Photo: Getty images
Cover Photo: Getty images

From beauty products made from potato to an app helping people to understand their skincare woes, meet the founders behind some of the region’s fastest-growing beauty brands

The global beauty industry is rapidly growing, with revenues estimated to reach $2.65 billion in 2023.

Beauty standards are also evolving, with brands pushing out more diverse marketing and offering more inclusive product lines. Beauty brands focused on the needs of the Asian consumer, in particular, have been on the rise, embodying philosophies and using ingredients unique to the region.

From a potato skincare brand to a Chinese-language app for people seeking skincare advice, here are eight beauty companies from Asia to know and the people behind them.

Read more: Barbie: The history and business of the plastic cultural icon

Hao Yiwen

Tatler Asia
Hao Yiwen, founder and CEO of Pototaly (Photo: Pototaly)
Above Hao Yiwen, founder and CEO of Pototaly (Photo: Pototaly)

Founder and CEO, Pototaly

Hao Yiwen is potato royalty—not just because her family business Landun Xumei Foods is a producer of potatoes in China, but because she herself founded Pototaly, which claims to be the world’s first skincare brand to use potato extracts as a primary ingredient. Yiwen is simultaneously an entrepreneur, fashion influencer and executive in her family business, earning her the moniker of the potato princess of China.

Natasha Moor

Tatler Asia
Natasha Moor, founder and CEO, Natasha Moor Cosmetics (Photo: Affa Chan)
Above Natasha Moor, founder and CEO, Natasha Moor Cosmetics (Photo: Affa Chan)

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

Lynsey Lim

Tatler Asia
Lynsey Lim of Handmade Heros, an all-natural, vegan skin and body care brand (Photo: Lynsey Lim)
Above Lynsey Lim of Handmade Heros, an all-natural, vegan skin and body care brand (Photo: Lynsey Lim)

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.

Jasmine Ang Chua

Tatler Asia
Jasmine Ang Chua, Issy & Co, a Philippine makeup brand (Photo: Wesley Villarica)
Above Jasmine Ang Chua, Issy & Co, a Philippine makeup brand (Photo: Wesley Villarica)

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

Irene Ursula

Tatler Asia
Irene Ursula, founder of BeautyHaul, Somethinc and Glowinc
Above Irene Ursula, founder of BeautyHaul, Somethinc and Glowinc (Photo: M. Iqbal Arwin)

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.

Chang Chin-Lan

Tatler Asia
Chang Chin-lan, founder of m̄enom̄eno sustainable skincare brand (Photo: Renan Chung)
Above Chang Chin-lan, founder of m̄enom̄eno, a sustainable skincare brand (Photo: Renan Chung)

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.

Olivia Chan

Tatler Asia
Olivia Chan, co-founder and CEO of AI-powered app, BeautyFact (Photo: Affa Chan)
Above Olivia Chan, co-founder and CEO of AI-powered app, BeautyFact (Photo: Affa Chan)

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

Tatler Asia
Melinda Wang, co-founder and CEO, nomel (Photo: Renan Chung)
Above Melinda Wang, co-founder and CEO, nomel (Photo: Renan Chung)

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.


See more honourees in the Beauty category on the Gen.T List.

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