How Emma Lewisham built a global skincare brand

 

In just over five years, Emma Lewisham has grown from a New Zealand launch into one of the country’s most recognised global beauty brands.

 

What began as a search for effective natural skincare has grown into Emma Lewisham, a luxury label now stocked by some of the world’s most reputable retailers, including MECCA, Harrods, Credo Beauty, Liberty London and Net-A-Porter.

 

Launched in 2019, the brand has rapidly gained global recognition for combining high-performance skincare with ambitious sustainability goals. In 2025, Lewisham’s work was recognised nationally when she won the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards Spark innovator of the Year award, acknowledging her leadership in scientific skincare and the development of a circular beauty model designed to reduce waste across the beauty industry.

 

For Lewisham, the purpose behind the brand has always been clear. “We are a skincare brand developed on science and not trends,” she says. “We formulate for how the skin works, and we’re a natural skincare brand that ultimately delivers on science but also real purpose, intent and integrity in the way that we do so.”

 

From the beginning, the ambition extended well beyond building a domestic brand.

 

“I always intended for it to be a global business and for it to expand offshore,” Lewisham says.

 

“If I had just set out to start a New Zealand business, I would’ve built the fundamentals very differently. From the get-go, I had the vision of it expanding internationally.”

 

That vision is now very much a reality, as the company continues to expand into major beauty markets across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

 

 

The idea for Emma Lewisham began with a personal experience. In 2016, while pregnant and navigating the loss of her mother to cancer, Emma became aware of the ingredients in her skincare.

 

During a consultation, her doctor advised her to stop using a product that contained hydroquinone, a common hyperpigmentation treatment that isn’t considered safe to use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and was unable to recommend a natural alternative that delivered similar performance.

 

The gap sparked a question that would eventually lead to the creation of the brand: could natural skincare match the performance of conventional synthetic products?

 

Lewisham began working with scientists and biochemists to explore the possibility. What followed was several years of research and product development before the company officially launched in 2019.

 

The aim was to create a natural skincare range grounded in scientific research while maintaining the luxury experience expected in the high-end beauty market.

 

 

At the core of the Emma Lewisham brand is a formulation philosophy that starts with the skin’s biological pathways and functions.

 

Rather than formulating around individual “hero” ingredients, the company designs products that work across multiple biological pathways simultaneously to mirror the complexity of the skin itself.

 

This subtle distinction changes everything, from which activities are selected, to how many are combined, to how they interact, to the results they deliver, activating what the company describes as the skin’s “innate intelligence” to support natural repair and renewal processes.

 

To validate the formulations, the company invests heavily in scientific testing. Products undergo laboratory testing and clinical trials to measure their performance and verify results.

 

Lewisham says that scientific credibility has been essential to the brand’s success.

 

“I don’t think it was a struggle earning credibility,” she says. “We had something really distinctive in the way that we were formulating the science. It was robust, and we had a lot to back it up.”

 

The focus on research has helped position the brand within a growing global movement toward science-backed natural skincare.

 

“Having a really distinct brand, offering a point of difference that you are offering in the market, and I think ultimately that is why we have done so well, we have offered something very, very unique.”

 

 

One of the biggest milestones in the company’s growth came when it secured a partnership with MECCA, widely regarded as one of the most influential beauty retailers in Australasia.

 

For emerging skincare brands, securing shelf space with the retailer is extremely competitive.

 

“I think securing MECCA was significant for the business because they are just so highly regarded and sought after,” Lewisham says.

 

“Lots of brands pitch to them every year, so being on their shelves, and not just that, being one of their top brands internationally, really sends a signal.”

 

The partnership helped introduce the brand to a much larger audience and signalled that it could compete alongside some of the world’s most established luxury skincare names.

 

From there, the international interest began to grow.

 

Retail partnerships soon followed in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, including launches with Credo Beauty and other major beauty retailers.

 

The company has continued to expand, with further launches planned across Nordic countries and France over the coming year.

 

 

While performance is a key focus for the brand, sustainability has become an equally defining part of its identity.

 

The global beauty industry produces an estimated 120 billion units of packaging each year, much of which ends up in landfill due to the difficulty of recycling mixed materials.

 

Lewisham did not realise the scale of the problem until she began researching the issue while developing her brand.

 

“I started to look at what happens to bottles at the end of life and really discovered that the majority of beauty packaging isn’t recycled,” she says. “That meant billions of units of waste were going to landfill annually.”

