Want some naturalness and eco-friendly simplicity? Swedish brands will make you get back to basics. Their names are often quite hard to pronounce for foreigners, but their state of mind – a hymn to nature and ecology – seduces an increasing number of people, including major groups. The ingredients are often organic, the products vegan, the formulas pure and adapted to seasonal changes, and the packaging minimalist, clean, and fresh. We are definitely in!
Have you had enough of Asian exoticism? Too much of Korean pandas and gadget products that create false needs? Come back to Europe and welcome the ‘made in Stockholm’ brands that support the ‘anti-bling-bling’ movement and the return to skincare, meaning, nature, and some depth. Beyond quality, today, Swedish cosmetics celebrate a whole lifestyle you will actually feel closer to.
Sustainable luxury
With Björk & Berries (available online and at La Petite Épicerie, at the Bon Marché department store in Paris), you will enter the world of botanical skincare (face, body, and hair), and discover 100% natural Swedish perfumes based on beech leaves, wild strawberries, and other berries. You will totally feel like you are in a Bergman movie! The brand, directed by Isabelle Lewenhaupt, boasts an eco-luxury philosophy – prices are quite high, but not indecent.
The adventure actually started ten years ago in Sweden, with perfumes. Four of them can now be tested in France, Dark Rain, Never Spring, White Forest, and Solstice (Eau de parfum, 50ml, €79 each), together with outstanding face and body care products with organic ingredients and ‘less is more’ formulas: Skin Awakening C Serum (30ml, €59), Face Cleansing Gel (100ml, €35), based on pink clay, oats, and green tangerine water, Perfecting Eye Cream (15ml, €50), with euphrasia and anti-swelling hazel tree leaves, or the Serum Body Oil (200ml, €49), and the perfectly-textured White Forest creams, both rich and fast-penetrating (as from €12 for 30ml).
Body care that will convert you to lagom in supermarkets
As from October, you will need to count on Barnängen, a Swedish brand distributed in supermarkets (exclusively in Monoprix stores for three months, and in other supermarkets as from January 2018), which managed to seduce the Henkel group thanks to their philosophy founded on the right balance called ‘lagom’ – neither too much, nor too little. This word is used by Swedish people when things are perfectly in place. It embodies this healthy lifestyle: reconciling the body and mind, taking time for oneself and others, enjoying both nature and the city, moving and relaxing, mixing standard and modern ways…
This family skincare brand is very well-known in Sweden. It is based on the perfect balance between authenticity, pure designs, and natural ingredients to provide the skin with exactly what it needs. The products embody ‘Nordic care’, this unique, typically Swedish way to take care of oneself with total simplicity. Barnängen pays tribute to this lifestyle even in their designs, with flower crowns to fully experience Midsommar, the traditional celebration so dear to Swedish people to mark the arrival of summer. The brand has developed several body care ranges: Barnängen Caring, with oats milk and cold cream, for all skin types (Shower Cream, 400ml, €4.99; Moisturizing Body Milk, 400ml, €6.99; SOS Body Balm, 200ml, €6.40), Barnängen Nutritive with cloudberries for dry to very dry skins (Nourishing Shower Cream, 400ml, €4.99; Nourishing Body Milk, 400ml, €6.99), and Barnängen Sensitive with elderflower (Soothing Shower Cream, 400ml, €4.99; Soothing Body Milk, 400ml, €6.99).
Even sophisticated hair care
Maria Nila is a new Swedish hair care brand that will settle in France this post-summer season. They will offer a wide range of shampoos and hair treatments in registered hairdressing salons and at Bleu Libellule’s. All products are free from sulphates, and both environmentally and animal friendly. They are 100% vegan and Peta, Vegan Society, and Leaping Bunny-certified.
You will like the Head & Hair Heal range (350ml shampoo, €27; 300ml conditioner, €27; 250ml mask, €30), which fights against dandruff and prevents hair loss. The anti-inflammatory formulas (Piroctone olamine, aloe vera, vitamin E, apigenin, peptides…) may be used on sensitive scalps.
They have also developed gentle hair masks with non-permanent colour pigments that can intensify the natural hair colour or change colours, as well as hair styling treatments (Cream Heat Spray or Styling Cream, available as from November).
Ariane Le Febvre
