There's a certain level of childish excitement that comes with ordering skincare online. You eagerly track it from depot to depot across the country and anticipate the moment the doorbell should ring. But when you get a notification saying "you've missed your package", despite sitting by the door (true story), it all becomes a bit lacklustre. Typology, the French skincare brand setting its sights on the UK, cuts through the fuss. There's even greater satisfaction as the box surreptitiously slips through the letterbox and you chance upon it sitting prettily on the doormat, like a stranger waiting to be greeted. Typology's aim is as minimal and effective as it's packaging: to put knowledge back into consumers' hands and to strip back formulas to only the necessary high-quality ingredients. One peruse of the website arms you with easy to follow guidance on formulations, allowing you to prescribe for your own skin typology. 

We spoke to founder Ning Li (whom you may know as the CEO of made.com) on launching Typology in the UK today and why it needs to be added to your next skincare cart. 

What was your motivation behind making Typology as transparent as possible?
I'm a fairly skeptical person by nature, but this was strongly exacerbated when my daughter was born. When buying her skin care products I paid particular attention to the ingredients in the products. Like many people I did research on the internet and like many people, I became concerned about the impact of certain ingredients on both the skin and the planet.

That's when I started to decipher the world of cosmetics. I have always been amazed by those giant commercials where you see a pretty 20 year old girl praising the benefits of an anti-wrinkle cream. I wondered if I was the only one who didn't believe in this kind of marketing.

So I decided to create a brand that I would be willing to buy for myself and my loved ones. Being an outsider, I surrounded myself with experts in the field who wanted to shake things up a little bit.

Were there any challenges in paring back the formulations and ingredients?
The difficulty was in designing a formula that was as minimalist and healthy as possible. As a general rule, cosmetic products contain between 20 and 30 ingredients. In these formulas most of them are present only for sensoriality (texture, smell, colour) and have no benefits for the skin or are sometimes controversial. At Typology, we have established a blacklist of ingredients that we consider harmful or for which we do not have enough experience to calculate the effect on humans or the planet. Our minimalist approach imposes formulations without the unnecessary ingredients. 

What are 3 products people new to Typology should look out for?
Our 9-ingredient moisturiser from the TEN range, it is the very DNA of Typology. Nothing unneeded with natural ingredients that are only necessary for the function of the product.

Our entire LAB range which are highly concentrated serums for a specific problem, and our new range of botanical PLANT blends. We are really proud of these new products.



Why did you decide to go completely digital?
For several reasons. The first being that it's what I know best, Typology is my third digital company.

The second reason is that creating a 100% digital brand is a great advantage. Having no intermediary with the consumer, we can apply fair prices. This would not be the case if we went through distributors. Being 100% digital also means that we have direct and privileged contact with our customers. We are able to listen to them and we can exchange with them.

We love that the packaging fits through the mailbox - could you tell us more about Typology’s sustainability efforts?
Typology is a company with a mission. We want to have a positive impact on the environment and human health. We have designed our packaging to be as slim as possible in order to reduce the carbon footprint.

We prioritise glass, recycled and recyclable plastic and aluminium as much as possible. We are currently looking for an alternative solution to plastic. Being committed is in the DNA of the brand, it is with this approach in mind that we obtained our Pending B-Corp status.

What are you most excited about ahead of the UK launch? 
I'm committed to this market and I'm particularly excited about coming back to the UK, after creating and building Made.com from Notting Hill and having lived in the UK for the 8 best years of my life. I am looking forward to seeing the customer reception of my new project.




Like receiving an unexpected handwritten letter, Typology – with the help of it's aesthetic typewriter-like font – brings a sense of nostalgia for something familiar yet refreshingly new. 

Launching in the UK today, shop Typology here


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