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April GBB
Beauty in focus – the best British brands for your skin, hair and body
Ellie Smith
April 28, 2025
Dear Reader,
Could it be time to spring clean your skin? This week we have just the Great British Brands to help you….
THE BEST IN NATURAL SKINCARE
There’s a reason Eve Lom won our Product of the Decade Award this year – founded by Eve Lom in 1985, the holistic but effective skincare has become a global phenomenon, with one if its original cleansers sold every 30 seconds. This year the brand celebrates 40 years of holistic skincare combining botanical ingredients with innovation in products that nourish, hydrate and repair.
With a similar focus on natural skincare, Bramley was launched when founder Chloë Luxton wanted to put sustainable, botanical products into the bathrooms at her husband Charlie’s pub The Beckford Arms. While Neal’s Yard – winner of our Brand of the Decade Award – has been underpinned by organic ingredients and sustainability for more than 40 years.
THREE GO-TO CLINICS
Dr Sebagh has been leading the cosmetic skincare field for 20 years. And while fads might come and go, he says, our physiology and the needs of our skin remain the same. For 2025, Dr Sebagh has expanded his Ageing-Maintenance range and introduced new personalised and holistic treatments at his London clinic.
In Brazil, looking your best is a matter of pride, not vanity, says Dr Ariel Haus, whose Harley Street clinic is one of very few to offer medical and cosmetic procedures under one roof. While celebrity facialist and skincare expert Lisa Franklin believes skin health is linked with overall wellness, and her clinic and products interweave science and innovation with a focus on sustainable biotech techniques.
HAIR LOVE
Taking active ingredients usually found in skincare – including retinol and co-enzyme Q10 – MONPURE has created a hair and scalp range to nourish and replenish tired and frazzled locks. Launched in 2020, its products (shampoo and conditioner, serum and sclap scrubs and masks) are now available in Selfridges and John Bell & Croyden, as well as a clutch of luxury hotels, including Cliveden, Chewton Glen and The Berkeley.
FRAGRANCE
When Molton Brown relaunched its perfumery, the brand wanted to focus on the artistry involved; now its Artists of Note initiative sees three perfumes made in partnership with three creatives – a poet, a jewellery designer and a fashion designer – drawing out the storytelling of each fragrance.
BEAUTY FROM WITHIN
And finally, if you believe beauty truly comes from within, Vitality Pro has a range of pure single-ingredient supplements to regenerate and maintain cellular health. With each one independently tested and a new website listing every detail, this trusted British brand has built a global following.
Want to go deeper? Our next issue of C&TH – out on 7 May – features our annual Aesthetic Guide, edited by Annabel Jones. Buy your issue here from Wednesday.
See you next month, and in the meantime, enjoy the sunshine!
Great British Brands 2025
Edward Bodenham of Floris London
Favourite British brand? Difficult to pick just one. I’d have to say Launer London, as Andrew, his father Gerald and their team design timeless, beautifully made leather bags and accessories, which are all handcrafted at their own factory in England, using time-honoured techniques passed down through generations.
Hero? The late Queen. She was full of grace, and a figure of such comfort and stability over many decades for so many people all over the world.
Weekend? With my family, walking the coast somewhere – perhaps exploring a quiet beach or a part we haven’t visited before. Then going to a cosy pub for lunch or supper afterwards.
Meal? My mother’s Sunday roast. She is a very good cook and this is one of her specialities. I particularly love the roast potatoes and vegetables with lots of gravy and horseradish sauce.
Shop? Our (only) Floris Shop at 89 Jermyn Street, which was my family’s home in the 1700s and is furnished with the original mahogany cabinets from The Great Exhibition. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful shop and perfumery team, and I regularly receive glowing compliments from friends and customers saying how much they enjoyed their visit, which is very heartening.
Undiscovered gem? What my grandfather used to lovingly refer to it as ‘the mine’, two floors below our shop where all the fragrances used to be created and blended up until the early 1980s. You have to go down through a trapdoor to access it and it is a very spacious, tranquil and atmospheric cellar – over the years we have thought how lovely it would be to convert it into a Perfumery Museum and venue for events.
Michael Bodenham in the Florus ‘mine’
British idiosyncrasy? Here on Jermyn Street, I regularly see the famous elegant and often eccentric British dress sense – with the characteristic attention to detail – as displayed by Beau Brummell. When my uncle, Anthony Brunt, was part of the Jermyn Street Association in the 1990s, he was part of the campaign to commission a Beau Brummell statue for Jermyn Street as a tribute one of history's most iconic fashion figures, which was unveiled in 2002.
Band? The Beatles because their songs are so incredibly well written and have such appeal across a very diverse range of music styles. Their influence in music constantly continues in new music today, which is amazing.
Book? If Nick Drake Came to My House, a charming and heartwarming short story by Mackenzie Crook I discovered recently. I’ve always loved Nick Drake’s music, and Mackenzie Crook is great in the excellent series Detectorists with Toby Jones, so it really appealed to me.
What do we need to bring back in Britain? More birds, more bees, and more hedges, as well as more British craftsmanship and British produced goods.
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