#ShopLocal: 5 Irish beauty brands we love right now

With the amount of beauty products that flood our feeds, it can be hard to weed out the high-quality brands worth investing in. That’s why there’s a real hunger for highly-reviewed cleansers, creams and serums – our trust has shifted from the new and shiny to the tried and tested. 

“High cost” no longer means “best option”. We want the moisturiser our granny used her whole life and swears by to this day, the eyebrow gel Cara Delevingne can’t live without and the lipstick that’s gone viral on TikTok with unbelievable staying power. After all, why would we buy something new without seeing bonafide results?

This desire for genuine goodness has set off a domino effect of homegrown Irish beauty brands, each debuting their own handcrafted products and many with all-natural ingredients. To help you separate the wheat from the chaff (or fast beauty from sustainable heroes), we’ve rounded up our favourite Irish beauty brands right now – each paving a unique way forward, from foraged ingredients to multi-use breakthroughs.

Bia by Codex

Bia Beauty is a niche, all-natural Irish brand that recently joined with Codex to create a luxury and sustainable skincare range. It was founded by Tiperrary-native Tracey Ryan, an acclaimed herbal alchemist, and focuses on plant-based biotech beauty. The innovative range is a fusion of natural ingredients and modern science, and it’s won multiple beauty awards.

Hero product: Bia Skin Superfood – A rich, restoring cream for your face, hands and body. It works wonders on dry, flaky skin and is clinically proven to soften, smooth, and promote a more even skin tone.

Kinvara Natural Skincare

Kinvara was founded by Trinity-graduate Joanne Reilly, who holds degrees in natural sciences and tropical ecology. After giving birth to her first child, stress and physical changes left her skin reactive and tricky to manage, and she couldn’t find effective and inexpensive skincare products. So, she decided to draw on her experience and create a solution, a skincare brand made from natural plant extracts, minerals, clays and seaweed.

Hero product: Hyaluronic Youth Boost – This readily absorbed, fragrance-free gel combines the plumping effects of hyaluronic acid and the superfood benefits of turmeric to help minimise and soften fine lines, especially at the mouth and brow areas. 

Skingredients

You’ve probably heard of Skingredients, but The Core Four range continues to get great reviews and there’s a reason for that. Created by The Skin Nerd Jennifer Rock, it was formulated based on the endless feedback from her Nerd Network. She then chose nutritious ingredients that would tackle common skin problems and created an all encompassing regimen with probiotics, vitamins, antioxidants and vegetables.

Hero product: Skin Veg – Number two in The Core Four range, Skin Veg is a pre-serum and penetrant enhancer infused with real veggie goodness like broccoli, tomato and radish root extract. It also has hyaluronic acid, making it a great hydrater, highlighter and plumper.

Sculpted by Aimee Connolly

Sculpted was created by professional makeup artist and beauty influencer Aimee Connolly. Not only is her entire range full of high quality and affordable makeup and beauty products, but her experience brings a practicality to them that’s missing from other brands. For example, her lip duos are double-ended with lipstick on one side and its paired liner on the other. Plus, her website and social media have plenty of tutorials to show you how to achieve iconic looks.

Hero product: Beauty Base – An all-in-one moisturising primer that combines SPF, hyaluronic acid and pearlized pigments for a natural glow. You can wear it on its own or mix with foundation for a flawless finish.

Pestle & Mortar

As a mother of five, Sonia Deasy didn’t have time for tedious skincare routines. So, she created a simple and effective alternative, Pestle & Mortar, which prides itself in being a clean and pure beauty brand with problem-solving active ingredients. Each product is cruelty-free, vegan and comes in 100 per cent recyclable packaging. They also offer an ‘empties bag’ to encourage responsible recycling of their beauty containers.

Hero product: Hydrate moisturiser – This lightweight moisturiser softens, firms and hydrates skin without clogging pores. It uses an airless pump to ensure that it always stays fresh and active. 

As an Irish-owned company, McCauley Health and Beauty Pharmacy prioritises supporting Irish beauty brands, which also helps avoid custom charges and long delivery waits. Order health, beauty and wellness products now and enjoy convenient, hassle-free and five-star customer service.