Beauty’s newest generation of founders are breaking into the majors, driven by persistence, proof and the power to make scale feel intimate.
Since 2020, a wave of challenger skincare brands has redefined what it means to go national. Among them is Daily Skincare and Urban Jungle, both born in the post-pandemic moment of brand re-evaluation.
These are not brands backed by heritage conglomerates or celebrity gloss. Instead, they are self-defined and data-driven, built on the conviction that community and accessibility are retail advantages.
Retail ambition
Sophia Mantell, founder of New Zealand-born Daily Skincare, claims the journey into mass retail was never accidental, nor was it direct-to-consumer.
“Our strategy was always retail – specifically supermarket and pharmacy. The intention is to reach as many customers as we can, and retail is still the best way for that to happen at scale and with velocity,” she told Inside Retail.
Founded in 2023, Daily secured a national rollout within a year across both Woolworths and Priceline Pharmacy, a noteworthy success for an independent beauty brand competing in a space defined by margin, marketing, and momentum.
“It was a process of persistence, proof and performance,” she said. “Woolworths is known for backing brands that genuinely move the needle in their category – not just trend-based startups. For us, it began with data: demonstrating that there was a real appetite for clinically effective skincare under $30.”
Mantell believes what ultimately convinced Woolworths and Priceline Pharmacy to back the brand was not just affordability but also its ability to deliver luxury-level performance without the price tag.
“We were changing the conversation around what ‘luxury’ skincare looks like,” she said. “Our formulations mirror those of $300 plus-creams, but we’ve stripped out the unnecessary marketing costs. That approach – science-first, no fluff – was what ultimately convinced them.”
The tension between identity and scale is a familiar one for emerging brands. For Daily, preserving brand integrity amid rapid expansion has required filtering every decision through the same “accessible luxury” ethos that built it.
“Maintaining brand identity while scaling has been about consistency in purpose,” Mantell said. “Even as we’ve expanded, we’ve been deliberate about how we show up, our in-store displays, packaging and campaign imagery all communicate that ‘accessible luxury’ aesthetic.”
Supermarkets and pharmacies are often environments ruled by convenience and price, and Daily’s affordable luxury stands apart on the shelf.
“We believe true luxury is about performance, not price,” Mantell said. “It doesn’t mean compromising on quality – it means refusing to let premium results be exclusive.”
Daily has cultivated a new retail language where clinical efficacy and accessibility can coexist in mass channels, without losing credibility or aspiration.
The rise of retail as community
Across the Tasman, another post-pandemic success story has been taking shape. Urban Jungle, founded in 2020 by Paul Tsalikis, has transformed its digital cult following into a tangible retail presence, recently launching nationally with Priceline Pharmacy.
“Priceline Pharmacy has always been a dream retail partner for us,” Tsalikis told Inside Retail. “From day one, Urban Jungle was built to bring uncomplicated, feel-good skincare to as many people as possible, and Priceline Pharmacy’s incredible national reach makes that vision real.”
What differentiates Urban Jungle’s trajectory is its ability to translate digital energy into physical retail.
“Our digital energy is at the heart of everything we do, and we want that to be felt the moment someone sees us in-store,” he said. “Our packaging does a lot of the talking for us — it’s bright, bold and instantly recognisable.”
Urban Jungle has produced a deliberate blurring of the lines between online culture and offline retail, a way of transforming digital community into a tactile experience.
The beauty brands’ rollout with Priceline Pharmacy is also indicative of brand agility, bridging influencer engagement, affiliate marketing and IRL discovery.
“We’re leveraging social media moments to drive our community in-store,” Tsalikis said. “Whether through influencer or affiliate content, or exclusive in-store offers that connect the dots between our online community and the physical shelf.”
The new beauty playbook
Both Mantell and Tsalikis represent a new retail era that merges data, design and dialogue.
For Daily, the lesson is clear that retail validation comes from proof of demand. For Urban Jungle, it’s about building a community so strong that when the product lands on the shelf, the audience is already waiting.
Post-pandemic, Australian and New Zealand beauty brands have gained global visibility for exactly these reasons, including authenticity, innovation and the ability to translate social momentum into commercial reach. But with opportunity comes saturation.
“The opportunity has never been greater – but neither has the competition,” Mantell said. “You have to know your ‘why’ and hold firm to it.”
That “why” translates to accessible luxury for Daily and uncomplicated fun for Urban Jungle, it’s what transforms a beauty startup into a retail brand.
For retailers like Woolworths and Priceline Pharmacy, the rise of brands like Daily and Urban Jungle highlights a re-evaluation of what belongs on the shelf.
The future of mass beauty now lies in innovation emerging from smaller brands that combine scientific depth with an intuitive understanding of consumers. It’s these post-pandemic disruptors that are rewriting the rules of the retail beauty playbook.
The post “Science-first, no fluff”: the new retail ascent of post-pandemic beauty appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.
