Bellamianta

Bellamianta is a self-tanning and beauty company founded in 2015 by Linda Stinson [4]. It is based in Dungannon, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), though the company presents itself as an "Irish beauty brand" [3]. Beginning with self-tan, the range has since grown to include cosmetics and skincare, and the company describes its positioning as a "luxury, clean, and affordable tanning brand."

The brand remains active. Its webshop carries current seasonal collections, and in 2024 founder Linda Stinson received an industry award; the business projected turnover of around £10 million for 2025.

The company traces its origin to a personal mishap. Linda Stinson, who had spent years working on high-end beauty counters, suffered a fake-tan disaster on her wedding day on 29 November 2014: a spray tan clung to her eczema patches, the guide colour would not wash off, and her underarms turned green [4]. The episode prompted what she has described as a "eureka moment" to develop an alcohol-free formula that would be gentler on the skin, and she launched Bellamianta in 2015. According to the Irish Examiner, the original tanning lotion went through 97 iterations before release.

Stinson is consistently credited by the company and by editorial coverage as the founder and chief executive [3]. Crunchbase lists her title as "Co-Founder" [6], but no second founder is named in any source, and she is generally treated as the sole credited founder. She is from Pomeroy, County Tyrone.

The brand's national identity is presented two ways across sources. Its headquarters in Dungannon and the founder's roots in County Tyrone place it geographically in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom; the company itself markets Bellamianta as an "Irish beauty brand."

Bellamianta began as a self-tan specialist and has expanded into a fuller beauty range spanning self-tanning, cosmetics and skincare. The self-tan line includes liquids, mousses, gradual tans, instant tans, lotions and a clear range, alongside prep, removal and application accessories. Among the products the company highlights are the Crystal Clear Mousse, which it says dries in 60 seconds, and the Luxury Instant Tan, described as transfer-resistant for up to 24 hours.

The company attributes the active tanning effect to DHA (dihydroxyacetone), which it states is derived from sugar beet and sugar cane and reacts with amino acids on the skin's surface. It lists supporting ingredients including hyaluronic acid, vitamins A, B, C and D, sea buckthorn oil, witch hazel extract, shea butter, aloe vera and sunflower oil. Bellamianta says its tanning, cosmetics and skincare products are vegan and PETA-approved, and that its tanning products are paraben-free [3].

In its own description, the brand is built on "clean, alcohol-free, skin-loving" formulations, with a stated mission to "cater to all your beauty needs, including self-tanning, skincare, and cosmetics" [1]. Products are sold direct through the company website and across a wide retail network; the company says its products are available in more than 5,000 outlets, naming chains such as Boots, Dunnes and Chemist Warehouse.

In 2017, Stinson launched a sister brand, Iconic Bronze, positioned as a lower-priced line aimed at younger, more budget-conscious shoppers and the retail-chain market [4].

A recurring strand in the brand's history is its collaborations. In August 2019, Bellamianta released a co-branded at-home tanning range with the television personality Maura Higgins, who had modelled for the brand for some years beforehand; a second Higgins collection followed in 2021 [7]. Co-branded products such as the Bellamianta X Maura Higgins Luxury Tanning Mousse remained on sale through retailers in the years afterward. The brand has also worked with the makeup artist Paddy McGurgan, whose collaborations include the "Heart of Beauty Collection" and a "Bronze Sculpting Balm."

In 2024, Linda Stinson received the Beauty Industry Award at the VIP Magazine Power of Women Awards [5]. The brand and its founder have also featured in Irish press, including an Irish Examiner profile of Stinson and an Irish News feature on Northern Ireland's cosmetics and fragrance entrepreneurs.

Bellamianta is an active and growing business. It operates a live e-commerce site with current seasonal ranges, reported a workforce of 34 at its Dungannon base, and projected turnover of about £10 million for 2025, with distribution across roughly ten countries [4].