11 top Australian beauty brands you need to get your hands on

Aah Australia… The land of glorious beaches, picturesque cafes, and the oh-so-adorable koala bears and kangaroos. It’s a gorgeous place to visit whether you’re on holiday or on a business trip, but given the fact that you’re spending at least 14 hours traveling to and fro, you’ll definitely want to make the most of your visit. Here, we’re letting you in on 11 beauty brands you should get while you’re in the land down under.

Australia’s beauty brands are known for being made of the best natural and/or organic ingredients. Plus they’re usually vegan and/or cruelty-free. How amazing is that? Besides that, we threw in a couple of international brands which are impossible or too tedious to get from Singapore, or simply because of the fact that they have a wider product range over there.

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Established in 1991 in Melbourne, this Australian brand believes that being your most beautiful shouldn’t be a chore – it should be fun. That’s why they came up with products that’ll get you feeling glam in no time at all.

Best of all, their products are authentic and raw – some ingredients they use include kakadu plum from the Northern Territory in Australia and sea kelp from the waters of Tasmanian. Whether you’re looking for correcting face primer or a kakadu plum revitalising cream, Red Earth has it for a pretty good price and sleek design.

Try: The Brighten Concentrate Oil, an elixir which refreshes, rejuvenates and brightens your skin. The Secret Potion Illuminating Skin Fluid, which can be used under, with or without your foundation to highlight your features with a subtle sheen.

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A homegrown brand that celebrates Australia’s unique flora. Leif creates formulas for your body, hair and hands, with botanical extracts and essential oils from its rainforests and the outback – so expect absolutely no harmful substances like paraben and sodium lauryl sulphate, drying alcohols and mineral oil fillers present in your products.

You can trust that what’s going on your skin is truly the best! Just a hint of what ingredients you’ll find in their formulas – kakadu plum, eucalyptus, lemon myrtle, desert lime, tea tree.

Try: The Body Double Hydration set, which consists of a Wild Rosella & Alpine Pepper body cleanser and balm to hydrate any skin type. Blue Cypress & Lemon Scented Tea Tree shampoo, which will deliver a rejuvenating freshness to your scalp and hair.

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An organic beauty brand that crafts is products with care and respect for the environment, by ensuring its practices and formulations are sustainable. The brand believes that organic products are richer in antioxidant and essential nutrients.

The result? Real beauty results with no harmful chemicals. Grown Alchemist is a skincare haven that sells most things from cleansers to shaving gels to anti-aging goods. They also have body care products catering to every skin type!

Try: Hydra-Repair Treatment Cream, formulated with camellia and geranium, this nourishing and non-greasy moisturiser protects your skin from free radicals and it doesn’t leave any residual oil or shine on the skin. Vanilla & Orange Peel Hand Cream, a non-greasy cream formulated with botanical extracts to naturally soothe and nourish your hands.

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Founded by Australian model Miranda Kerr, Kora Organics is a skincare range that offers 100 percent Australian-made products of natural and certified organic ingredients.

The brand believes in helping people transform their skin and in turn, their confidence – but in the healthiest way possible. KORA Organics offers a healthier alternative with key ingredients like noni extract, rosehip oil and sea buckthorn oil, which provide natural healing and protective powers. Although the brand is available in our local Sephora, the range is wider in Australia and the stock availability is higher there.

Try: Noni Glow Body Oil, an award-winning lightweight body oil formulated to nourish your skin and give it a healthy glow.

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Australian made hair care products that are meticulously crafted from the country’s natural resources. The brand creates exceptional products that are engineered to deliver maximum results (as per professional stylists and salon standards) while keeping your locks in its best and most natural state.

Whether your hair is dry, oily or in need of a refresher, you’ll find that its products are hydrating, lightweight and organically nourishing thanks to ingredients like organic passionflower, kakadu plum and frankincense. What it doesn’t have are sulfates or parabens and lab rats – Mr. Smith has never tested on animals and is PETA-certified.

Try: The Foundation, a styling cream that volumises and adds body to your hair with a flexible hold and natural finish, while nourishing and protecting your hair at the same time. Stimulating Shampoo and Conditioner, which refreshes and revitalises your hair follicles to encourage new growth.

Photo: Mr. Smith/ Instagram

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Founded by American makeup artist and beauty blogger Huda Kattan, Huda Beauty carries a line of makeup products that have gained a cult following since it was first opened in 2013. The cruelty-free brand is famous for its falsies as seen on the Kardashians, and its lip pencils that put up a fair fight against Kylie Jenner’s lippies.