 

Rather than adopting existing recycling programmes, the company set out to redesign the packaging model entirely.

 

Its solution was a circular refill system. Customers purchase a durable outer container once, then replace only the internal refill component when the product runs out.

 

This design significantly reduces the amount of material required for each product cycle while also lowering carbon emissions associated with manufacturing and transport.

 

The brand also introduced a programme encouraging customers to return empty packaging so components can be cleaned, reused or sent to specialist recycling streams.

 

 

The company has gone even further by committing to climate-positive certification for its products.

 

Through a detailed emissions analysis, the company measures the carbon footprint of each product across its entire lifecycle, from raw ingredient sourcing to manufacturing, packaging and distribution.

 

After reducing emissions wherever possible, the brand offsets more carbon than it produces, making each product climate positive.

 

The initiative has positioned the company as one of the sustainability leaders within the global beauty industry.

 

The brand has achieved one of the highest B Corp scores in the luxury skincare category. The certification, awarded by B Lab, evaluates companies across governance, environmental impact, workers and community.

 

“We are the highest B Corp score in luxury skincare in the world,” Lewisham says.

 

“It reflects that the business at every step and every decision is considering its impact on people and the planet.”

 

The company has also taken the step of sharing elements of its sustainability model with other businesses through what it calls its “Beauty Blueprint”, encouraging wider adoption of circular packaging systems across the beauty industry.

 

 

Despite its rapid global growth, the company remains firmly rooted in New Zealand.

 

Manufacturing continues to take place locally, and the brand’s head office remains based here, something Lewisham believes is an important part of the brand’s identity.

 

“I think the New Zealand aspect is internationally so powerful as a brand in itself,” she says.

 

“It reflects innovation, quality, craftsmanship and nature.”

 

That connection to New Zealand also reflects Lewisham’s own upbringing.

 

Although growing up in the Waikato and having spent a lot of years in Nelson, Christchurch has long been part of her life. “I grew up spending a lot of years in Nelson, but in the holidays and through sports, I spent a lot of time in Christchurch,” she says.

 

“My siblings all went to university in Christchurch, and now my father lives there along with my sister, her husband, and my niece.”

 

 

Today, that connection extends beyond family ties. Canterbury has become one of the brand’s strongest markets in New Zealand.

 

“Outside of MECCA in Christchurch being our number one skincare customer, Canterbury and the South Island are our strongest markets in New Zealand,” Lewisham says.

 

Rather than focusing only on large population centres, Lewisham says she makes a point of maintaining a presence in the region.

 

“I always push to do events in the South Island, particularly Christchurch,” she says.

 

“So, when people just want to focus on Auckland, I really try and push to nurture and be present with our customers in Christchurch.”

 

She believes the region’s response reflects a shared mindset. “I think the customer is really intelligent and has substance and is looking for quality products to invest in,” she says.

 

“Not trend-driven, but looking for things that have depth and purpose.”

 

 

For Lewisham, growing an international company from New Zealand has required clear leadership and a strong team. “People are so critical to a brand’s success,” she says.

 

“I can’t underestimate that – finding the right people who reflect your standard.”

 

Competing on a global stage means maintaining an extremely high standard.

 

“We are competing against the very best beauty businesses in the world,” she says. “When you have the right people around you, leadership is about bringing out the best in them and giving them a clear vision to rally around.”

 

 

As the business has grown, Lewisham’s idea of success has evolved. “I think success is just as much the road and the milestones as it is the way that we’ve gone about it,’ she says.

 

For her, that includes maintaining strong values while building a global company.

 

“Ultimately, success is about growing, but doing so with integrity and treating people well in the process.”

 

It also includes balancing business ambitions with family life. “I have a daughter, and that I can also be a fantastic and present mother is my personal definition of success as well.”

 

For entrepreneurs considering starting their own ventures, Lewisham has straightforward advice.

 

“You need to be willing to sacrifice,” she says. “You cannot be half in. You have to be fully in if you want to build a successful business.”

 

As Emm Lewisham continues expanding into new international markets, the company’s mission remains the same – to challenge the beauty industry with science-led skincare and a more sustainable model.

 

And for Lewisham, the support of customers at home, particularly Canterbury, remains an important part of that journey.

 

“I want to thank our customers in Canterbury for how much I appreciate them and value their support over the years.”