From Sydney to Paris, S-Quive magazine explores the rise of A-Beauty through Subtle Energies: a vision of luxury where powerful Australian botanicals, holistic wellbeing and innovation come together. Scroll down for the English translation, or read the original in French here
Published on August 12, 2026
The Editorial Team, S-Quive magazine
From Sydney to Paris, family-owned Subtle Energies embodies the rise of A-Beauty while taking its hero products a step further with fully biodegradable packaging. A portrait of a brand bringing together Australian botanicals, holistic wellbeing and material innovation.
© Subtle Energies
Australia, Beauty’s New Land of Influence
Following Korean K-Beauty, Australia is now emerging as a leading territory in the world of skincare and wellbeing. This movement, now known as A-Beauty (Australian Beauty), goes far beyond a passing trend: it represents a genuine philosophy of care, built around skin protection, natural formulations, powerful botanicals and a strong focus on wellbeing.
Tea tree remains its most iconic ambassador. Distilled from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia, its essential oil can now be found in countless skincare products around the world, with approximately 90% of Australian production exported to North America and Europe.
Alongside it, other ingredients have won over formulators internationally: various species of eucalyptus, lemon myrtle with its intensely citrusy scent, Australian sandalwood, macadamia oil, Kakadu plum and finger lime.
Several brands have already brought this Australian influence to the international stage, each in their own way: Aesop with its understated luxury, KEVIN.MURPHY in haircare, Ultra Violette with its new approach to sun protection, and Lanolips, inspired by an iconic ingredient from Australia’s heritage.
But A-Beauty cannot simply be reduced to a catalogue of native plants. It also tells the story of a multicultural country, open to the world and able to bring together different traditions of care. It is precisely at this intersection that Subtle Energies establishes its unique identity.
Subtle Energies, the Holistic and Multicultural Expression of A-Beauty
Founded in Sydney in 1993 by Farida Irani, an Ayurvedic practitioner and clinical aromatherapist, Subtle Energies was born from a natural therapies clinic dedicated to complex health concerns.
During her travels throughout India and Australia in the early 1990s, Farida Irani discovered rare essential oils that were, at the time, largely unknown to Western aromatherapy. Working alongside artisan distillers and studying their clinical properties, she developed a pioneering method: Ayurveda Aromatherapy, in which each oil is selected not only for its effects on the skin and body, but also for its ability to support emotional and sensory balance.
Mogra, Kakadu plum, sandalwood, neem and ruh khus are combined with contemporary cosmetic actives in formulations designed to work both on the appearance of the skin and on overall wellbeing.
All of the brand’s products are made in Australia, drawing on more than thirty years of research and clinical practice, and meet European standards for natural cosmetics: Cruelty Free International certification, with formulas free from artificial fragrances, parabens, mineral oils and silicones.
Subtle Energies’ Australian identity therefore goes beyond the use of native botanicals. It is expressed through an open, multicultural and nature-connected approach to wellbeing, embracing beauty from both within and without. It is a vision the brand recently celebrated in Paris through its partnership with the Bastille Day celebrations at the Australian Embassy, symbolising the special relationship between France and Australia.
Vivomer: The Move Towards Fully Biodegradable Packaging
This commitment now extends to the very materiality of the products themselves.
Subtle Energies has recently redesigned its iconic Double Creams, Night Queen Double Body Creamand Divine Passion Double Body Cream, replacing their glass jars with a new material developed with Shellworks, a company specialising in sustainable packaging innovation: Vivomer.
This plant-based biopolymer, produced by naturally occurring microorganisms fed on plant waste, is completely free from petroleum-based plastic and generates no microplastics.
Above all, it offers something that few sustainable materials have managed to achieve: an elegant and durable finish that meets the standards of luxury, while remaining stable when exposed to water and heat, an essential quality for preserving the botanical actives within the formulas.
At the end of its life, microorganisms recognise Vivomer as a food source and break it down completely. Certified home-compostable by TÜV Austria and compliant with the ASTM D5511 standard for landfill biodegradation, Vivomer decomposes withinone to five years, without requiring industrial composting facilities and without leaving any petrochemical residue.
This new chapter is part of a journey that began in 2022, when Subtle Energies, in the midst of a brand redesign that would enable it to eliminate 80% of the plastic from its range by 2023, first encountered Shellworks, which was then in the early stages of developing its material.
“What brought us together was not a marketing promise, but a shared ambition: to do things with integrity and exacting standards,” explains Nick Irani, CEO of Subtle Energies, who also highlights the difficulty of finding an alternative that is truly biodegradable and accessible without the need for industrial composting infrastructure.
With this new chapter, the two Double Creams now come in a streamlined90g format and have also eliminated their plastic lids, making the entire packaging fully biodegradable.
It is a first step that the brand intends to take further: as Shellworks continues to develop its technology, Subtle Energies plans to extend this commitment to other products across its collection.
The new Double Body Creams collection is available in a 90g format on Subtle Energies’ website, as well as through a selection of luxury spa partners worldwide.
Originally published in French by S-Quive magazine, translated into English.
