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While working to bring Summer Stories to life - an all-natural shampoo and conditioner line with Australian bush ingredients (lemon myrtle! Quandong! Kangaroo apple!) -  I became so aware of all the other great indie Australian beauty and wellness brands blossoming on the world’s largest island-smallest continent. Here, some of my favourites from an A-beauty exploration...

Image: Instagram @kitty.spencer

A-Beauty Box

It was only a matter of time before this trio of Australian beauty brands came together – GO-TO, Frank Body, and Sand & Sky – in a limited edition A-Beauty box offering. Say G’Day to these no-fuss stand out products that use native ingredients and get the job done.

Dunkle Authentic

Brisbane-based Molly Dunkle bakes her own lipstick. You read that right. She mixes and pours her limited-edition lipsticks into moulds, sets them and sells each numbered batch through boutiques and online. Molly also has a line of hand-blended foundations and a dewy face oil for mornings or evenings.

Minenssey

Originally famed for their award-winning Australian Cream clay masks, the ingredients in Minenssey’s Absolute Serums read like a bush fantasy: flannel flowersnake vine and strawberry gum.  They’ve just launched their hydrating skincare range, which is rich in the brand’s signature flannel flower as well as probiotic ACB yoghurt dermal respiratory factor (the skin microbiome is a big talking point at the moment FYI).

Quandialla Candles

Sarah Ryan works from a storefront in her hometown of Quandialla, New South Wales, population 200. She mixes candles (her lemon eucalyptus and citronella camping candle is a favourite) and small beeswax lip balms from pure local beeswax in the most desirable sliding lid tins. Oh, and she has a delicious goat’s milk hand-wash with eucalyptus and lemon.

Southern Wild Co

While predominantly a home fragrance brand, we’re still taking this range of scented candles into the A-Beauty fold just because their homegrown scents sound intoxicating: gumnut blossom, boronia and frangipani. Plus, we can’t get enough of images of their highlands shedquarters on their Instagram.

Maarks

Leave your Maarks, get it? This indie lipstick brand has five solid matte colours – rouge, blush, bare, rust and plum. The coolest thing is you can order your initials on your lipstick canister. Personalisation is the future they say! Sign us up.

Bodibar

Started by two Sydney-based sisters, Lama Perin and Jumana Hammouda, they have created three bath salts – Clarity, Purity and Luminosity – made from pure Australian clays. They’ve also cleverly perfected the body care gift set with me-time package essentials of bath salts, candles and body oil.

Rohr Remedy

Made with wild harvested Australian bush ingredients, Rohr Remedy has some stand out products like the Kakadu plum vitamin C face serum. But our fave new everyday essential is the Australian wildflower deodorant in oh-so sleek packaging. Perfect for the gym bag.

The Great State

Created by Sunshine Coast mother Ellen Newman, the endless list of applications for The Great State speaks to the gentleness and efficacy of this all-over body balm. Made from cold-pressed grape seed, avocado and jojoba oils, The Great State can be used on nappy rash, chapped elbows, toes and lips. Plus, when you finish using The Great State, you’re left with a reusable screw-top tin for sewing supplies, stationery, coins – anything really.

Felicity Loughrey sends a fortnightly newsletter called Head Ovary Heels (subscribe! It’s really fun). She is co-founder of Summer Stories, an Australian shower essentials brand.

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