Shrine

Shrine is a British hair-colour brand founded in 2016 by Jenna Meek, a product developer and body painter who started the business inside a festival tent in Wales [7]. It began life under the name "The Gypsy Shrine," selling biodegradable glitter and face jewels to festivalgoers, and was renamed Shrine in 2019 [2]. The company later moved into at-home hair colour, and today sells semi-permanent dyes, toners, bleach and colour-depositing masks under the tagline "Salon-Quality at home Hair Colour & Toning."

Meek sold the brand in 2024; the buyer has not been publicly identified in available sources [7]. Shrine continues to trade under its own name, with a live direct-to-consumer store, new product launches and orders shipping into 2026.

Sources consistently name Jenna Meek as the sole founder. According to the company, Shrine was "born out of festival culture in 2016," when Meek — described on the brand's own site as a product developer and body painter — began applying biodegradable glitter paint and face jewels to festivalgoers [2]. The venture grew from that tent in Wales into an all-in-one face-jewel kit stocked by retailers including Topshop, ASOS and PrettyLittleThing.

Accounts of the brand's home base differ in emphasis rather than in fact. Shrine's about page traces its origin to Wales, while Wikipedia records that the business eventually operated from a flagship store on Carnaby Street in London [7]. The two are compatible: Wales marks the founding location and London the later operational base.

The founder should not be confused with Meek's subsequent venture. In 2020 she co-founded the make-up brand REFY with Jess Hunt; Hunt is not connected to Shrine.

Shrine launched in 2016 with glitter and face jewels, and in 2019 dropped "The Gypsy" from its name and introduced a line branded "THE GYPSY" [2]. Its early growth leaned on festival and fashion retail, with the founder later citing partnerships spanning names such as Topshop, ASOS and Bloomingdale's.

The most significant shift was a change of category. Citing environmental concerns and growing market competition, Meek moved the business away from jewels and glitter and toward temporary hair dyes [7]. That pivot reshaped Shrine into the hair-colour brand it is today, built around customisable semi-permanent colour rather than festival adornment.

Shrine was owned and led by its founder until 2024, when Meek sold the business. The available sources do not name the acquirer, and the company has continued to operate under the Shrine name since the sale.

Shrine positions itself around salon-quality hair colour done at home, paired with a self-expression and festival-rooted identity aimed at creative, do-it-yourself colour. The company frames its mission as "empowering women across the globe and motivating them to free their spirit through our unique product and original content," and describes its aesthetic as "creating looks that disrupt" [2]. Its stated values centre on creativity, community and vibrant, semi-permanent colour, supported by a loyalty programme called Community Shrine.

The brand's range is built on a handful of hair-colour formats. Its best-known product, Drop It, is a dropper of highly pigmented dye mixed into conditioner or treatment and left on for around ten minutes; Shrine markets it as "the world's first hair dye dropper," a claim echoed in salon-trade coverage but not independently verified by patent record [8]. Alongside it sit Mixed Up, a ready-to-use semi-permanent colour, and Gloss It, a range of colour-depositing hair masks.

Shrine also sells a bleach it describes as a "world first patented formula" with plex technology built into the powder to reduce breakage while lightening; the company says the formula has been tested by salon professionals on all hair types [3]. No patent number is cited in the available sources. Formulas are described as free of harsh chemicals such as ammonia and peroxide.

On ethics, the company states that all of its products are "100% vegan friendly" and that it has never tested on animals, and it markets recyclable packaging and reusable Drop It bottles [4]. No third-party certifications, such as Leaping Bunny or PETA approval, are listed in the sources reviewed.

Most third-party recognition attaches to the founder rather than the brand directly. Meek appeared in Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2022 in connection with building Shrine, and was featured on The Sunday Times beauty rich list in 2025 [7]. In salon-trade press, Salons Direct profiled Drop It approvingly and described the company as "leaders in creative cosmetics" known for "developing a number of world's first" [8].

Shrine is an acquired brand. It was sold by its founder in 2024, and the buyer has not been publicly disclosed in the available sources. It nonetheless remains active: its website is live and taking orders, it has launched new products such as the Gloss It masks, and customer reviews reference orders into January 2026. That trading activity coincides with weak customer sentiment on one review platform, where Shrine held a 1.8-out-of-5 rating across 258 reviews, with recent complaints about damaged goods, refunds and customer service that some observers link to operational strain following the 2024 sale [9].