Our Editors Agree This Is the One Skincare Brand That's Just Too Good to Share

I would like to highlight here that I am not someone that responds to the question What is the best skincare brand? very well. As a beauty editor with a penchant for all things skin-related, the idea that any skincare brand could be deemed the best doesn't sit well with me. For starters, different people's skin tends to like different things. But as well as that, when we talk about a brand rather than individual products, we have a lot more to consider. For example, does the brand's values align with your own? Does the brand's aesthetic draw you in? Do all of the products, as a collective, cater to your needs? Truly, declaring one skincare brand as the best is, if you're asking me, basically impossible.

When we beauty editors get excited over something, I'll admit that the buzz we collectively create isn't always as well considered as it should be—we too can fall victim to hype. Often, we get excited about brands at the launch phase and soon realise that in a very competitive market, they just don't have what it takes to impress us in the long term. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have brands that sit, quietly existing under the radar, that editors adore but might not necessarily garner widespread hype. Susanne Kaufmann is a skincare brand that sits in the latter category. And if I had to settle on the "best" skincare brand, it's definitely competing for a top spot.

Here's the thing about Susanne Kaufmann: It's a brand that every editor I know gets excited about but few of us shout about. As soon as the brand launches a new product, we're all in. Whenever a drop of new samples lands on our desks, we're not sharing it with a soul. In fact, if a Susanne Kaufmann product crops up in the Who What Wear office, you might end up with a snatching contest on your hands. This, in essence, sums up the reason we don't generate hype around it—we just want to keep it for ourselves.

And trust me—if I could keep it a secret, I would. Because that's the beauty of the brand. The products are considered and have a way of making you feel as though they've been formulated especially for you. I have been a lover of Susanne Kaufmann products for years. The brand's eye creams are easily some of the best I've ever used against my dark circles, the cleansers are potentially my favourite in existence and the bath products? Well, they sit in a whole tier of their own. I have hoarded, stashed and lapped up every drop of every Susanne Kaufmann product that has ever come my way, and yet, until recently, I rarely saw it on bathroom shelves on Instagram. It wasn't until I started working at Who What Wear a few years ago that I realised I wasn't alone in my Susanne Kaufmann love affair. In fact, it was when other editors in the office started asking after specific Susanne Kaufmann products that I realised quite how special the brand's skincare is.

Who What Wear editor Emma Spedding, for example, swears by the moisturisers for glowing skin and the bath products for ultimate luxury relaxation. It's common knowledge amongst team Who What Wear UK that Editor in Chief Hannah Almassi goes weak for the sumptuous, limb-loving body moisturisers (and considers them products she actually buys herself). And while we all have this collective love for the products, we remain hush about them, honoring the understated excellence of the brand itself.

Recently, I have spotted the brand cropping up more regularly on Instagram. Again, not garishly or in an irritating sort of way but rather featuring quietly, simply cementing its status of brilliance. While the now-cult room diffuser might be nestled unassumingly on an Emma Hoareau shelfie, Bettina Looney is busy exclaiming that she "lives by" Susanne Kaufmann products on Who What Wear.

The moment I realised it wasn't just me who couldn't get enough of Susanne Kaufmann skincare, I sat down long and hard to try and figure out what it is that makes the brand so special—and I think it's a number of things that make the perfect recipe. To start with, let's talk about the aesthetic. Susanne Kaufmann products are chic as hell. Kaufmann herself told me that making sure her products look special enough to keep out on the shelf is important to her. (Kaufmann is a hotelier who originally created her line of products for her in-hotel spa.) The bottles are luxe and pretty but in a way so understated and cool that they're practically begging to be picked up. 

Then we come to the formulas and products themselves. The brand's skincare offering is actually quite vast. From cleansers and serums to toners, masks and moisturisers, the Susanne Kaufmann product roster stretches from mind-soothing bath soaks to high-tech skincare serums. And while there are product variations to suit different wants and needs, I feel confident in saying that every single one of the products delivers exactly what it promises. There are no overpromises and no untrustworthy marketing ploys, but there are always results. The skincare formulas are high-tech, while the spa-focussed ethos of the brand noticeably shines through with every application. They make you feel great while you're applying them, sure, but they also really work. And that is something you don't find too often in the world of skincare. Some of the most efficacious brands around tend to be (for lack of a better work) unsexy and clinical-feeling.

And yes, you can say this for a lot of brands out there, but something about Susanne Kaufmann skincare hits different. The brand is, as I've already mentioned, luxe. The price points are high but perhaps not quite as high as some of the other major players in high-end skincare (for example, Dr. Barbara Sturm or La Mer). The difference, however, between those skincare brands (which I do love, don't get me wrong) is that Susanne Kaufmann's high price points feel totally justified. To begin with, the products are all formulated and created in Kaufmann's hometown in Bezau, Austria. Nestled away in the Alps, Bezau is home to some of nature's greatest resources—and you better believe a whole load of them end up in Susanne Kaufmann products. The pine that sits inside the bottle of Mountain Pine Bath Oil, for example, is hand-cut from pine trees just up the hill from the Susanne Kaufmann production house.

And that leads us nicely to the sustainability credentials. The production house itself is all run on totally renewable solar energy. The luxury glass bottles are made from recycled (and fully recyclable) glass, and many of the products have refills available in which all of the plastic packaging is not only recycled but also fully recyclable. (This is very difficult when it comes to lightweight plastics.) The brand recently ditched all of its labels due to sustainability considerations and changed all of its exterior packaging to simple cardboard made from recycled paper. And yet, the brand still feels luxe. 

Truthfully, I'm not sure there is a skincare brand out there that does skincare quite like Susanne Kaufmann, and I think that's the reason we editors have taken such a shine to it. You might not know the ins and outs, but when you're using it, you know it's something worth holding on to. 

Keep scrolling for the 12 Susanne Kaufmann products you should really get to know. Trust me; you won't regret it. 

Next up, basically every celeb swears by this one skincare brand.