Besides that, the brand carries foundations, makeup primers, eyeshadows and the whole contouring band. Although the brand isn’t based in Australia, Sephora Australia carries its products so you’ll want to get your hands on them when you’re there.

Try: Desert Dusk Eyeshadow Palette, which has a mix of warm and cool mattes, metallics and glitter (we tried this and absolutely love it). Liquid Matte lipstick, a matte lipstick that feels comfortable on the lips and stays throughout the day.

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This brand was created by naturopath and nutritionist Anna Mitsios who’s love for herbal and natural ingredients inspired the skincare brand. Edible Beauty aims to give you beauty products that are good enough to well… eat. It brings out natural beauty with therapeutic and luxurious products that are made of the purest and most high quality botanical and wildcrafted ingredients.

Plus, the brand is ethical, cruelty-free and its packaging is made of a special glass that increases the longevity of your products. Besides selling skincare products, the brand also sells beauty tea.

Try: & Coco Bliss Intensive Repair, a highly-raved night mask that deeply moisturises, soothes any redness and irritation, and boosts firmness and elasticity. No.3 Exotic Goddess Ageless Serum, an age-reversing serum supercharged with antioxidants, has a natural SPF, hyaluronic acid and edelweiss to help enhance your skin’s natural protective barrier.

Photo: Edible Beauty/ Instagram

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It all began when Kirsten Carriol was on a flight and her lips were chapped. She grew up on an Australian sheep farm where her father, a DNA scientist, taught her that lanolin from sheep’s wool, mimics human oils, making it nature’s secret to all skin moisture.

As a child, lanolin was the only ingredient Kirsten’s parents used on her skin and lips – now, she has the most natural and simple (highly raved about too) lanolin lip and skincare line.

Try: Tinted Balm SPF 30, a lanolin-rich lip conditioner which has a sheer colour tint to enhance your natural lip colour. 101 Ointment Multipurpose Balm, a super dense lanolin balm that penetrates and seals in moisture, deeply hydrates extremely dry lips, skin patches, cuticles and more (it has 101 uses).

Photo: Lano/ Instagram

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A luxury native brand created with ingredients that are planted and harvested biodynamically in the Adelaide Hills, which is one of the most untouched and unpolluted regions in Australia. Jurlique harnesses the healing powers of nature by hand picking ingredients when they are at their natural peak.

Out of this are products with its ingredients potency fully preserved. Ultimately the brand wants to help people reconnect with nature – this is done by creating their products using the ancient arts of alchemy, herbal medicine and homeopathy.

Try: Nutri-Define Eye Contour balm, that helps you address the signs of ageing and rejuvenate your entire eye contour. Rosewater Balancing Mist Intense Deluxe Edition, an all-natural mist with a rose scent that hydrates, refreshes and soothes your skin.

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A haircare brand that aims to deliver high performance, strength and longevity to hair. The man himself, Kevin Murphy, has had his works as stylist grace the covers of multiple publications – so you’re guaranteed quality. The brand meticulously picks ingredients from companies that use micro cultivation, organic growing practices, or ecologically sound wild harvesting techniques to ensure the range is of the very highest natural quality.

With natural ingredients, a cruelty-free status and no trace of sulfates or parabens, the brand will keep you feeling good as it works wonders for your hair. Plus, its packaging is environmentally friendly to boot. Although Kevin Murphy is available in Sephora here, certain products are out of stock so you’d have better luck in Australia, where the range is much wider and the stock availability is higher.

Must-try: Hair.Resort.Spray, a texturising spray that adds volume and smells amazing. Young.Again, a leave-in treatment oil that is infused with Immortelle to counteract the oxidisation and ageing process.

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An Australian skincare brand that has au naturel ingredients and is cruelty free. The homegrown brand aims to help you get your skin to its tip top condition – with one of its main ingredients (in every product) being coffee to undo all the effects of sleep loss we’ve accumulated over time.

Frank Body specialises in something we often overlook – scrubs (read: coffee scrubs) to help exfoliate your skin. Alongside, it sells the aftercare goodies like balms, moisturisers and oils. The brand sells all you need for your face and lips too, plus they have some natural makeup as well.

Try: The insta-famous Original Coffee Scrub, which busts cellulite and fades stretch marks. The Coconut Coffee Scrub, which smooths and tones your skin. The Shimmer Bomb Kit, which has three products to help you achieve a summer-ready glow (perfect for Singapore).

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