The Greek cosmetics market has seriously upped its game over the last decade, with several new top-quality brands skyrocketing to global competitor status and receiving international awards.

What makes this new wave of Greek beauty and contemporary self care-inspired entrepreneurship exciting is that several of these new brands are developing product ranges based on embracing Greek natural ingredients and age-old wellness philosophies.

These elements are combined to create products using innovative technology, sophisticated recipes, organic, natural and high-grade ingredients, sustainability-friendly practices and a holistically-minded, “green” beauty ideal.

Here, we select four leading brands that reflect all of the above-mentioned principles and methodologies, in products that are designed to offer comfort, health and beauty to your skin and hair during the sunny summer months.  

With research, a chat with the people who have created them and some personal testing, we review our top picks from the summer cosmetics ranges of Nemertes, DOS, Eolia and Kyklos, four brands that are fast gaining recognition worldwide.

Kyklos Cosmetics 

“Kyklos came as a result of my own personal need to love myself more and offer me the best. The occasion was a difficult period at which I was experiencing anxiety disorder and panic attacks. This was the driving impetus to start a new cycle (kyklos) in my life,” Kyklos‘ founder Elena Lenou told Greece Is.

“For the formula of our products we’ve chosen excellent organic ingredients that come mainly from Greek nature. We support Greek producers who work with passion and meraki (good spirit). All our ingredients are of excellent quality, without preservatives and without undergoing any chemical treatment, and we’ve patented olive oil with ‘active oxygen’, which we use in all our formulas and which helps oxygenate skin cells while at the same time transferring vitamin E to the skin.” 

Our Favorite Summer 2022 Products by Kyklos

Shimmering Body Oil with almond oil, pumpkin oil, camellia oil, vitamin E, olive oil with active oxygen. Skin smoothing, with a slight shimmer and a light fruity and exotic flower aroma, this is great for skin and hair.

Hydrating Body Oil with olive oil with active oxygen, sweet almond oil, grape seed oil, organic cold-pressed Jojoba oil, organic Camelia oil, vitamin E and sandalwood Oil. Easily absorbed, it leaves the skin feeling smooth and soft. 

Digital Ampules for the face – an innovative series of seven anti-aging and moisturizing ampules containing olive oil with active oxygen, sesame oil, wild rose oil, vitamin E, and Tsubaki oil. These are used daily for a week as a recovery and prevention face treatment that helps counter sun exposure, exposure to blue light (from screens) and to air pollution.

Nemertes

“Our company prepares herbal cosmetics based on pure extra virgin olive oil of top quality, enriched with essential oils, herbs, and other ingredients that are famous for their healing properties since antiquity. We collaborate with award-winning producers from all over Greece and discover the special raw material that each place can offer us. We use organic extra virgin olive oil from Crete, the Peloponnese, and Western Greece. Our products also contain many valuable oils such as argan oil, wheat germ oil, castor oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter. These ingredients have been used since antiquity and are known for their positive effects on our health,” the Nemertes Team told Greece Is.

“A key pillar of our strategy as a company is the protection of the environment and the reduction of our carbon footprint, so we use alternative energy sources to supply our production unit. To Nemertes, the products stand for showing love to ourselves and centering on our everyday evolution. Our goal is to help people to develop their confidence and self-esteem by using beautiful products, so they can go ahead and achieve any goal to honor their self and contribute to society.”

Our Favorite Summer 2022 Products by Nemertes

Mykonos Shimmering Tanning Oil SPF25 is designed to make you glamorously glow in the sun. It contains extra virgin olive oil, argan oil and jojoba oil, which are all rich in Vitamin E and have antioxidant and anti-aging properties that help prevent skin damage. Sesame oil, almond oil, avocado oil, castor oil and calendula oil are also rich in antioxidant properties that are help reduce cell damage caused by environmental factors and UV rays. Carrot oil is an active tan accelerator while cacao and shea butters both offer deep nourishment to sun-exposed skin. It gives the skin an impressive sheen in the sun and feels smooth and light.

Fig & Mandarin Moisturizing Oils: dry moisturizing body oils based on organic extra virgin olive oil and other precious oils. Both the fig and mandarin oils smell like the real fruit, the fig offering an indulgent and heady aroma and the mandarin a zingy and fresh fragrance. They can also be worn as  perfume.

Anti Cellulite Massage Oil: a concentrate of organic oils, essential oils, plant extracts and black pepper that are thought to help break down fat cells and thus reduce the appearance of cellulite. Carrot oil, Ivy oil, Cypress, Lavender, Patchouli Essential Oil, Grapefruit, Rosemary and Juniper are also thought to assist in decreasing the appearance of cellulite by stimulating circulation and so increasing blood flow to the affected areas. 

DOS

“Our philosophy is this: Choose skin care products based on your personal needs, that soothe and balance your skin and combine ingredients based on your individual needs at different times of the year. Above all, familiarize yourself with the therapeutic power of Greek nature!” said pharmacologist Chrysanthi Papadopoulou, the co-founder DOS Cosmetics to Greece Is.

“We personally cultivate organic herbs for creating our elixirs. In the spring and summer months, we gather and process them to extract the part of each plant that we use for our formulas. During the production process we create new elixirs based on different recipes. The fact that our products are so fresh and have such active ingredients is what makes them so innovative and effective,” she adds.

Our Favorite Summer 2022 Products by DOS

Collagen Cleanser helps to remove makeup while providing much-needed deep after sun moisture as well as protection from environmental pollutants. It was also the winner of the Pure Beauty Awards 2019. This rich gel can be left on the skin after use as a mask as it adds moisture and plumpness to the skin.

HIBIO Day Serum, which won the Silver award in this year’s Global Makeup Awards US balances oil production, is extremely lightweight and easily absorbed by the skin. It offers immediate and deep moisture, is quickly absobed by the skin and has strong antioxidant and antimicrobial actions. Within just over a week of use my skin was more bbalanced and smooth. 

Collagen Night Cream – Being in the sun makes skin tight, dry and vulnerable. This firming and regenerative cream helps to plump the skin, erasing fine wrinkles and deeply moisturizing and firming your skin as you sleep. It is thick and soothing, which makes it ideal for a quick night face massage, yet also easily absorbed.

Face Sunscreen Light Serum for All Skin Types 50 SPF with UVA/UVB filters helps protect skin from dark spots and offers essential protection for people of every age without chemical ingredients. An essential product for sun exposure.

Eolia Cosmetics 

“The development and creation of Eolia Natural Cosmetic Products were and are based on respect and love for nature and man, using plant raw materials of the Greek Land,” says the Eolia team.

Our Favorite Summer 2022 Products by Eolia

Moisturizing Sunscreen milk 50SPF with Hyaluronic acid and vitamin E, this creamy yet dry sunscreen provides a very high protection against the sun’s damaging factors. It has a pleasant, soft texture that is instantly absorbed by the skin.

Face – Hair – Body Mist refreshing spray (with aloe) & Tanning Oil Coconut Mystery – with the exotoc beach fragrance of coconut, the mist can be used throughout the day to refresh and revive your senses and add a hint of fragrance and moisture and the tanning oil (with no SPF) can be used for extra moisture, fragrance and shine over your regular sunscreen.

After Sun with aloe, yogurt, cucumber and vitamin E is incredibly refreshing (especially if kept in the fridge) and instantly soothes sunburnt or dry skin.

Shimmering Body Butter is an olive oil based body butter with a rich, indulgently creamy texture that contains with St. john’s wort oil, honey and natural beeswax. It adds a subtle yet visible and attractive glow to the skin and can be spread on the chest, collarbone and legs.