Delilah

Delilah is a British independent colour-cosmetics brand founded in 2014 [8]. Founder-led and based in the United Kingdom, it makes makeup alongside a growing set of skincare-led complexion products, and takes its name from the Delilah rose [9]. The company positions itself around vegan, cruelty-free formulation and sustainability, gathered under a "Better Beauty" idea, and describes its range as skin-loving make-up for conscious, everyday wear.

The brand remains active. It marked its tenth anniversary in November 2024, achieved B Corporation certification in January 2025, and has continued to publish and launch products into 2026 [6].

Delilah launched in September 2014 in England [7]. Its founders were Rupert Kingston, who serves as creative director, together with Hannah Nicholson and Juliet White [8]. Kingston began his career as a make-up artist, training at the London College of Fashion and working across television, film, fashion and beauty before moving into creative management. Trade coverage recounts that his interest in makeup dated back to childhood and developed during his school years, when he discovered the London makeup shop Screenface, which led him toward formal training.

According to the brand, the company grew out of a perceived shortage of boutique British makeup brands, and drew on what it calls quintessential English influences — including the Delilah rose, from which the name is taken [9]. The company later moved to an entirely vegan reformulation of its range, in place from January 2021.

Delilah frames its work as "Better Beauty," built around four pillars it calls Better Planet, Better Choices, Better Skin and Better Together. The company states that its purpose is to "create exceptional beauty products that help people feel confident while making a positive contribution to people, animals and the planet."

Every product, the brand says, is formulated to be vegan, cruelty-free and paraben-free, with dermatological and ophthalmological testing where appropriate. Its formulas are described as combining cosmetic science with plant-based actives intended to improve the appearance and condition of skin during regular wear. Under the "Better Together" pillar, the company says it prioritizes customer feedback and collaboration with makeup artists as a way to refine its products over time. It has summarized this outlook in the view, stated on its own pages, that high-performance cosmetics should not come at the expense of animal welfare or environmental responsibility.

The range spans face products (foundations, skin tints, primers, concealers, powders and complexion mists), cheek products, eye products, lip products and brushes. Recent launches sit under the "Wake Up" line, including the Wake Up Radiance Hydrating Skin and Makeup Mist and the Wake Up Lip Saviour, a colour-enhancing lip oil. In August 2025 the company introduced the Wake Up Radiant Elixir, a skincare-infused complexion product, and it has also marketed a primer called Under Wear.

Delilah is a Certified B Corporation, a status it announced in January 2025 [6], and describes itself as a member of the B Corp Beauty Coalition. Its makeup is also PETA-certified as cruelty-free [7]. On packaging, the company says it introduced post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic with the 2023 Wake Up launch and has worked to remove virgin plastic and add FSC-certified paper and wooden components.

The brand's climate reporting records a 2024 baseline organizational footprint of 106.55 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, with packaging and procurement targets set for February 2029 [5]. Its account of carbon offsetting is not fully consistent across its own pages: the "Our Principles" page describes carbon balancing through the World Land Trust program [2], while the separate Climate Action Plan does not mention that partnership [5]. The World Land Trust link is independently noted in trade coverage of the brand [7].

Within its first year, Delilah was named Best New Brand at the CEW Awards [7]. It was subsequently recognized as Best British Beauty Brand in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and was named Best British Make-Up Brand at the Beauty Shortlist Awards for a third consecutive year in 2023 [9]. In 2024 it received Marie Claire's Cruelty-Free Brand award and a Woman & Home recognition as best vegan skincare and makeup brand. The company reports having held the position of No.1 beauty brand at the London department store Fortnum & Mason through 2024, and its makeup has been featured in trade and consumer press covering British independent beauty.

Delilah is independently owned and currently trading, selling directly and through third-party retailers with international shipping. It has continued to publish regularly and to introduce products, and its most recent public announcement is a May 2026 statement that it had become a sponsor of Guards Polo [6].