Oriflame

Oriflame is a Swedish cosmetics company founded in 1967 that sells beauty, skincare and personal-care products through direct selling — a network of independent representatives rather than conventional retail. It began in a small two-room office in central Stockholm and has grown into a direct-sales operation active in more than 60 markets, working with over three million independent beauty consultants [7]. The company's registered office remains in Stockholm, while its corporate head office is in Schaffhausen, Switzerland [7].

The brand trades on Nordic origins, using the tagline "Beauty by Sweden," and builds much of its identity around cosmetics made with natural plant extracts. Oriflame is an active, global business, with product launches continuing into 2026 and first-half 2024 sales reported at roughly $337 million.

Oriflame was founded on 1 January 1967 in Sweden [7]. According to the company's history, the business started in a two-room office in central Stockholm and launched a direct-selling cosmetics range built around natural Swedish extracts. Its own account credits two Swedish brothers, Jonas and Robert af Jochnick, together with a friend. English-language Wikipedia names that third founder as Bengt Hellsten [7], a detail the brand's own pages leave unstated. The founding year of 1967 is consistent across the company's history page, Wikipedia and independent business-history records.

An early emphasis on natural ingredients shaped the company's positioning from the start. Oriflame says it was among the first in the world to make cosmetics from natural extracts such as birch sap, drawing on Nordic flora that survives harsh climates.

The first Oriflame catalogue appeared in 1970, printed in 1,000 copies — a modest start for what became a catalogue-driven direct-sales model. In 1982 the company was, by its own account, the first foreign company to list on the London Stock Exchange since the Second World War. In 1999 Oriflame helped establish the World Childhood Foundation, a charity supporting vulnerable children.

The 2000s brought a research build-out and public-market listings. Oriflame listed on the Nasdaq exchange in 2004 [8]. It opened an R&D centre with the Oriderm clinical-testing division in 2008 and established a Skin Research Institute in Stockholm in 2009. The Ecobeauty product line launched in 2011, followed by the NovAge skincare line in 2015. The company marked its 50th anniversary in 2017.

Oriflame was acquired by the private-equity firm IK Partners (formerly Industri Kapital) in October 1999; IK exited its position in March 2006 [7]. The company later traded publicly on Nasdaq Stockholm before being taken private and delisted on 17 July 2019 [7]. Corporate materials list the copyright holder as Cosmetics Global SA, the holding structure associated with the going-private transaction [6].

Oriflame frames its approach as a combination of nature and science. The company states that this pairing has been central to its operations, drawing inspiration from Nordic plants and pairing natural extracts with laboratory development. It describes its aim as delivering "safe, reliable and results-driven" products, and positions beauty as a lifestyle rather than a single product category [1].

Alongside the products, the company markets a business opportunity, inviting people to become Brand Partners and sell its range. This dual offer — cosmetics plus a direct-selling income model — is central to how Oriflame operates and how it is described in outside coverage [7].

Oriflame's range spans skincare, makeup and fragrance, organised into named lines including The ONE (makeup), Love Nature, Diamond Cellular (skincare) and Signature (fragrances). Its longest-running success is Tender Care, a lip and skin balm the company reports has sold more than 40 million units. In skincare, the NovAge line, introduced in 2015, is one of the brand's signature ranges.

Natural plant extracts, birch sap among them, function as the company's hero ingredients, and Oriflame says all its extracts pass a rigorous eco-ethical review of quality, safety and origin. It also describes products developed with what it calls patented techniques and innovations, supported by clinical performance testing carried out through its Stockholm research operations.

Oriflame is an active, global direct-sales beauty company. It operates in more than 60 markets with millions of brand partners and continues to launch products, including a 2026 collection under The ONE. Recent reporting placed first-half 2024 sales at about $337 million. Anna Malmhake became chief executive in 2023, succeeding Magnus Brännström [7].