MEET THE FINALISTS

Discover the names set to define the future of beauty

BAUDE NY

On a mission to inject more scent experiences into everyday routines through sensorial experiences, Baude NY shifts the focus from looking good to feeling good. Their artful approach to body care results in mind-bending functional scents blended into clean formulas, and delivered in playful tactile packaging. Catering to uncompromising fragrance lovers, they aim to bring creativity to a stale category.

Longtime friends and creatives Monica Ha, Heather Rosenthal, and Charlotta Hellichius are pushing back against a world telling them how to look. Combining decades of experience across design, operations, creative direction and brand strategy for companies like Opening Ceremony, Tory Burch, Stray Rats, Coty and Gucci, they fuse together their obsessions to bring a genre-defying perspective to body care.

BEAME

Inspired by her own experience growing up without prioritizing sun protection, ex-beauty buyer Eniye Okah created BEAME to bridge the gap between effective sun protection and psychodermatology, creating the world’s first sun care brand focused on delivering effective sun protection while enhancing skin health and well-being.

BEAME’s hero product, the Something You Mist™ SPF 30 Face Mist, offers broad-spectrum protection with a non-greasy, lightweight formula that’s easy to reapply, even over makeup. Specially designed for all skin tones, it’s white cast-free and packed with ingredients that soothe stressed skin, improve texture, and boost mood.

Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY

Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY – the decade-old, London-based fashion brand founded by CSM grad Charles Jeffrey – takes on its next challenge by expanding into beauty. LOVERBOY BEAUTY is set to redefine the makeup landscape with an elevated, alternative queer perspective. The brand seeks to launch versatile, high-quality color complexion products that seamlessly transition from day to night, without staining clothing. Designed to be bold and expressive, LOVERBOY BEAUTY will cater to an alternative crowd, particularly queer individuals, artists, and performers seeking unique mixable makeup solutions.

Jeffrey’s extensive experience includes working with top fashion magazines, styling, and collaborating closely with MAC Cosmetics. His creativity has marked him as a respected voice in the fashion industry uniquely positioned to transition into beauty.

Etia London

When she lost her eyesight at 17, Etia London founder Lucy Edwards entered a world that was no longer designed for her. She has since made it her mission to be the representation she never saw, becoming the Ambassador for Blind Barbie, the face of Pantene, and first blind model to walk Copenhagen Fashion Week. Lucy transcends cultural barriers and has been called the woman on a mission to overhaul the beauty world.

Etia London is a beauty brand that will actively include the 1.3 billion disabled people worldwide. No more accidentally accessible products – intentional universality is the company DNA. Through modular design, braille, NaviLens codes, and accessible tutorials, they seek to combine aesthetic design with universal design because accessibility shouldn’t require compromise.

Gorgeous Nothings

Avigon Paphitis is the founder of ethical beauty platform Gorgeous Nothings. After over a decade working in beauty, including in-house marketing roles at Youth To The People and Beautycounter, Paphitis launched Gorgeous Nothings to uphold unparalleled ethical and environmental standards in cosmetics. Through creative campaigns in collaboration with talented photographers, art directors, youth activists, and scientists, it exposes unethical beauty practices, addressing issues including greenwashing, excessive consumption, and superfluous packaging. In 2025, it has big plans to expand into fragrance and reveal a series of sustainable innovations that will set a new bar for the industry.

Forta

Although WNBA player Lexie Hull applies a full face of makeup before a game, she often ends up barefaced by the final buzzer. This frustration sparked the creation of Forta, a performance cosmetics brand built for those on the move.

Founded by Hull and former beauty investor Sarah Guller – who both graduated from Stanford, studying Management Science & Engineering and Economics & Data Science respectively – it was created with the active consumer in mind. With a range of color cosmetics products designed to sit at the intersection of beauty and activewear, its mission is to create products that are sweat-proof, transfer-resistant, and suitable for athletes and gym-goers. In other words, with Forta, you don't have to sit still to look pretty.

RUKA

Ruka’s mission is to do hair like it’s never been done before – by disrupting the hair extension industry and bringing back the joy in textured hair. Co-founder Tendai Moyo experienced being excluded and deprioritised from the mainstream beauty conversation first-hand, and started the brand after being exhausted by her own personal horror stories when it comes to purchasing hair extensions. -

Ruka’s team combines experience from world-class brands and labs to bring the best of the industry to this forgotten consumer. It’s powered by a passionate community of consumers and hair professionals, and with their ideas and feedback has created an ecosystem of products that truly meet the wants and needs of people with curly, coily and kinky hair.

Sky High Farm Universe

Founded by communications expert Daphne Seybold and artist Dan Colen, Sky High Farm Universe is a mission-led fashion brand built to generate revenue and advocacy for Sky High Farm, a nonprofit organization investing in long-term, collaborative pathways towards food sovereignty. The brand activates citizens, corporations and industry alike in this work, through the responsible production of goods that utilize primarily deadstock, upcycled and vintage fabrications and garments.

In two-and-a-half years, the brand has generated donations of over $1M for Sky High Farm, through a unique innovation in its business model that renders every customer a donor, as well as special projects, sponsorships and new donor relationships. Its next chapter lies in beauty, with seasonal products inspired by its partner farm in the Hudson Valley.

Zure Solaris

Founded by British creative director Samuel Cheney and Irish fashion photographer and art director Aaron J Hurley, Zure Solaris is the world’s first sun and light exposure repair brand. Bringing new focus and intention to the post-sun experience, the soon-to-launch brand will offer a collection of skincare for the face and body combining extreme efficacy and multi-sensoriality. Powered by groundbreaking innovation, its products have been developed to treat the immediate and long-term skin aging effects caused by sun and light exposure, all year round.
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