PLY Skin

PLY Skin is a Norwegian skincare brand that launched on 3 December 2024 [8]. It is co-owned by its three founders and the Nordic beauty retailer Lyko Group AB, which describes PLY as its first shared-ownership venture [8][10]. The company markets itself broadly as a Scandinavian brand, though its contact page identifies it as a Norwegian-registered company [4]; its products are made in Sweden. PLY positions itself around a single idea — caring for and strengthening the skin barrier — and describes itself as an "anti-beauty beauty brand."

The line launched with three products aimed at all skin types and, in the brand's framing, all identities, using the tagline "Skin care for all identities." As a venture founded in the mid-2020s, it belongs to a wave of gender-inclusive, barrier-focused Nordic skincare.

PLY was created by Morten Hegseth, a Norwegian journalist and broadcaster known from VGTV and TV 2, together with Jone Fjellstad and Christopher Waldekrantz [8]. According to Lyko's launch-day editorial, Fjellstad and Waldekrantz had previously spent around ten years working on the Norwegian skincare brand Elixir [9]. Development of the new venture began roughly two and a half years before the December 2024 launch, placing its origins in mid-2022 [10]. The brand's own account traces the initial idea to a holiday breakfast on Ascension Day, when the concept first took shape.

The brand did not begin under its current name. The founders first called the project "Beam," believing the word meant "ray of light," but discovered shortly before launch that many other companies already used the name and rebranded [5]. They chose PLY, which the founders derived from "apply" — in Norwegian, å påføre, the act of putting product on the skin. A trace of the original name survives in the serum Beam Drops.

PLY is jointly owned by its founders and Lyko Group AB, a Nordic beauty specialist that operated 32 physical stores across Sweden, Norway and Finland at the time of the launch [8]. Norwegian trade press described the arrangement as Lyko's first shared-ownership venture [10]. Reflecting that partnership, the brand's logistics run through Lyko infrastructure: manufacturing takes place in Sweden, near Lyko's base in Vansbro.

The company frames its approach as a reaction against conventional beauty language. PLY describes itself as an "anti-beauty beauty brand," and says its products are made to care for and strengthen the skin barrier rather than to correct, brighten or combat ageing [8]. In Lyko's editorial, co-founder Waldekrantz summed up the outlook by saying that skin "is never about being perfect" but "primarily about self-confidence" [9]. The brand states its mission as moving beauty forward with skincare that delivers glow and lasting moisture while making everyday routines simpler.

Inclusivity is central to how PLY presents itself. It lists Inclusion, Flow and Bold Curiosity among its stated values, develops products by need rather than by gender, and describes its audience as spanning "girls, boys, non-binary and whoever you choose to define yourself as." The launch carried the campaign line "Break all barriers but the skin."

The brand launched with a three-step line: Care Cream, a day cream; Clean Slate, a 200 ml cleanser with light AHA exfoliation; and Beam Drops, a glow serum. PLY describes the formulas as built around barrier-supporting and skin-conditioning ingredients — the day cream on niacinamide and panthenol, the cleanser on vitamin C, niacinamide and AHA acids, and the serum on antioxidants, vitamin B3 and hyaluronic acid. The company says all products in the initial launch are vegan and fragrance-free.

Beam Drops, presented as a portable "glow booster," is the product PLY identifies as its bestseller [6]. The brand also frames a deliberately slow release cadence as an environmental choice, saying it works toward less waste through "few, thoughtful launches."

Coverage of PLY has come chiefly from Norwegian outlets. The launch was reported by the beauty trade publication Kosmetikkmagasinet [10], and the brand's own journal notes a recommendation from Minmote, described as Norway's largest fashion website. The line is distributed through Lyko's website and physical stores as well as the brand's own site, PLYskin.com.

PLY Skin is active. It launched in December 2024, maintained a regular blog cadence into mid-2025 — its most recent visible post dates to June 2025 — and remains present on Instagram and TikTok [7]. Distribution through Lyko gives it a multi-region Nordic footprint across Sweden, Norway and Finland.