Aurora Glo – the new luxury skincare platform bringing Nordic brands to UK
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Aurora Glo is a new luxury beauty and wellness platform bringing a curated and tested range of independent Nordic skincare brands to the UK. Founders Christopher and Lucy Rees developed a passion for the clean, sustainable living embedded into the culture having spent much time in the Nordic region; Lucy’s long-term work in healthcare led her to explore the Scandinavian approach to skincare based on longevity and pure ingredients as well as its efficacy for women at all of life’s stages. I caught up with them to hear the whole story and the brand selection process.
‘I think coming to skincare from outside the traditional beauty industry has shaped Aurora Glo,’ begins Lucy Rees, ‘we’d spent time in the Scandinavia and wider Nordic region and developed a real affection for the landscape, relationship with nature and their tendency to value quality and functionality over excess. I kept discovering these brilliant independent beauty companies with sophisticated products that were hard to find or unknown here so the idea clicked to curate a platform here in the UK rather than starting another skincare brand.’
On the back of niche Scandi region life philosophies such as Hygge (Danish/Norway tradition of coziness in living) and Lagom (Swedish for living a life of balance and mindful moderation) entering into the modern Western world vernacular, the Aurora Glo founders ‘think there is a very good chance Nordic skincare principles might follow suit.’ Lucy muses, ‘I think consumers are becoming tired of complexity. We’ve had years of very active-led skincare: acids, retinoids, exfoliation, layering and increasingly complicated routines. Those ingredients have a place but I think we are seeing a new direction towards barrier health, hydration, sensitivity and consistency,’ she continues, ‘it’s about being more considered about what you do to your skin so I think Lagom is a great analogy to what we are doing at Aurora Glo.’
After intense research and a growing awareness of how UK mainstream brands are greenwashing consumers with claims around ‘natural’ ingredients, Aurora Glo has launched with a curated edit of Nordic skincare brands. For UK consumers it is important to understand that there is a slight differentiation of ingredient focus in skincare formulas between the Scandi regions; for instance, Nordic skincare often leans into marine extracts and cold pressed oils with the aim of protecting skin barrier from the harsh coastal weather. Whereas Finnish skincare is focused around the local forests’ botanicals and arctic spring water. Aurora Glo has launched with two complementary brands Marina Miracle and Flow Cosmetics: Marina Miracle is Norwegian founded by Marina Elisabeth Engervik who experienced atopic eczema and later sensitive, damaged skin from the topical creams she was prescribed, thus leading her to create her own range of facial oils. Growing in demand from consumers noting ‘the miracle’ of the oils, her bestseller products, notably the Herbal Face Oil, contain ceramides alongside its botanical oils to support dry, sensitive and mature skin types.
As Aurora Glo launches, I am here to talk to the founders mainly about Flow Cosmetics, ‘It is a Finnish skincare brand with a broad treatment-led portfolio. We were particularly attracted to its targeted products around sensitive, reactive and compromised feeling skin.’ All ingredients are natural, traceable and Ecocert Cosmos certified. The Flow Cosmetics formulas also address dehydration, ageing, pigmentation, brightness, cleansing, exfoliation. Hero products include the Ceramides & Probiotics Cream, a fragrance and essential oil free formula with Lactobacillus ferment lysate, jojoba oil, squalane, argan oil, arctic black current oil alongside the ceramides (naturally part of the skin’s barrier structure and help reduce moisture loss) and probiotics. The Propolis & Probiotics Rescue cream, a richer product with hemp seed oil, tea tree and lavender essential oil, sea buckthorn oil alongside the Hikia’s propolis extract amongst others, used to calm irritated skin and strengthen the barrier. And the Hyaluron & Probiotics Serum ‘the ingredient list is revealing of the transparency and precision of Flow Cosmetics formulas; the flower water comes first, followed by fermented ingredients, glycerin, bilberry seed oil and then the hyaluronic component, rather than the product simply being a conventional water-based HA serum dressed up with a Nordic botanical story.’
As a sensitive skin sufferer who has undergone extreme stress and anxiety, I have seen the effects on the skin from poor gut health and immunity so the Flow Cosmetics focus on probiotics in many of the core products was my way into the brand: Lucy explains, ‘We’re not talking about applying a pot of live yoghurt-like bacteria to the face. Flow Cosmetics’ ingredient lists include ferments, ferment filtrates and lysates, including Lactobacillus ferment lysate and Leuconostoc/radish-root ferment filtrate. For us, that distinction is important because we want Aurora Glo to talk about microbiome skincare without turning an exciting emerging area of skin science into exaggerated marketing claims.’
Aurora Glo aims to create a curated edit of brands that reflect the Nordic approach to clean, natural ingredients and longevity but work with modern science for added efficacy. For instance, the Flow Cosmetics Hyaluron & Probiotics Serum combines two molecular sizes of hyaluronic acid to address hydration at different levels, alongside rose water, wild bilberry seed oil and fermented ingredients ‘so the higher molecular weight HA works predominantly at the surface whilst the lower molecular weight component provides deeper hydration.’
As the UK is sometimes referred to for its ‘wild west’ like ingredient regulations compared to the much sharper standards in the EU/US, I wondered if the founders had noticed sourcing or standardisation differences? The founders note that the UK requires strict documentation for brands entering but believe that many Nordic brands such as those featuring on Aurora Glo ‘voluntarily set themselves additional standards around ingredient sourcing, formulation philosophy, certification and transparency,’ they continue ‘Flow Cosmetics is a good example because COSMOS certification provides an independent framework around natural and organic formulation rather than simply relying on a company describing itself as ‘clean’ or ‘natural.’
Lucy muses, ‘We also want to preserve provenance. If a product’s identity comes from a particular Finnish botanical, Norwegian formulation philosophy or specialist ingredient supplier, we don’t want the UK version quietly reformulated into something cheaper or easier simply to make distribution convenient.’
I ask about the Flow Cosmetics Rose Floral Water since rose otto/damascena is a particular plant ingredient that has been co-opted in mainstream UK skincare; brands greenwash consumers by cutting costs through using an aqua based formula topped with a tiny percentage of rosa. Lucy enthuses, ‘Flow Cosmetics’ Rose Floral Water has an extraordinarily short INCI list: Rosa Damascena Flower Water and fermented radish-root filtrate with citronellol and geraniol naturally occurring within the rose water rather than being added as perfume ingredients.’ She adds, ‘The rose hydrosol itself is produced through distillation of organic Damask rose petals. Flow Cosmetics then uses fermented radish-root extract within the formulation.’ The Flow Cosmetics range also includes hair, body, makeup which all aim to work with the skin and scalp’s natural PH levels.
What are the future plans for Aurora Glo?
‘Flow Cosmetics and Marina Miracle are just the start but are brand selection will be slow and deliberate so every brand has to add something,’ the founders reflect, ‘The ambition is for consumers in Britain eventually to come to Aurora Glo because they trust the curation. They may never have heard of a particular Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish brand, but they know that we’ve investigated it, understood its philosophy, tried the products and believe there’s a reason for it to be here. Longer term, I’d love Aurora Glo to become as much about discovery and education as retail introducing British consumers not only to Nordic products but to a different way of thinking about skincare: fewer unnecessary products, thoughtful formulations, respect for the skin barrier, connection with nature and consistency over trends.’