What Beauty Start-ups were revealed at the latest MakeUp in Paris
MakeUp in Paris celebrated its 15th edition, last week on 18-19 June, and welcomed 4,480 visitors including incredible brands like Benefit Cosmetics, Chanel, Charlotte Tilbury, Clarins, Embryolisse, Givenchy Beauty, L’Oréal, Nuxe, Shiseido, Summer Fridays, Westman Atelier.
The show has announced the winners of the IT Awards (suppliers’ innovations) as well as the Beauty Tank (new start-ups), providing us with insights into the future of beauty. From 3D printing, to pencil made of wax for full natural container as well as Ocean sourced beauty, here is our selection of the latest innovations.
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Start-up "highlights" enhancing the Skinification of MakeUp and HairCare Trend
For the third consecutive year, MakeUp in Paris has organised a start-up pitch competition, enabling make-up, skincare, or haircare start-ups to gain visibility in the industry.
The Winner of this year’s make-up category was Cénée a “dermo-active” make-up - auto-claimed by the brand, co-founded by Nassim Hamek, a former Typology executive. This launch further emphasises the industry's shift towards a more holistic approach to cosmetics, incorporating a skincare-infused makeup routine that combines care with colour. The range offers eye, lip, and nail care, and has been formulated and developed in France, with dermatological testing for sensitive skin. The brand aims to offer safe formulas with high pigments for maximum payoff, infused with active ingredients for skin health.
Other Competitors of this year included
Queen C, a makeup brand for women of all ages, is dedicated to offering high-quality, effective and healthy products at affordable prices for all women. While the brand focuses on the unique needs of women after 50, who are often overlooked in the makeup industry, it also caters to young girls. This range allows mothers to share their makeup kits with their daughters and enjoy a moment of relaxation between mother and daughter.
Louise Louise, a colour cosmetics range dedicated to mature skin, launched by MakeUp artist Louise Wittlich. After more than a year of research, hand in hand with an Italian laboratory expert in complexion, the first Fond de Teint Lumière by louiselouise is launched. Fond de Teint Lumière offers a creamy, unctuous texture that fuses with the epidermis like a second skin, nourishing it with comfort, gorging it with glow, and becoming the invisible accomplice of a radiant complexion. Unlike conventional products, often saturated with powders that tend to accentuate fine lines and make pores stand out, this one relies on powerful, long-lasting hydration, enhancing radiance and freshness with astonishing naturalness, while evening out the complexion, smoothing and blurring imperfections.
SKINCARE AND HAIRCARE category
Another Winner in the other beauty category includes Assi Care, a haircare range for textured hair, created by Geoffrey Kaudjhis. Assi is on a mission to reinvent hair care for curly, frizzy and kinky hair, celebrating its beauty and uniqueness. The line combines “nature and efficiency” with carefully selected natural ingredients to moisturise, nourish and protect the hair fibre. It also offers “respectful innovation” with formulas with no compromise on hair health while banning controversial ingredients.
The brand ethos is to “enhance the value of roots, both literally and figuratively. By creating high-performance, inclusive hair solutions, we honour tradition!” says Geoffrey.
ASSI CARE + Founder Geoffrey Kaudjhis
Other Competitors include
NOWA Cosmetics - a waterless brand on a mission to reinvent hygiene for a more conscious world through the preservation of water. The brand is targeted at active individuals who also travel frequently. Urban generation with time scarcity and young people in search of freedom and outdoor activities.
It is a rinse-free laundry launched in January 2025 by Jessica Wydra with a main product in the form of liquid shower gel, that replaces drinking water with upcycled fruit water in its formulation. The product is 99% natural, vegan, and manufactured in France. This 100ml product, with a cotton flower scent, is designed for face, body, and intimate areas, and has undergone dermatological and gynaecological testing. The shower gel is housed in a plastic bottle made of 70% recycled materials.
The range is aimed at pharmacies and outdoor and conscious living retail specialists in France, like Le Vieux Campeur or Altermundi for instance.
Skince 1994 addresses this need with an all-in-one cream. Co-founded by Paris-based entrepreneurs Salomé Rapinat and Sami Boufetta, focused on slow beauty, with a simple routine. It is formulated in France with ingredients of 100% natural origin. The face cream is designed to be used in the day and night routine. The single and multipurpose product contains 17 active ingredients—including flaxseed gel, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, and zinc PCA, aiming to provide moisturising, anti-aging, and anti-blemish benefits in one step. The brands will launch in March 2026.
Rafete Curls an organic hair care range specifically formulated to strengthen curly, coily, and kinky hair. It is designed to prevent hair damage and breakage. It has been founded by energy engineer Awa Lamotte.
Rafete Curls wants to sublimate every curl with 100% natural, vegan treatments designed to deliver visible results while respecting your well-being and the planet. “RAFETE”, means “sublime” in Wolof, symbolizing the brand commitment to revealing the natural beauty of every hair style, without compromise.
All products are 100% natural and vegan, with key ingredients inspired by Senegal, to give your hair nutrition, strength and definition. Products are housed in eco-responsible packaging made from bamboo, glass and recycled plastic, to reduce our ecological footprint while preserving efficiency and elegance. The range is designed in France, and treatments combine scientific innovation and natural ingredients to meet hair's needs: combating hair loss, breakage and fragility, while providing hydration and shine.
Rafete Curls is distributed through its e-commerce website and in physical stores in Paris and Senegal. The brand has a focus on recyclable packaging and reduced waste—containers are made from bamboo, recyclable PET and glass.
Luxurious Peace, founded in 2021 by American entrepreneur Empress Ayrial Griffin, is a plant-based botanicals brand dedicated to holistic skincare. It offers plant-based, multi-use products designed specifically for sensitive, reactive, trauma-affected, and autoimmune skin conditions, such as eczema and topical steroid withdrawal.
The brand's 22 current Skus include soaps, exfoliants, moisturizers, shampoo bars, bath salts, bath bombs, hydrosol waters, lip care, and body oils, with seven additional Skus in development.
The brand focuses on low-waste and free from synthetice or controversial ingredients. The packaging is minimal and recyclable. The brand affirms that the products are made in small batches using ethically sourced, natural, non-toxic ingredients and are fulfilled locally.
