African beauty rituals," Christina Funke Tegbe founded body-care brand 54 Thrones in 2016 to bridge the gap between the widespread use of African ingredients and the lack of "proper storytelling, reverence or a real connection to the continent." Named for the continent's 54 countries, 54 Thrones spotlights Ghanaian shea butter, Kenyan hibiscus and Moroccan argan oil. Its cult-favorite African Beauty Butter — an ultra-hydrating body butter available in seven botanical scents (and unscented) — also combines East African Nilotica shea butter, West African shea butter and Baobab oil.

54 Thrones' first major retail partnership was with Nordstrom, and the brand has since expanded into Credo Beauty and Sephora. Tegbe notes that joining Sephora's portfolio has played a significant role in 54 Thrones' growth and "validated the demand for luxury African beauty and body care." For 54 Thrones, social media is the key to building its community, connecting with its consumers and fostering a relatable brand identity (i.e. referencing "African Auntie energy" in its content).

"Most body-care brands focus on hydration and scent. We focus on heritage, ritual and making African beauty fun, luxurious and easy to explore," Tegbe tells Fashionista. "Our products aren't just about skin — they're about connecting people to something deeper, without it feeling intimidating."

Products to try:
African Beauty Butter, $24, available here
Barrier Repair Cloud Cream, $36, available here
Butter Cream Body Wash, $30, available here

Gntl

Sydney Dake's career in beauty product development revealed that many consumers are overwhelmed with unnecessary products, so she sought to streamline skin-care routines and spotlight sustainability with Gntl. With this emphasis on simplicity, Gntl currently offers one SKU: Skin Wash, a multi-functional, facial-grade cleanser formulated with glycerin, aloe and antioxidants that replaces face wash, body wash, hand soap, shaving gel and more.

With a focus on fostering authentic connections with its consumers, Gntl partners with local refillery stores and hosts workshops like its Plant Pigment Lab & Mending Workshop. Gntl is exclusively sold at Credo Beauty, and Dake notes this major retail placement has helped the indie brand "build trust with an audience that values transparency and quality." Gntl utilizes social media to grow its brand, educate its customers and reach new audiences, and Dake has recently started using her own social media platforms as a beauty founder to further build a supportive community.

"I believe we're at a tipping point where consumers are ready for a more mindful approach to beauty and self care," Dake says. "Gntl is a call to slow down, honor our bodies with intimate care and make conscious choices that are gentler on ourselves and the planet."

Products to try:
Skin Wash, $38, available here

Hanahana Beauty

Unlike many brand founders who got their start in the beauty industry, Abena Boamah-Acheampong pivoted from another career — as a seventh grade math teacher — to found Hanahana Beauty in 2017. She noticed a lack of storytelling and sustainability in the body-care space and simultaneously desired to be more intentional about the ingredients she was using, so she went back to her Ghanaian roots and began making shea butter in her kitchen. The line of hydrating body butters in amber vanilla, bamboo coconut, eucalyptus, lavender vanilla and lemongrass scents, features shea butter sourced directly from the Katariga Women's Shea Cooperative in Ghana.

Hanahana Beauty is available at Ulta Beauty and Thirteen Lune, and Boamah-Acheampong shares that retail partnerships have "given [her] a better understanding of what business looks like, and how you can grow, and also what it looks like to grow in your own lane." Hanahana Beauty's social media presence has allowed the body-care brand to build its audience, share its storytelling and directly connect with its shoppers.

"At the end of the day, people want good quality products," Boamah-Acheampong explains. "We are known for our body butters. For us, we're creating products for dry and sensitive skin, we're creating products that give you that level of confidence."

Products to try:
Amber Vanilla Shea Body Butter, $32, available here
Skin Nutrition Detoxifying Powder Mask, $32, available here
2-in-1 Body Bar, $15, available here

Hanni

With more than a decade of experience working as a beauty executive, Leslie Tessler noticed that body care often "felt like an afterthought" compared to the innovations happening in the facial skin-care space. She set out to change that with Hanni, a brand anchored in hydration-packed products wrapped in its signature burgundy packaging. They include reimagined body-care staples like The Fatty, a skin-strengthening moisture stick powered by fatty acids, and Splash Salve, an in-shower moisturizing body balm.

