The British indie cosmetics line that’s been quietly reinventing budget beauty. I Love Cosmetics built a brand on big personality and small price tags — the kind of products you stock up on without thinking twice.
What we love
The shower gels, in particular, are the standout — fruity, foamy, fragrant, and absurdly affordable. The lip glosses come in a shade range you’d expect at three times the price. The bath products turn ordinary baths into the kind you actually want to soak in.
How we use them
Layer matching scents — body wash and lotion in the same fragrance — for an all-day signature that doesn’t require a $200 perfume.
Worth a trip down the import aisle.
Who I Love Cosmetics actually is
I Love Cosmetics is a British bath, body and beauty brand that launched its first collection in 2009 and is now sold in more than thirty-five countries. The formulas are vegan and cruelty-free, and the products are made in Great Britain — which is a slightly unusual combination at this price point, and part of why the brand has held on while a lot of its early competitors have not.
The proposition has stayed consistent: fruit-and-flower fragrance, generous bottle sizes, and prices that let you buy the matching body wash and lotion without thinking about it. That is a narrower ambition than most beauty brands have, and it is why the range works.
What is worth buying
The bath and shower creams are the reason to know the brand. They foam well, the scent survives the shower rather than vanishing at the first rinse, and the bottles are large enough to be used freely rather than rationed.
The naturals and wellness lines extended the range into more grown-up scent territory — rose and argan, bergamot and seaweed, lime, ginger and cardamom, tonka bean and myrrh — which is a useful counterweight to the fruit-punch end of the original collection.
Whipped shower foams are the newer format worth trying if you find gels drying. They rinse cleaner than a cream and leave less of a scent trail, which is either the point or the problem depending on your taste.
How we use them
Layer matching scents. Body wash and body lotion in the same fragrance gives you an all-day signature that costs a fraction of a fragrance, and because the concentration is low it will not fight whatever perfume you put on afterwards.
Keep the fruit scents for summer and the naturals-line scents for the rest of the year. The tropical end of the range is genuinely lovely in July and slightly odd in January.
Frequently asked questions
Is I Love Cosmetics still available?
Yes. The brand launched in 2009, is still trading, and is sold in more than thirty-five countries through its own site and a range of stockists. It is a British-made bath and body brand with vegan, cruelty-free formulas.
Is I Love Cosmetics cruelty-free and vegan?
Yes — the brand’s formulas are vegan and cruelty-free, and the products are manufactured in Great Britain.
What is the best I Love Cosmetics product to start with?
A bath and shower cream in a scent you would happily wear all day. That is the brand’s strongest category, and it is the cheapest way to find out whether the fragrance style suits you before buying the matching lotion.
How do you make a budget body scent last?
Layer the same fragrance across two steps — shower cream and then body lotion — on skin that is still slightly damp. Low-concentration scents cling far better to moisturised skin than to dry skin.