# Urban Cosmetics ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2011 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Berlin | | Owner | K&F Ventures UG | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Berlin-Kreuzberg, Germany (Lausitzer Platz 11) | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://www.ucberlin.com/ | Urban Cosmetics, which trades as Urban Cosmetics Berlin and as UC Berlin, is a German natural-cosmetics maker based in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. It makes skin, hair, body and bath products by hand in small batches and sells them through its own store, its online shop and a handful of other stockists. The company dates its start to 2011 [4], although one Berlin magazine places the founders' original idea in 2016 [11]. The brand is built around short ingredient lists, a three-step facial routine and violet-glass bottles that customers can return for reuse. It is operated by the Berlin company K&F Ventures UG [5] and was still publishing and selling at the end of 2025. ## Origin & founders Urban Cosmetics began as a two-person project. According to a 2019 profile in the Berlin city magazine QIEZ, the founders, a former aromatherapist and a phytotherapist (a practitioner of herbal medicine), had been working on their formulas since 2011. They developed them partly in their own kitchen and adjusted them using feedback from customers [10]. By the autumn of 2019, the same article says, the pair had been running their own shop in Kreuzberg for three years. The company's account of its early years is brief. Its website says it has produced its natural cosmetics fresh and in small batches in its Kreuzberg manufactory since 2011, and the copyright line on the site also starts in that year. A company profile on the trade platform FashionUnited gives the same founding year [12]. A feature in the Berlin lifestyle magazine CEE CEE tells it differently. It describes local production of natural cosmetics as the founders' "lightbulb moment in 2016" [11]. The two dates have not been reconciled publicly. QIEZ's timeline would put the opening of the Kreuzberg shop at around 2016, but whether the later date refers to the shop has not been clarified. The company's legal notice names Fabian Thiele as its managing director (Geschäftsführer). ## History & milestones For several years the shop and the workshop shared one address, Lausitzer Platz 11 in Kreuzberg. Press coverage from that period describes a store with weekday and Saturday opening hours, where the products were made and filled on site. CEE CEE also reported that the shop stocked special-edition baseball caps by the street artist Neisscaps, part of a wider link to Berlin's art scene. The founders summed up that link with the motto "In editions we grow, in artists we invest!" The company's blog, which begins in 2019, traces a business that stayed close to its neighbourhood. Early posts deal with mineral oils in skincare, why the company avoids them, and a small urban-farming experiment in which the team sowed wheatgrass with the aim of using fresh-grown ingredients. In September 2020 the store began carrying handmade perfumes by an outside maker, Frau Tonis Parfum. In October 2021 the brand announced a stockist in Hamburg: its oil foam baths and coconut-milk salt baths went on sale at Mimulus Naturkosmetik, a natural-cosmetics shop [6]. In April 2022 it added a range of essential oils. In March 2022 Urban Cosmetics joined other German cosmetics companies in marking Equal Pay Day. For two days it cut prices by 19 per cent, the size of the German gender pay gap cited in its post, and donated the amount customers saved to the Toni Garrn Foundation, which supports education projects for girls and young women [8]. At some point the retail store moved. The company now lists its shop on the second floor of the East Side Mall on Tamara-Danz-Straße in Berlin, alongside the make-up company Kryolan and the Hasso von Hugo Makeup Artist School. Lausitzer Platz 11 remains its production and shipping site [3]. The year of the move has not been made public. ## Ownership Urban Cosmetics Berlin is a brand of K&F Ventures UG (haftungsbeschränkt), a limited-liability company registered with the local court of Berlin-Charlottenburg [5]. No acquisitions, outside investors or larger corporate parent have been reported, and no sister brands are known. ## Philosophy & positioning The company sums up its approach in a formula: "90% Nature + 10% Urban Cosmetics Berlin = Holistic natural cosmetics" [3]. It explains the small share it claims for itself by saying that plants already carry a large supply of active ingredients and vitamins, and that its role is to turn them into recipes for skin and hair care. It says it does this without "unsettling advertising promises". Simplicity is the central idea. According to Urban Cosmetics, only what is written on the front of a bottle is inside it. QIEZ reported in 2019 that the products contained no more than four ingredients each, and that the company did not make creams at all. The founders told the magazine that creams need too many ingredients and emulsifiers to bind water and oil together [10]. Instead the range is built on oils and hydrolates, the plant waters left after distilling plants, which users layer themselves in amounts that suit their skin. The brand presents itself as urban as well as natural. Its website speaks of urban gardening and of producing natural cosmetics in the city "sustainably and in a fair way with nature and people". CEE CEE framed it as unisex skincare for city dwellers, and QIEZ also described the range as unisex. Its FashionUnited profile says the oils and plant waters come mainly from plants native to Central Europe, grown under controlled organic cultivation. Urban Cosmetics describes its products as entirely vegan and free of synthetic additives, mineral oils and preservatives. Its product pages also carry the labels organic, handmade, cruelty-free, paraben-free and silicone-free. These are the company's own claims; no third-party certification is documented. ## Products & innovation The best-known products form a three-step facial routine, which the company describes as one of the most popular items among its customers. UC1 Fine Cleansing Water is a cleanser made from organic hydrolates and silver. UC2 Fresh Face Serum combines hyaluronic acid with organic aloe vera and silver. UC3 Gentle Face Oil is based on organic raspberry seed oil. The serum and the oil