The Northeast has no shortage of beauty brands — from big-city labels to small-batch makers working out of farmhouses and home studios.
So how do you find the ones worth a closer look?
Do you start with the brand that keeps appearing at your local market?
Or with the independent formulator whose products you’ve heard about but never tried?
There’s no shortcut through all of it — but one useful signal is which brands have chosen to put their products in front of independent judges.
That’s the idea behind this list.
These 17 brands based in the Northeast are taking part in the 2027 Clean Beauty Awards, organized by CertClean. This year’s program brings together 151 participating brands from 18 countries, with 361 products entered across 21 award categories and evaluated by 97 independent judges.
Shopping closer to home can also mean:
- quicker delivery
- simpler reordering
- fresher products, especially from small-batch makers
- supporting founders and formulators in your own community
Whether you’re in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C., use this round-up as a starting point for finding brands near you — some you may already know, others you may not have come across yet.
Prefer to browse the whole country? See the national overview → [73 USA-Based Clean Beauty Brands]
Featured Northeast Brands:
1. 28 Litsea
Location: Arlington, Massachusetts
28 Litsea is a woman-owned brand based in Arlington, Massachusetts, founded by Christine Cunningham in 2018. It makes small-batch lip and body care products from natural butters and plant oils. The brand is named after Christine's father and the litsea essential oil. Cunningham worked as a school counselor alongside the business and built the brand around mind, body and wellness.
2. Beurre Shea Butter Skincare
Location: Great Neck, New York
Beurre Shea Butter Skincare is a New York-based, woman- and minority-owned brand founded in 2017. It combines plant-based ingredients with unrefined shea butter to make skincare for a range of skin types, including eczema-prone skin and children's skin. The line also serves vegan and clean beauty customers.
Location: Easthampton, Massachusetts
ETHYST Skincare is a skincare line developed by a licensed esthetician and clinical herbalist, founded in 2022 in New England. It makes vegan, U.S.-made products around skin barrier and microbiome care. Every formula follows the brand's own Champagne Standard, an internal ingredient list that excludes PEGs and polyquaterniums.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
ExfoliantsbyMalika is a Philadelphia-based skincare brand launched in 2020 to bring more inclusivity to the beauty industry. Its line of cleansers, toner, moisturizers and exfoliants is formulated with natural ingredients for melanin-rich skin and for all skin types.
Location: Frederick, Maryland
Gently Radiant Skin is a skincare brand based in Frederick, Maryland, that makes cleansing products designed first for sensitive skin. Its range includes single-use Gentle Towels, cleansing bar soaps and washcloths, available fragrance-free or naturally scented with aromatherapy ingredients. The products are bio-based.
6. RareGlo Organic Shea Products
Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland
RareGlo Organic Shea Products was founded by licensed cosmetologist Rhonda Walters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and launched in 2015, building on more than four decades in the beauty industry. It makes vegan, organic skin and hair care products formulated with shea butter and plant-based ingredients, including multi-use balms.
Location: Georgetown, Massachusetts
Founded by independent, woman entrepreneur Bonnie Giangrande, RE+NU Naturals combines powerful plant-based formulations with thoughtfully selected, clean actives to nourish, support, and promote healthy skin at every stage of life. What sets them apart? Plant Based with Power! Clean, effective skincare rooted in nature and created for authentic beauty and healthy aging.
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Shea Radiance is a Maryland-based skincare company founded by Funlayo and Shola Alabi and launched in 2009, drawing on their family's experience with dry skin and the West African tradition of using unrefined shea butter. It makes body, face and hair care products, sources shea butter through women-led supply chains in West Africa, and develops and manufactures its formulas in-house.
9. Dr Orga
Location: New York
Dr Orga is a vegan, cruelty-free skincare brand founded in 2013 by cosmetics experts with more than 20 years of experience launching and distributing products. Its formulas use simple, natural, skin-friendly ingredients, with a focus on sustainable products that minimize the impact on nature and animals.
Location: Canandaigua, New York
Dr. Bessette Naturals is an artisan skincare company founded by physician Dr. Carolyn Bessette. It makes small-batch skincare products, guided by the idea that what goes on the skin should be as carefully chosen as what is eaten. The company combines her medical background with hand-crafted production.
11. Elleada
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Elleada is a hair care brand based in Brooklyn, New York, launched in 2018. Its Hair Serum is a water-based, oil-free scalp serum made from herbs, essential oils and plant botanicals. Elleada's products are vegan, gluten-free and soy-free, and the brand states that it sources ethically and aims for zero waste.
12. Esas Fragrances
Location: Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
ESAS is a fragrance brand founded by Seda and Amanda, who have more than 25 years of combined experience in the fragrance industry. Its collection includes fragrances, deo-body sprays, kolonya hand cleansers and candles, made without synthetic toxins.
13. Heiress Oils
Location: Washington, D.C.
Heiress Oils is a Washington, D.C.-based brand founded in 2024 by medical anthropologist Inez Adams. It makes essential-oil-based body oils. Its flagship product, Majestic Mosquito Oil, combines food-grade apricot kernel oil with organic lemongrass, geranium and rosemary essential oils and comes in an amber glass dropper bottle.
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
IOKA Skin+Science is a scientist-formulated skincare line made by hand in small batches in Boston, Massachusetts. It uses natural, high-quality ingredients and is made for skin at every age.
15. Jaysrii
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Jaysrii is a New Jersey-based natural skincare brand founded by Beejal Trivedi and launched in 2025. It makes plant-based powdered face masks and botanical skincare products that are mixed fresh before use. Formulas do not contain synthetic fragrances or fillers.
16. Luksha Cosmetics
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Luksha Cosmetics is an independent skincare brand founded in British Columbia, Canada, in 2016 by cosmetic chemist Anastasia Babenko, who also has a medical background, and is now based in New York. Its facial skincare is developed from scratch and handcrafted in small batches, with biomimetic, skin-identical ingredients and recyclable glass packaging where possible.
Location: Hawley, Pennsylvania
Sagrada BioSkincare was founded in 2024 by Adri Pickering and Brent Pilegard and is based in Hawley, Pennsylvania. Inspired by Ayurveda and holistic wellness, the brand follows a philosophy it calls Principled Beauty. It formulates with organic ingredients, prioritizes fair trade sourcing and packages its skincare in recyclable glass bottles. Its cleansers, mists and serums are designed as a simple daily routine.
The Northeast continues to be a strong home for clean beauty — with experienced formulators, small-batch makers and newer brands all contributing to the region’s scene.
As you browse, follow the brands that resonate with you. Many independent brands grow through word of mouth rather than big advertising budgets, so a visit, a follow or a first order can make a real difference.
To see past finalists and winners, download The Ultimate Guide to the Clean Beauty Awards, and follow @CertCleanInc on Instagram for brand features, judging insights and more clean beauty discoveries.
Explore other regions in the national overview → [73 USA-Based Clean Beauty Brands]