"Our audience responds most to the idea of making body care feel easy, intentional and elevated," Tessler says. "Historically, there has not been a ton of innovation within body care. The most we see is a new scent or cuter packaging — so when people discover Hanni, there's this aha moment of, 'finally, someone is thinking about this differently!' or, 'why wasn't this invented before?'"

As an emerging brand, Hanni seeks partnerships with retailers who understand its body-care category and can meaningfully introduce the independent brand to a wider audience. Hanni is currently stocked at Sephora, "a space where our brand could grow and thrive," Tessler notes. Hanni also emphasizes a community-based marketing approach, using Instagram and TikTok to educate, refine its brand storytelling and thoughtfully connect with its consumer base.

Products to try:
Splash Salve In-Shower Moisture Treatment, $34, available here
The Fatty Fatty Acid Moisture Stick, $28, available here
Good Aura Weightless Body Oil, $34, available here

Iota

Iota (which gets its name from the word "microbiota," a.k.a. "living microorganisms present in a defined environment") centers overall health and balancing the skin's microbiome with its "nutritional body-care" products. Former beauty editor Monique Meneses was diagnosed with a host of health issues following her first pregnancy and soon launched Iota in 2022 with her husband as a way to improve skin health, which Meneses notes is also "essential for whole body health." Iota emphasizes unique ingredients, such as Sichuan pepper in its Superchili Body Mask (a tightening mask that visibly smooths and firms skin) and Oishii Omakase berries in its Oishii Berry Body Wash (a brightening cleanser minimizing the look of fine lines).

Credo Beauty reached out to Iota a few months after its launch to welcome the body-care brand into its assortment, and Iota also partners with Free People, Anthropologie, Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh and select nationwide spas. As a bootstrapped husband-and-wife team, Iota uses social media to build brand awareness and expand its audience: For example, the brand's first viral video of 2025 unpacked health hacks and has since garnered more than 10 million views and almost 100,000 new followers.

"The community we're creating is deeply committed to longevity and well-being," Meneses says. "They're passionate about discovering small, simple and holistic practices that can seamlessly enhance their daily lives and overall health, and this is exactly the type of content that is resonating for us as a brand on social."

Products to try:
Oishii Berry Body Wash, $32, available here
Supermatcha Body Lotion, $35, available here
Superchili Body Mask, $45, available here

Kate McLeod

After stepping back from her career as a pastry chef, Kate McLeod received a rock-hard hunk of raw cocoa butter from her sister-in-law that sparked an idea: She could take the cocoa butter — which melts on contact with skin — and combine it with her favorite oils to create a sculptural body lotion that absorbs quickly and deeply moisturizes skin. Thus, The Body Stone (and McLeod's eponymous body-care brand) was born. These solid moisturizers, which feature sweet almond, apricot kernel, avocado and marula oils, are "a way to turn daily care into ritual, to reconnect with yourself through something as simple and intimate as moisturizing," McLeod shares.

"That idea — of making space for stillness, intention and self care — is what continues to inspire everything we create," she continues.

Kate McLeod grounds its marketing in authentic storytelling and education; its social media content spotlights how the melting Body Stone works and how it differs from other body-care products on the market. Sephora brought on Kate McLeod early on in the brand's journey, and has since helped it refine its product marketing, sharpen its clinical claims and communicate its efficacy. The body-care brand is also stocked at Nordstrom, Goop, Anthropologie, Free People and select local boutiques.

Products to try:
Daily Stone Body Moisturizer, $38, available here
The Everywhere Stick, $28, available here
Breathe Pebble Solid Bath and Shower Oil, $38, available here

Lilis

The night before Helen Shin's mother underwent an early morning surgery, she spent three hours scrubbing her body with an exfoliating glove to conceal the rare dry skin condition she was born with from the surgeons. That moment sparked Shin's aha moment to create a body-care line that was luxurious, effective and grounded in Korean skin-care innovation and spa culture. As Shin notes, she's in the business of "elevating the way we care for the skin below our chin."

