11 Small Canadian Beauty Brands To Support Right Now
With summer just around the corner, now is the perfect time to shake up your beauty routine. Whether you're looking for a bright lipstick, a whole new skincare regime or a bar of soap that smells heavenly, there's no shortage of great Canadian beauty brands that make products worth splurging on. Scroll to meet a few of our favourite homegrown makeup, skincare and body care lines.
jELN
Inspired by her Caribbean roots, Toronto-based Crystal Rowe makes luxe body care products that nourish and protect the skin using quality raw ingredients and essential oils. Each product from jELN's line—which includes a powdered face clay mask ($42) and an ultra-hydrating cuticle oil ($15)—are handcrafted and made to order.
Cheekbone Beauty
Ever since launching Cheekbone Beauty in 2016, Anishinaabe-Canadian entrepreneur Jenn Harper’s mission has been to carve out a space for her community in the beauty industry. The brand also has strong social and environmental missions, supporting initiatives that address the Indigenous education funding gap and launching “less waste” products, such as a new collection of highly pigmented vegan lipsticks ($32 each) that are packaged in biodegradable paper tubes.
Crambé Skincare
What’s the next buzzy beauty ingredient to watch out for? If you ask the founders of Crambé Skincare, all eyes should be on Abyssinian oil. Daniel MacKinnon says he was amazed to learn that the Crambe abyssinica plant—from which the oil is derived—naturally grows in his home province of Prince Edward Island. It’s the sole ingredient in Crambé’s luxe face oil ($59), an intensely nourishing elixir that locks in moisture and leaves skin plump and hydrated.
Céla
Having spent 15 years at the helm of Toronto’s Hammam Spa, Celine Tadrissi knows a thing or two about skincare. Frustrated by what she considered to be a lack of luxury Canadian-made products, she developed her own with feedback from thousands of colleagues and clients. What started out as a kitchen experiment is now an 11-product range for hair, body and face. Tadrissi’s go-to? “Seed to Skin Scrub ($42)! It exfoliates without leaving the skin dry,” she says.
Aurum Skincare
Yukon-based skincare brand Aurum's sole product is inspired by the land on which its ingredients are harvested. Using calming birch water, co-founders Joanne Sherrard and Elise McCormick have created a gentle and lightweight serum ($84) that provides sensitive and reactive skin with a hit of hydration.
Luna Nectar
Mia Fiona Kut, founder of this B.C.-based skincare brand, wants to help streamline your daily ritual. After launching the much-raved-about Moon Boost lash serum ($75) in 2017, Luna Nectar now offers a curated range of 100 percent natural and cruelty-free products, including the Heliophilia Glow & Fix Serum ($68), which Kut uses daily to boost her natural glow.
Huna
Winnipeg botanist Heather Urquhart’s plant-based formulas are like superfoods for your face. The bestselling Revitalize Age-Grace Face Serum ($88) is packed with rosehip and sea buckthorn berry to revitalize and protect skin.
Bkind
Founded by microbiologist Marilyne Bouchard in 2014, Montreal-based body care line Bkind offers a wide array of products made from vegan, cruelty-free and non-toxic ingredients that come packaged in beautifully designed tubs and bottles. You'll find everything you need to stock up your bathroom shelves, including a jade facial roller ($32), eco-friendly shampoo and conditioner bars ($38 for the set) and nourishing hand balms ($16).
Anto Yukon
To create her line of body oils, bath salts and small-batch soaps, Whitehorse-based Kym Rempel sought inspiration in the Yukon’s wild landscapes. Her bar soaps ($10 each) are made from locally harvested ingredients and wrapped in stunning illustrations by B.C. artist Meghan Hildebrand.
Parva Fabrica
Montreal boutique Ramacieri Soligo—a destination for ceramic tile—also dabbles in personal care. Parva Fabrica, the brand’s in-house label, offers products in bottles that beg to be displayed. This hand soap ($29 each) is a delicate blend of rosemary and olive essential oils.
The Unscented Company
Montreal-based The Unscented Company offers a luxurious range of scent-free products for hair, body and home, including shampoos and conditioners, soaps, lotions and cleaning products. The brand is also committed to sustainability, and many of their liquid products come in large refill sizes that save on packaging.
Editor's note:
I hope you enjoyed reading this article from Chatelaine. Our team is working hard to create quality content that informs, inspires and offers an escape during this challenging time.
But making a magazine—and the stories we put online—isn't free. Chatelaine is built on the hard work and dedication of our writers, editors and production staff. If you can afford it, buying a subscription to our print magazine is a great way to support the work we do—and our team would truly appreciate it. There's an amazing subscription deal on right now, in which you'll receive three print issues for just $5.
Chatelaine has remained an iconic Canadian brand for more than 90 years thanks to its award-winning journalism, triple-tested recipes, trustworthy health advice and joy-sparking style and decor content. If you can, please subscribe here to help ensure we can continue creating journalism that matters to Canadian women.
Sincerely,
Maureen Halushak, editor-in-chief, Chatelaine
GET CHATELAINE IN YOUR INBOX!
Subscribe to our newsletters for our very best stories, recipes, style and shopping tips, horoscopes and special offers.