It wasn’t too long ago when body care products like bar soaps, body washes, deodorants, and lotions were simply relegated to the toiletries or personal hygiene sections. For years, there was hardly anything aspirational or exciting about bath and body products. Up until the holistic wellness boom, which took on a life of its own from 2020 onwards, body care was no more than a daily routine and practice of good hygiene. The wellness journey is about finding little pockets of bliss and relaxation through everyday rituals. Apart from daily movement and meditation, I discovered that a few intentional moments dedicated to body care could set the tone for an inspired day and a blissful night’s rest.
Often attributed to the increasing awareness on self-care, “skinification” of body care has been gaining traction in the last two years. During this time, more and more makers of body care products have been developing entire collections that lend the same skin nourishing and anti-aging benefits as serums and face creams. It began with lotions laced with retinol, skincare’s holy grail for renewal and reversing time. Soft Services’ Software Update Performance Retinol Serum launch in 2024 was a game changer for me. Formulated with 0.25% pure retinol, it proved that the same ingredients in skincare could rejuvenate skin especially on parts of the body prone to dulling, laxity, and fine lines.
Even if it meant adding another step to the evening routine, body serums suddenly made perfect sense. By applying similar formulations, methods and philosophies in skincare to the bath and body routine, we essentially bring the same level of care and attention to our whole being. Body serums, just like face serums, are concocted with a high concentration of active ingredients like retinol, Niacinamide, glycolic and hyaluronic acid. They address specific skin concerns that traditional lotions or creams are unable to target. When skin is feeling extra dry or flaky, for example, I also like to apply Iota’s Supercloud Body Serum all over the body before lavishing skin with locally sourced pure coconut oil, which seals in the moisture and serves as a protective barrier.
More skincare brands have followed suit, developing body care systems or collections that nourish and nurture the body. Annemarie Börlind, a natural cosmetics brand rooted in Black Forest, Germany has been at the forefront of clean, sustainable, and innovative skincare since 1959. Its slow and steady success does not only hinge on pioneering work within the beauty space; Annemarie Börlind has also been leading the charge in areas where “evolving with age” is concerned.
The brand lends the same wisdom and expertise to body care products, crafting them the way the would nourishing face creams and serums for the face. The Body Care Body Oil, Body Care Body Lotion, and Body Care Body Butter–formulated with regenerative ingredients like organic argan oil, jojoba oil, macadamia nut oil– are highly effective especially for dry to dehydrated skin types. This set for the body is a heaven sent during the winter!
Ursa Major is following a similar path. The Vermont-based clean beauty brand creates simple, efficacious, forest-infused skincare products. Its newly launched body care line draws from the success of its Golden Hour Recovery Cream, touted as the ultimate reset for skin and healing balm.
The Golden Hour Body Butter, for example, is formulated with the same skin soothing and illuminating ingredients—calendula ad sea buckthorn—as its face cream counterpart. This deeply hydrating body butter works beautifully with the brand’s Golden Hour Body Serum, which is infused with actives that help with skin firming, lightening, and brightening.
Emily Doyle, co-founder of Ursa Major shares: “For years, we’ve had customers tell us things about our best selling moisturizer like, ‘I wish I could bathe in this!’ or ‘I wish it came in a giant tub so I could use it all over my body.’ That feedback really planted the seed for our Golden Hour Body Collection. We realized people wanted to extend the same high-performing, plant-powered care they love for their face to the rest of their body.” She observes that body care has now become an extended part of a skincare routine. “Customers are looking for products that not only hydrate, but also deliver visible results, like a great face moisturizer or serum would.”
On occasion, Body care also mirrors ideals of skin-malism or streamlined routines with brands like Ember Wellness offering “a forward-to-basics” approach. The idea is simple: to harness the skin benefits of a few really good ingredients that work for both body and face. Founder Amanda Schuler weighs in on the blurring of lines between skincare and body care, saying, “Many skincare companies are expanding into body care to capture a share of this rapidly growing category. At Ember Wellness, our approach is more intentional. From the beginning, our focus has been on ritual – creating small, meaningful moments of care that connect you to yourself. Extending into body care felt like a natural evolution of that philosophy. We see it as caring for yourself beneath the surface – simple, grounding rituals made just for you, that nurture both skin and spirit.
Last September, the brand launched its very first body care line, The Sheer Santal Collection. It is a range that emphasizes how scents or fragrances can be fully traceable, transparent, and non toxic. The collection’s multitasking Body Serum and Hydrating Body Oil keep body care rituals simple, effective, and truly nourishing while enveloping senses in a modern accord of sandalwood.
For decades, soaps, lotions, shampoos, and other body care products were simply categorized as ancillary in the luxury fragrance space. More recently, body care products have become the main character in presenting olfactory expressions. Case in point: evolvetogether.
Founded during the early months of the pandemic, the brand from Southern California endeavored to create “better daily essentials that connect us to, and remind us of, our shared humanity.” Its founder, Cynthia Sakai, honed in on clean, high performance, science-backed formulas distinguished by custom fine fragrances. Since then the brand has carved a niche in the wellness industry for products like the nutrient rich body cleanser (an all time favorite), body creams, deodorants, body soaps, and hand creams.
evolvetogether has also built an impressive library of bespoke scents for its body care products that include: Havana (spicy wood), Taormina (white floral), Provence (soft herbal), and Tulum (green herbal) and Monaco (dry floral). Sakai shares, “With every fragrance, we start with a feeling—and build moments around it… Each scent is crafted in-house with our perfumers and scent evaluator to create fragrances that are subtle, timeless, and sophisticated—designed not just to smell beautiful, but to evoke a feeling, a memory, a moment.”
A dear friend who also happens to be a fragrance snob once remarked, ‘When fragrance brands start to become too mainstream or too popular, they lose their novelty.” This may be true in some cases. But for Le Labo, a brand that was once the well kept secret of perfume aficionados, their original scents never fail to turn heads. The brand writes: “We believe that there are too many bottles of perfume and not enough soulful fragrances. We believe the soul of a fragrance comes from the intention with which it is created and the attention with which it is prepared.”
In 2017, Le Labo launched its body, hair and face collection with the intention of creating sensorial journeys through scents. Three fragrances were introduced for the collection, including Hinoki which was inspired by temples of Mount Koya in Japan. Basil is a variant that combines citrusy and aromatic notes with verbena, punctuated by pepper notes. Mandarin is a summery and sparkling scent that fuses with geranium. The team clarifies: “Our creations are cruelty-free and vegan, and do not contain artificial colorants, mineral oil, parabens, phthalates, or SLS/SLES. They are free of any promise other than making you feel good.” And an indulgent, aromatic Le Labo bath does just that.