Lilis' offering includes Firming Serum, a fast-absorbing body gel that hydrates and restores skin's elasticity, and Instant Peel, a lightweight exfoliant that gently resurfaces while soothing and strengthening the skin barrier (and an Everything Shower staple of Steph's). "Unlike traditional scrubs, this gommage-style gel visibly rolls off dead skin, impurities and excess oil — delivering an instant, tactile result," Shin says of Instant Peel. Both products are available in fragrance-free options, but its body exfoliant also comes in the brand's Slow Blink scent, a serene blend of amber, eucalyptus, cedarwood, sandalwood, musk and vanilla.

Shin is bootstrapping Lilis with her personal savings from her previous career and strategically partners with retailers who "actively educate customers on the importance of body care." Currently, they include Violet Grey, Moda Operandi and Sage + Sound, as well as select spas and private esthetician studios. Beyond retail, Lilis prioritizes hands-on experiences (such as activations in fashion spaces like Cynthia Rowley or wellness retailers like Happier Grocery) to offer more consumers a chance to try the brand.

Products to try:
Korean Body Resurfacing Instant Peel, $92, available here
Korean Body Resurfacing Firming Serum, $110, available here

Oui the People

Growing up, Karen Young's family approached body care as a ritual: "Gleaming skin was a sign that you were cared for, and smelling good was a nod to the world that you cared for yourself," she says. Young launched Oui the People in 2017, and tapped ingredients like aloe vera, fermented botanicals and lipid-rich oils to create the brand's bestsellers: Clean Slate Lactic Acid Body Wash and Featherweight Hydrating Body Gloss. It even recently launched its first-ever fragrance, Souk Honey, which blends top notes of orange blossom and neroli nectar with base notes of golden amber and sandalwood.

The brand asked its customers where they shopped for beauty, and they resoundingly responded with Sephora, Nordstrom and indie beauty retailers. So, Oui the People is meeting its audience where they already are, including Sephora, Nordstrom, Revolve, Anthropologie and more. Plus, much of Oui the People's community stems from Instagram, and the social media platform serves as a major point of discovery and connection for the brand.

"We have found our niche in building functional products, driven by active ingredients and botanicals, scented with fine fragrances," Young shares. "Every element from formulation to fragrance is so intentional, and often tells a story based on culture."

Products to try:
Featherweight Hydrating Body Gloss, $65, available here
Clean Slate Lactic Acid Body Wash, $30, available here
Resurfacing Body Serum, $16, available here

Sidia

Erin Kleinberg — co-founder of Coveteur and creative agency Métier — launched the sensorial body-care line Sidia (which is named for her late grandmother) to fill the gap for luxurious, non-greasy and fragrant body care. Sidia offers body serum, wash, exfoliant and hand serum across signature scents like Soaked (a woody blend of juniper, cedarwood, amber and musks), Braless (an amber-y mix of bamboo, cashmere musks and sandalwood) and Wired (a citrusy burst of lemon and ginger root grounded in tobacco leaves). Read more about Sidia's founding story here.

"At the core of Sidia is our 'personal scent-care' approach, an innovative blend of fine fragrance and body-care rituals that redefines traditional self care," Kleinberg says. "This philosophy transforms everyday routines into immersive sensory experiences, fostering a deeper emotional connection to wellness."

Goop was Sidia's first retail supporter, and from there, The Detox Market, Credo Beauty, Revolve, Moda Operandi and more have partnered with the brand. It takes a community-driven approach to building brand awareness by emphasizing "word of mouth," or direct conversations with consumers, connecting with editors and buyers and showing up places where its shoppers frequent (see: the showers at Tracy Anderson or at The Beverly Hills Hotel). As Kleinberg notes, "Sidia is an IYKYK brand, the kind people talk about in the group chat."

Products to try:
Soaked The Wash, $39, available here
Braless The Body Serum, $52, available here
Wired The Body Exfoliant, $44, available here

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