Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Launches A Clean Beauty Brand, Rose Inc., That’s All About The Essentials

As a supermodel and actress, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has tried practically every beauty product out there. Between that and her editorial website dedicated to all things beauty, RoseInc.com, it’s fair to say she knows the beauty world inside and out. And that’s what makes the launch of her own beauty brand, Rose Inc., even more intriguing. “Having spent nearly 20 years in the hair and makeup chair every day of my working life, it's been a very unique perspective and opportunity to work with the best of the best,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “I've always been a beauty girl ever since I can remember, watching my mom get ready for a night out or for a day of work and seeing the transformative nature of beauty. All of those aspects really informed everything. I feel I'm at this next chapter of my career. Everything up until this day has led me to this point.”

Rose Inc. officially launches today with the sign-up for exclusive purchasing on RoseInc.com and is available for purchase to Rose Inc. registered members between August 24 and August 26, and launches at Sephora and Sephora.com on August 27. The carefully and consciously curated collection of skincare and makeup essentials is helmed by Huntington-Whiteley serving as the CCO and Founder. She is joined by clean beauty trailblazer Caroline Hadfield, who launched Biossance and Pipette, as CEO. The final powerhouse behind Rose Inc. is Amyris, a biotechnology and science firm that has innovated the clean beauty space.

“Back in 2016, when I joined Amyris, I started looking at sustainable ingredients to see how we could build out brands that really had a purpose, and a mission both in performance and sustainability,” Hadfield says. “There was enormous white space for trust and safe baby care, so we went straight into building out a brand new brand, Pipette, and that is how myself and Rosie met. She had Jack—he was about 18 months old—and there was an alignment with the principles and brand differentiators. I could see from the success of the Rose Inc. platform—the editorial components, the ownership and the integrity there—that it was only going to be a matter of time that Rosie would look to build the brand and develop a product range, so I called her in the summer of 2019 and said would you be interested in us partnering with you to build out a product range of color and skincare into all of these pillars of differentiation? And also, bringing to the industry a real shift.”

Like many moms-to-be, Huntington-Whiteley took a deep dive into the products she surrounded herself with during pregnancy, carefully reading ingredient labels on everything from household cleaners to makeup. As she did more research, she switched to conscious and healthy products. “I've always been somebody that's been drawn more to organic foods and cooking from scratch versus leaning into processed foods,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “Between that and growing my own home, and becoming a mom, you become more aware. When my son was born, there really is no other experience like it, but you're so suddenly aware of what you put on their bodies. I'd never thought twice about if I wouldn't use a moisturizer and whatever sprays out, or I'm going have my hair colored—I hadn't really thought too deep about it. But when you have this brand new, perfect being that you've birthed, you are quite conscious of what you're putting on. I didn't want to wear fragrance around him; you just want everything to be pure.” Huntington-Whiteley picked the brains of the Amyris team to learn all about ingredients and being safe, which sparked their relationship.

But, Huntington-Whiteley isn’t naïve when it comes to the clean beauty space. “In the UK, ‘clean beauty’ doesn't really mean much to be honest,” she says. “In fact, it's a bit of a dirty word in the sense that people are really pulling it apart and starting to turn over what does that actually mean to you as a brand? How are you backing that up?” That’s why Rose Inc. is walking the walk by focusing on ingredients derived from plants that are clinically tested for real, visible results, specifically five proprietary bioengineered botanical ingredients. For example, they spotlight 100% plant-derived, pure and sustainable squalane to weightlessly hydrate skin, as well as antioxidant vitamin E sourced from 100% non-GMO sunflower seeds that’s naturally chock full of monoglycerides and moisturizing phytosterols to safeguard and nourish skin. Additionally, all of their synthetic ingredients meet rigorous standards. Plus, Rose Inc. has banned 2,000 non-safe ingredients.

The 100% vegan and cruelty-free line takes a holistic approach to being clean. “That goes through to our practices with our packaging,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “I'm very excited about our brand at our price point to be coming to the marketplace with refillable packaging, cartons that are printed with soy-based ink, recyclable glass bottles, and carbon neutral shipping, which is very, very exciting. All of our packaging has 25% PCR and we've challenged ourselves to a less is more approach to our packaging. I love minimalism, but I also do love a bit of a sparkle.” Rose Inc. has steered clear of foils and embellishments that typically make packaging non-recyclable. “We are looking at luxury in its most simplistic form, which is minimalism,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “You'll see that through the entire brand, but certainly with our packaging, and that's what allows us to have a much more sense sustainable approach.” Investing in pricey custom packaging was worth it for Rose Inc. to meet their aesthetic and eco standards.

Another element of keeping the planet in mind is having less, which is why Rose Inc. carefully curated their first collection. “Our less is more approach was a more modern way to launch a beauty business in 2021,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “No brand has 50 amazing skus, right? So, it seems wasteful. It also seems like a rush to try and get that many products done well. As we launch products, we'll be able to educate on the products themselves, the formulation, the packaging—everything to do with the Rose Inc. brand.

Their first collection is focused on modern essentials. Huntington-Whiteley honed in on products that give her visible instant results every day, which is how they landed on two skincare products: The Radiant Reveal Brightening Serum and the Skin Resolution Clarifying Toner. “I want a really luxurious serum that's a serum meets primer meets moisturizer,” she says. “It's going to give me that beautiful canvas for makeup, instant plumping dewiness and really hydrating. It feels really indulgent and wonderful to go to bed with at night.” Having acne-prone skin, Huntington-Whiteley wanted a toner that’s gentle enough to use daily, yet still exfoliates to help with cell turnover.

As for color cosmetics, a concealer was a must, hence the Softlight Luminous Hydrating Concealer. “I no longer wear foundation day-to-day, which speaks to how incredible this is and it does it all as it blends beautifully,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “It layers beautifully and has this gorgeous luminous finish; we have 20 shades. And then the Lip Sculpt Amplifying Lip Color, I have to have a lip product—you know that's a given. There's not a day that goes by where I wouldn't put my eyebrows together, so I have the Brow Renew Enriched Eyebrow Shaping Gel, and Blush Divine Radiant Lip and Cheek Color, our creamy cheek color, so they're the essential products. Whether you're running an errand, dropping your kids off at school, at a last minute meeting, or meeting up with friends, these are sort of the things that will make you feel pulled together in an instant.”

Rose Inc. isn’t stopping there. Over their first year, they’ll be launching new products every 10 to 12 weeks, keeping their mission as a cohesive skin and color brand in mind, with beneficial ingredients. “Frankly, I want more of my own products,” Huntington-Whiteley says. “That's the timeline for me selfishly as well.” With products that make you look and feel good inside and out, she won’t be the only one.