are sold separately, so users can change the balance between them by season or time of day. Silver runs through the facial range. QIEZ described the brand's silver water as disinfecting, and in December 2025 the company published a blog post on the use of silver in cosmetics. It covered micro-silver, colloidal silver and nano-silver, and how the European Union regulates them. Beyond the face, the range covers bath, hair and fragrance. Three oil foam baths, Bewitch, Breathe and Ease, sit alongside coconut-milk bath salts, which CEE CEE described as blended with rosemary and rose petals. For the scalp and hair the company sells Berliner Haarwasser, a hair tonic, together with single oils such as organic jojoba and avocado and a bay laurel plant water. Essential oils have been part of the range since 2022. ## Sustainability The packaging is a large part of the brand's identity. Products are filled into violet-glass bottles, which QIEZ said are used to protect the contents from light. The company also says the glass helps the products keep longer. Every bottle carries a €1 deposit that customers can redeem in the store. A press release issued by the company through FashionUnited says this deposit system has existed since the brand began [13]. Customers who are not near the store can post their empties back. The company accepts glass bottles of 30 ml and above once a customer has at least ten, sends a free return label, and issues a €5 voucher when the bottles arrive [9]. It says the ten-bottle minimum is what makes the return trip environmentally worthwhile. Urban Cosmetics also says it uses as little plastic as possible, avoids outer packaging, and buys organic and fair-trade raw materials from small producers. ## Recognition Coverage has come mainly from Berlin city media. In October 2019 QIEZ included Urban Cosmetics in a list of the top five natural-cosmetics brands in Berlin. CEE CEE ran a longer feature on the brand, its products and its art collaborations. No industry awards have been reported. ## Current status Urban Cosmetics is active. Its most recent blog post, on silver in cosmetics, appeared on 27 December 2025 [6]. Its website shows current products and a copyright line running to 2026. The brand is sold mainly through its own Berlin store and online shop, with a few third-party stockists, and its FashionUnited profile invites wholesale enquiries. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2011 | Brand states it has produced its natural cosmetics fresh in small batches in its Berlin-Kreuzberg manufactory since 2011. | https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ | | 2021 | Oil foam baths and coconut-milk salt baths became available at Mimulus Naturkosmetik in Hamburg (blog post, 21 Oct 2021). | https://www.ucberlin.com/category/blog-2/ | | 2022 | Equal Pay Day 2022: joined other German cosmetics companies, offering 19% off for two days (#EPD22) with savings donated to the Toni Garrn Foundation (blog post, 16 Mar 2022). | https://www.ucberlin.com/equal-pay-day-toni-garrn-foundation/ | | 2022 | Essential oils added to the range (blog post 'Ätherische Öle – neu in unserem Sortiment', 13 Apr 2022). | https://www.ucberlin.com/category/blog-2/ | | — | By October 2019 the founders had run their own shop in Kreuzberg for three years (QIEZ); earlier press lists the shop at Lausitzer Platz 11. | https://www.qiez.de/naturkosmetik-vegan-tagespflege/ | | — | Current site lists the retail store on the 2nd floor of the East Side Mall (Tamara-Danz-Straße 11, 10243 Berlin) alongside Kryolan and the Hasso von Hugo Makeup Artist School, with Lausitzer Platz 11 (Kreuzberg) listed as production and shipping. | https://www.ucberlin.com/en/about-urban-cosmetics-berlin/ | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **UC1 Fine Cleansing Water** — UC1 Fine Cleansing Water – cleanser from organic hydrolates and silver — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ - **UC2 Fresh Face Serum** — UC2 Fresh Face Serum – Hyaluronic serum with organic aloe vera and silver — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ - **UC3 Gentle Face Oil** — UC3 Gentle Face Oil – finest organic facial oil from raspberry seeds \| 50ml — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ - **Facial care series (UC1–UC3, 3-step set)** — One of the most popular products among our customers is the [facial care series](https://www.ucberlin.com/en/gesichts-und-koerperpflege/). It combines cleansing, moisturizing and oiling in a 3-step care phase. — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/about-urban-cosmetics-berlin/ - **Berliner Haarwasser** — **Berliner Haarwasser** - 19,90 € – 29,90 € — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ - **Oil foam baths (Bewitch, Breathe, Ease)** — **Bewitch Oil Foam Bath** - 34,90 € – 48,90 € — https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} organic hydrolates (plant waters) · silver · hyaluronic acid · organic aloe vera · raspberry seed oil · jojoba oil · avocado oil Source: https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **QIEZ (Berlin city magazine)** (2019) — Listed in 'Top 5: Naturkosmetik in Berlin' by Julia Stürzl (29 Oct 2019); describes vegan, fair-trade, unisex organic cosmetics with at most four ingredients and no creams. — https://www.qiez.de/naturkosmetik-vegan-tagespflege/ - **CEE CEE Berlin** — Feature 'Urban Cosmetics Berlin — Natural Unisex Skincare for True Urbanites' by Lisa Strube (date not shown); mentions bath salts, the three-step facial set and a street-art collaboration with Neisscaps. — https://ceecee.cc/en/urban-cosmetics-berlin-unisex-naturkosmetik-fur-grossstadter/ ## Sources 3. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/en/about-urban-cosmetics-berlin/ 4. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/en/ 5. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/impressum/ 6. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/category/blog-2/ 8. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/equal-pay-day-toni-garrn-foundation/ 9. (T2) https://www.ucberlin.com/flaschenrueckgabe/ 10. (T3) https://www.qiez.de/naturkosmetik-vegan-tagespflege/ 11. (T3) https://ceecee.cc/en/urban-cosmetics-berlin-unisex-naturkosmetik-fur-grossstadter/ 12. (T4) https://fashionunited.com/companies/urban-cosmetics-berlin 13. (T4) https://fashionunited.com/press/fashion/urban-cosmetics-berlin/2021110143295 --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-01 Please cite with a link to the article URL.