These are the founders of Asia’s hottest beauty brands right now

Founder and CEO, Natasha Moor Cosmetics

Running a public relations and events company, Natasha Moor found herself constantly giving beauty advice. That turned into a blog, then work as a make-up artist, with a particular focus on bridal make-up. After four years of that, she launched her make-up brand Natasha Moor Cosmetics, which quickly proved a hit: within two years of launching, it was stocked at Sephora.

Read more: Make-up artist Natasha Moor on her mission to empower women

Founder and director, Handmade Heroes

What started as a hobby, with Lynsey Lim helping loved ones with natural, homemade skincare products, has turned into a global business. Her beauty brand, Handmade Heroes, is an Amazon bestseller, with its Ultra Sexy Lip Scrub holding the skincare number one spot and Drop Dead Gorgeous Dry Shampoo number two. Her products are also stocked in prominent department stores and endorsed by the likes of Hollywood A-lister Lily Collins.

Founder and CEO, Issy & Co

With experience helping the family garment business, Jasmine Ang Chua set out on her own in 2019, starting the beauty brand Issy & Co just before the pandemic. With the core values of inclusivity and diversity, the brand’s mission is to offer vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, paraben-free beauty products for a range of skin tones that are easy to use and available at affordable prices. The company plans to open a physical store in 2023.

Read more: Issy & Co's Jasmine Ang Chua on being a leader and balancing friendship with business

Founder and CEO, Cuura 

Making the case for sustainable, natural skincare can be challenging in a society accustomed to instant results. But Sarah Shah Nor, founder of Cuura, refuses to give up. Suffering from postpartum eczema, she realised that many mainstream products contained harmful ingredients. Driven by her experience, she ventured into skincare with a mandate: all-natural, chemical-free, and halal. To further its mission of ethical beauty, Cuura began using post-consumer recycled materials and biodegradable corn packaging two years ago. Most recently, the brand celebrated the opening of its first flagship store at Kuala Lumpur’s The Exchange TRX mall.

Founder, BeautyHaul, Somethinc and Glowinc

Irene Ursula started out in 2014 with the beauty e-commerce company BeautyHaul. Five years later, she followed up with her own beauty brand, Somethinc, which quickly became one of Indonesia’s most popular beauty brands in stores and number one on e-commerce platform Shopee. In 2021, it expanded into cosmetics with more than 120 products. Irene is also behind Glowinc Potion, a skincare brand for Gen Z. In 2022, the companies raised $10 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and Prosus Ventures.

Founder, m̄enom̄eno

After first finding fame as an actor, Chang Chin-Lan has gone on to make waves in the skincare industry with m̄enom̄eno. Focusing on minimal, effective ingredients, the brand uses sustainable raw materials to make products, which include an essence, facemask, cleanser and face serum. The latter comes with half the carbon emissions of similar products. It also has a contract to develop sustainable skincare products with biotechnology company Genomatica.

Co-founder and CEO, BeautyFact

Having eczema for more than 20 years convinced Olivia Chan she needed a way of finding beauty products that didn’t trigger her skin. As a result, she created AI-powered app BeautyFact, which allows people to check the ingredients in products for safety and sustainability. The first Chinese language service of its ilk, it is also building a face-detection function to help users identify skin problems.

Read more: This former beauty editor’s app promotes green and clean beauty

Melinda Wang believes that the right skincare can improve not only a person’s skin, but also their confidence. Her popular skincare brand, nomel, focuses on creating products designed for Asian skin types made with pure, animal-free ingredients. Under her leadership, nomel has evolved to become a lifestyle brand that aims to help users feel better in both body and mind.

Founder and CEO, Parlon

What if booking your next beauty treatment were as easy as finding a restaurant on Chope or a holiday on Booking.com? That’s the vision behind Parlon, a tech marketplace platform co-founded by Kristine Claire Ongcangco. Parlon empowers salons and parlours to digitise their services, reach wider audiences and efficiently manage their businesses. With over 500 merchants worldwide, this Philippines-born company is poised to revolutionise the beauty industry from Singapore to Canada.

Read more: Meet Dr Mona Minkara, the blind scientist redefining accessible travel and adventure

Co-founder and CEO, Pure Culture 

In 2024, Pure Culture garnered two Organic Beauty Awards and became one of only nine winners of the Australian Think Clean Award. This success reflects co-founder and CEO Stephanie Oller’s unwavering commitment to transforming the Filipino skincare industry. Pure Culture champions toxin-free skincare, sustainable practices and ocean conservation through its membership in One Percent for the Planet. Since Oller joined the company in 2023, revenue has surged by 300 per cent.

Read more: How Pure Culture’s Stephanie Oller is changing Filipino skincare routines with clean beauty

Co-founder and managing director, Ingck 

Founder of Ingu, Chayadhorn Kitiyadisai, embarked on his skincare journey a few years ago while struggling to find safe and effective solutions for teenage acne. Drawing on insider knowledge from his family’s cosmetics company, he began reviewing products and sharing his expertise online as Ingck. This influencer still helms his channel and two years ago, he launched Ingu, a science-backed skincare line committed to full transparency.

See more Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow in the Beauty category.

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