COCOSOLIS

COCOSOLIS is a Bulgarian natural-cosmetics brand based in Sofia, founded in the summer of 2016 by Betty Bencheva and her partner Plamen [1][3]. Despite English-language branding and a US-facing storefront, the company is Bulgarian in origin, with its headquarters and team in Sofia [3]. It built its range around certified-organic, cold-pressed plant oils, beginning with suntan and body oils and expanding into face and hair care.

The brand reports that its products are sold in more than 26 countries and have reached over 900,000 customers, having grown beyond Bulgaria into the rest of Europe and the Gulf region by 2017. It remains active, with localized storefronts running across several country markets.

The company was started by a couple, Betty Bencheva and Plamen, who, according to COCOSOLIS, came together through a shared interest in nature, clean eating and healthy living. Before launching the brand, Plamen worked in organic agriculture — growing organic grains, vegetables and goji berries, and at one point cultivating kale for healthy chips [5]. Bencheva, the brand's chief designer, created its packaging and visual identity, which the company says is meant to evoke the feeling of "spending a lovely day at the beach."

In the founders' own telling, the idea crystallized one morning "with the rising sun," when they decided to make cosmetics that were, in their words, "healthy and beautiful... with uncompromising quality and purity, yet with a responsibility to people and nature." The first products were natural suntan oils, which remained the line most associated with the brand.

COCOSOLIS dates its founding to the summer of 2016, an account corroborated by its LinkedIn company page, which also lists 2016 [1][3]. A 2023 editorial review described the brand as having started "6 years ago," implying a founding closer to 2017 [6]; the company's explicit "summer of 2016" is the more precise of the two.

By 2017, the company says it had expanded beyond Bulgaria into the rest of Europe and the GCC [1]. In 2020 it was named "Best Organic Cosmetics Brand – Balkans" at the LUXlife Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards [7].

COCOSOLIS positions itself within the "clean beauty" space, stating an aim to "redefine beauty through the power of nature" using organic, all-natural formulas as an alternative to conventional cosmetics. The company says its products are vegan and not tested on animals, and are free from parabens, synthetic fragrances and other harsh chemicals [6]. It describes its raw and essential oils as certified organic and sourced from internationally approved suppliers, though it does not name a specific certification scheme such as Ecocert or COSMOS.

Sustainability is presented as central to the brand's approach: it states a belief in "sustainable care — both for the body and the environment," citing ethically sourced ingredients and recyclable packaging.

The range is organized into body, face and hair lines, and includes suntan and body oils, sunscreens, anti-stretch-mark and anti-cellulite oils, body shimmers, exfoliating scrubs, self-tanners and facial products such as serum, elixir and cleansing oil. The suntan oils the brand launched with — sold in variants including CHOCO, MONOI, MANGO and ALOHA — are described as its long-standing favorites, alongside a Glow Shimmer Oil and medium and dark self-tanning foams [6].

The formulas are built on cold-pressed plant oils sourced from around the world, including coconut oil from Sri Lanka, cocoa from Peru, jojoba from Uruguay, argan from Morocco and tamanu from India. The brand says each product goes through a minimum development and testing cycle of one year, and that its coffee scrubs took more than 18 months to create [5].

COCOSOLIS received the "Best Organic Cosmetics Brand – Balkans" award in the 2020 LUXlife Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards [7]. Its founder Plamen was interviewed by the beauty platform Pick'n'Dazzle, and the brand's range was reviewed by the editorial site The Velvet Runway in 2023.

COCOSOLIS is active. The Sofia-based company lists 51–200 employees on LinkedIn, maintains live localized storefronts across multiple country markets, and was the subject of editorial coverage as recently as 2023 [3].