KESEM

KESEM is a Czech cosmetics brand built around minerals from the Dead Sea, with a range spanning skincare, body care, bath products and hair care. Its name is the Hebrew word for "miracle" [2], a reference to the properties the company attributes to Dead Sea minerals. The brand was founded by Petra Uzan and is operated by the Prague-based company SkyTech Corporation s.r.o. [4]; while KESEM is Czech, its products are manufactured in Israel [3].

The year the brand was founded is not reliably documented. KESEM remains active: its website carries 2026 blog posts and product launches, and it continues to sell through its own online shop and third-party retail.

KESEM grew out of the personal experience of its founder, Petra Uzan. She lived in Israel for close to two years, studying Hebrew at an ulpan in Jerusalem and working in the commercial department of the Czech Embassy in Tel Aviv [5]. Uzan, who describes having had persistently problematic skin, says Dead Sea cosmetics were the only products that helped her — she recalls coming across them in Israel as "the only thing that worked for me" [5].

She began carrying the products back to the Czech Republic in her luggage for family and friends. According to the company, their enthusiastic response prompted her to start importing Dead Sea cosmetics commercially and to build KESEM around them [5]. In an interview she described running the business — at one point with a turnover approaching five million Czech crowns — while raising two young children.

The brand is run by SkyTech Corporation s.r.o., a limited company registered at the Municipal Court in Prague and based in the city's Libeň district [4]. SkyTech was entered in the Czech commercial register in February 2011 [7]; however, it is a general-purpose company whose registered activities include real estate and general trade, so its incorporation date is not a dependable marker of when the KESEM brand itself began. KESEM shares its retail presence with a sister brand, PALSAR7, which appears alongside it in the company's "home beauty rituals" range.

The company positions KESEM around what it calls the "gift of the Dead Sea," with a stated vision of bringing mineral-rich cosmetics "to every home" across skincare, body and hair care [2]. It draws on the region's long association with beauty and healing, retelling the popular story that Cleopatra valued the Dead Sea for its effects on the skin.

Beyond everyday use, the brand frames its products as a route to relief for skin conditions such as dryness, eczema and psoriasis, describing Dead Sea minerals as having the "ability to heal a wide range of skin problems" [2] — a claim it makes on its own behalf. It also stresses that the products suit general daily care and are not meant only for people with skin complaints. KESEM emphasises the mineral content of Dead Sea water: the company's own account cites 21 unique minerals [2], while a secondary Czech source puts the figure at 24 [6]. The brand says its formulas exclude parabens, petroleum derivatives and SLS, and that the products are not tested on animals [1].

KESEM's catalogue covers face care (cleansers, creams, masks and serums), body care (butters, foot and hand preparations, deodorants), bath products (mud, salts and shower gels) and hair care, alongside dedicated men's and children's lines and a herbal range branded KEDEM. All products are built on Dead Sea minerals, salt or mud [1], and formulations draw on ingredients such as sea buckthorn oil, aloe vera, hyaluronic acid and jojoba oil.

Its signature products include the "Izraelský zázrak" (Israeli Miracle) day cream, a night serum formulated with gold and pearls, a musk body butter, and Dead Sea mud sold for bath use. More recently the brand introduced a sea buckthorn line, adding a shower gel, shampoo and body cream that pair sea buckthorn oil with Dead Sea minerals.

The products are manufactured in Israel, with Dead Sea minerals as their base [3]. KESEM reaches customers through several channels: its own online store and a pick-up point in Prague, wholesale supply to salons and shops, and pharmacy retail through the chain Dr.Max.

KESEM remains active. As of 2026 its website is current, with recent blog content and new product introductions, and the brand operates chiefly in the Czech and Slovak markets. Beyond the founding date, its history is only lightly documented in independent sources, and it has not been the subject of major English-language beauty press.