LAMEL

LAMEL is a Ukrainian-founded colour-cosmetics brand established in 2012 by entrepreneur Natalia Iaromenko [2]. It makes affordable, mass-market makeup across face, eyes, brows and lips, and positions itself under the tagline "Empowering Make-Up". Originally built for the Ukrainian market, where it grew into one of the country's leading mass-market beauty names, the brand later expanded across Europe, North America and the Middle East.

The company remains active. Since 2022 it has operated as the flagship label of Beauty Tech Corp, an international group founded by Iaromenko that also owns the professional line LN Pro. Its trajectory has been shaped by the war in Ukraine: the brand's main warehouse near Kyiv was destroyed in a Russian strike in March 2022, after which production and distribution were rerouted abroad.

LAMEL was founded in 2012 by Natalia Iaromenko (also spelled Nataliia Iaromenko or Yaromenko), a Ukrainian entrepreneur who grew up in a small military town near Kyiv [2]. In interviews she has tied the brand's purpose to her own experience, recounting a first job where she worked a full year without pay and crediting makeup with helping her rebuild confidence. She frames entrepreneurship itself as a form of self-expression rather than simply a career.

The brand began as LAMEL Professional, serving Ukraine's mass-market beauty segment, and grew into one of the top three brands in that category. Iaromenko is the founder, owner and president of both LAMEL and the sister line LN Pro.

The brand's national origin is recorded consistently as Ukraine across the company's own site and independent corporate registries. One Polish reseller listing instead describes LAMEL as "founded in 2012 in Great Britain" [13]; this conflicts with the brand's own "born in Ukraine" framing and with multiple registry and trade-press sources, and appears to stem from product-development positioning rather than legal founding. A separate B2B directory uses the phrase "born in London with a Ukrainian heart", reflecting the same development-led framing.

By 2021, LAMEL reported revenue of roughly $20 million and stood among the leading mass-market beauty brands in Ukraine.

In March 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion, a tank strike destroyed the brand's principal warehouse and factory near Kyiv, wiping out around six months of inventory [5]. Iaromenko responded by buying back stock from local retailers, opening distribution warehouses in Poland and the United States, and shifting production to contract manufacturers in China, Italy and Poland. That same year she consolidated LAMEL and LN Pro under the newly formed Beauty Tech Corp to drive international expansion [9].

The brand's entry into the United States came through Sally Beauty. In 2023 LAMEL won Sally Beauty's Cultivate Accelerator Program, which provided $15,000 in funding, a twelve-month mentorship with company executives, and US distribution [6]; earlier programme alumni included Mielle Organics and Arctic Fox. The line launched in select Sally Beauty stores and online in spring 2024, and in August 2025 the company announced a broader North American rollout, expanding from an initial 500 Sally Beauty locations toward wider US and select Canadian availability [7].

LAMEL is the flagship brand of Beauty Tech Corp, described as an American group of companies that Iaromenko founded in 2022 and which also includes LN Pro [9]. The brand's Ukrainian operations run through a separate entity, Beauty Hub, presented as the official and exclusive distributor of LAMEL in Ukraine [8]. The two operate at different levels — Beauty Tech Corp as the international parent, Beauty Hub as the local operating and distribution arm.

The company describes its team as around 200 people, most of them based in Ukraine. Sources differ on a single corporate headquarters: Ukraine is consistently cited as the operating home, while registry and press listings variously place corporate addresses in New York, London and Miami, reflecting a distributed footprint rather than one head office.

LAMEL markets itself as "Empowering Make-Up", aimed at Gen Z and millennial consumers and built around self-expression and accessibility. Iaromenko has said the brand exists not to mask but to build confidence: "All women have natural beauty. Makeup does not exist to make them better but to make them more confident" [4]. In a 2025 statement she reframed the mission more broadly, describing the company as "building a platform for freedom, confidence, and creativity".

In the trade press the brand is frequently compared to e.l.f. Cosmetics, offering trend-led makeup at low prices — even its premium items are described as costing under $20 [5]. A Ukrainian-resilience narrative runs alongside this positioning, drawing on the brand's wartime experience and its humanitarian partnerships with organisations such as the animal-welfare group UAnimals and the Ivan Franko National Theatre.

The range spans more than 300 items across face, eyes, brows and lips. The company highlights several hero products, including the Smart Skin Serum Tinted Foundation, the Flawless Cover Lightweight Foundation, the Cult Lift & Volume Mascara, and the All in One Lip Tinted Plumping Oil. Much of the catalogue leans on "skincare-meets-makeup" hybrid formats, such as tinted serums and lip-balm hybrids, which the brand also presents as a more sustainable approach because they combine functions in a single product.

LAMEL does not claim proprietary actives or patented technology; product development rests on its contract-manufacturing relationships and on trend-driven launches, including limited editions such as a "16 Shades of Brown" eyeshadow palette that later sold out. The entire range is PETA-approved and cruelty-free, and the company maintains a dedicated vegan collection [2].

Beyond the 2023 Sally Beauty Cultivate award, founder Natalia Iaromenko has been named among Forbes "50 Women Leaders" and sits on the board of CEO Club Ukraine [11]. The brand has been profiled by trade outlets including WWD and BeautyMatter, and several of its US listings have carried Amazon's Choice designation. Iaromenko has also appeared as a speaker at the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

LAMEL is an actively growing brand with a live direct-to-consumer site and a team of around 200 people. Its distribution spans Europe, North America and the MENA region; the company's current count is 26 countries, though sources cite figures ranging from "20+" to 38 as the footprint has grown over time [5]. Retail partners include Sally Beauty, Amazon, Douglas, Target and Rossmann. Its most recent major announcement was the North American expansion of August 2025 [7].