Coeur de Beauté

Coeur de Beauté (styled in lower case as cœur de beauté) is a German skincare brand based in Berlin. It grew out of a family-run oil mill and was turned into a cosmetics line in 2017 by Sabine Stempfhuber, who was looking for vegan, fragrance-free care for her own sensitive skin [2]. The name, French for "heart of beauty", refers to the kernel of the apricot, whose oil was the starting point for the range.

The brand makes face and body care built around cold-pressed organic oils combined with a small number of established active ingredients. Its stated focus is the skin barrier and the skin microbiome, and it addresses sensitive and rosacea-prone skin in particular. Coeur de Beauté is an active, owner-managed family business, with development and production carried out in Germany.

According to the company's own account, Stempfhuber was a regular perfumery customer until around the age of 30, when she began to look more closely at what conventional cosmetics contained and whether they were tested on animals. She switched to natural cosmetics, but says her skin reacted badly to the many essential oils those products used, and the frequent use of refined oils also struck her as wrong. In a 2022 sponsored feature on the German beauty blog Beautypunk, she said her skin became increasingly sensitive from her mid-thirties and that she developed rosacea [8].

Before moving into cosmetics, Stempfhuber and her husband Frank worked in management consulting and controlling. The company describes Berlin as a fresh start for the couple: first with herbs, then with an oil mill, and finally with skincare. The oil manufactory had been part of their family business since 2013 [2]. In 2017, Stempfhuber began using the mill's food-grade apricot kernel oil as a body oil, and the idea of a cosmetics line followed from there.

The brand's origins can therefore be dated in two ways. The founder places the start of the cosmetics line in 2017, while the family oil business it came from goes back to 2013. A founder statement on the homepage, saying her search for suitable skincare began "more than ten years ago", fits with both dates.

The division of work between the couple is described openly on the company website. Frank handles technology, sales and the web presence, while Sabine develops the products, manages purchasing, creates the design and packaging, and answers customer questions. The about page signs her as "founder and managing director" under the name Sabine Stempfhuber [2]. The company's legal notice, however, lists the managing directors as Sabine Besinger and Frank Besinger [6]. The website gives no explanation for the different surnames.

The first products, facial oils and a body butter, were developed entirely by Stempfhuber herself. When the brand moved on to creams, it brought in an experienced external manufacturer, and the later products were developed together with that producer in the laboratory. The company says all ingredients it does not make itself are sourced within Germany.

From early 2020 the brand began publishing a skincare magazine on its website. Its articles cover topics such as rosacea, cold-pressed oils, menopause and skin, and fragrance-free care. Later pieces deal with probiotic skincare, "skin longevity", and the brand's choice of refillable glass travel sizes. In October 2024 it published an article explaining why it does not take part in Black Friday discounting. A 2022 brand feature introduced the Radiant Skin Complex series, which included a cleanser, a tonic and a serum.

Coeur de Beauté describes itself as an owner-managed family business rather than part of a larger group. The legal entity behind the brand, according to its legal notice, is aideon GmbH, registered in Berlin [6]. No acquisitions or outside investors are documented.

The brand presents three core values: quality, transparency and sustainability. Its stated aim is to develop products that work well while using as few ingredients as possible. Much of this rests on the cold-pressed organic oils from the family mill. In the company's view, such oils already carry useful properties in their natural form, whereas refined or mineral oils need active ingredients added to them.

Leaving out fragrance plays a similar role in the brand's thinking. Because the products are not scented, the company says, the formulas can do without additional emulsifiers. Coeur de Beauté states that its products contain no fragrance, alcohol, parabens, microplastics or unnecessary fillers [3]. Its homepage tagline translates as "developed for maximum skin tolerance".

The skin barrier and the microbiome, the community of helpful microorganisms living on the skin, sit at the centre of this positioning. The brand describes its formulas as prebiotic and probiotic, mild, and free of ingredients that could irritate or disturb the skin's natural flora [5]. Barrier-focused products use skin-identical lipids, ceramides and oils.

On efficacy, the company says it prefers raw materials whose effects on the skin are already supported by existing evidence, such as hyaluronic acid, hemp oil and niacinamide. For that reason it does not run its own studies, which it frames as another form of sustainability [2].

The Beautypunk feature described the target customer as women from roughly 30 to 35 with sensitive skin who value natural ingredients [8]. The same piece noted that the brand avoids palm oil. The company's own magazine also addresses men looking for fragrance-free care.

The range is organised into several care lines, among them Skin Nourishing Formula, Pure Comfort Essentials, Active Ingredient and a probiotic face care line. These sit alongside cleansers, toners, serums, creams, masks, facial oils, body care and sets grouped by skin need. The brand also sells food supplements and tea.

Products the company highlights as bestsellers include the Even Tone Creme, an anti-ageing cream with vitamins and ceramides, and the Barrier Repair Gel, a prebiotic and probiotic moisturising gel with ceramides. Others are the Intensive Feuchtigkeitscreme (intensive moisturiser) and the Algen Repair Creme, an algae-based cream intended to strengthen the skin barrier. Further products include the Aloe Enzym Reinigung cleanser, the Aloe Moisture Spray and an avellana facial oil.

Apricot kernel oil remains the symbolic core of the range. The brand's ingredient guide also lists red algae, probiotics, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, white tea, hibiscus, ectoin, squalane, vitamin C and vitamin B5, among others. Several of these are chosen for their soothing or barrier-supporting role rather than for strong exfoliating or resurfacing effects.

According to Coeur de Beauté, its products are PETA certified, which it explains as meaning they are vegan and made without any animal testing [3]. The company also says all products are developed to the standards for vegan organic natural cosmetics. No third-party organic certification is documented. Packaging is made from glass or recycled material, and the brand says it avoids outer packaging where possible.

The brand's homepage lists Brigitte, Femme, Flow, Grazia, Vivanty and InStyle as publications in which it has appeared. In December 2022 the German blog Beautypunk ran a feature on the founder and the Radiant Skin Complex series; the article was marked as advertising, with text and images supplied by the brand [8]. No awards are documented.

Coeur de Beauté is active. It continues to publish articles in its online magazine, with new posts in January, May and August 2026 [7]. The brand sells mainly through its own German-language online shop, which also offers an English version of the site. Development, production and filling take place in Germany, and the business is still run by its founding couple from Berlin.