5 cult beauty products you would love to try – according to expert Newby Hands

For beauty lovers in-the-know, trying to find the latest off-the-radar gems from unconventional labels is what truly matters.

While many of the conventional beauty and cosmetics brands splurge on celebrity endorsements and lavish marketing campaigns, the lesser-known, niche labels have gained a cult following across the globe.

We had a chat with Newby Hands, beauty director at Net-a-Porter and PORTER, to find out her best-kept secrets for a perfect summer.

The industry veteran is known to be a game changer. Former beauty editor at Harper’s Bazaar UK, where she worked for over a decade, Hands joined online beauty retailer FeelUnique before landing her current role at Net-A-Porter.

Q: Do you feel that the lesser known, more artisanal beauty products are gaining more popularity than the mainstream beauty brands?

Newby: I think that these smaller brands – like Vintner’s Daughter, for example – are very appealing as often they are a little different from the bigger mainstream brands.

They can also bring in new trends even faster than the bigger brands [can], plus they often have a lovely founder story behind them which again is really engaging for the target audience. However, I do think that after all it is just giving us a better choice in what we buy, as these smaller brands are definitely make the larger international brands look at what they are launching, so they are not left behind.