HENNÉ Organics Review

May 5, 2020 (updated May 3, 2023) — Written by

If you are looking for the intersection of where luxury meets minimalism in clean beauty, look no further than HENNÉ ORGANICS. This is your one-stop-read for an up-close and personal HENNÉ Organics review.

HENNÉ is a small edit of makeup and skincare with a focus on simplicity. Their formulations are stacked with organics like nourishing butters, oils and beeswax. Overall, they deliver a rich, sophisticated application while maintaining a squeaky clean ingredient deck.

Lisa holding boxes of Henne Organics lip balm, luxury lip tints and lip exfoliator

HENNÉ’S Origin Story

This USA-made brand was founded by Laura Xiao in 2015 via a personal ethos to declutter and truly focus on just the essentials. 

HENNÉ means HER in Swedish and it represents the brand’s dedication to the modern woman while tipping their hat to their Swedish roots. 

Up until 2019, HENNÉ made lip products only but with the addition of their Luxury Hand Cream, they have officially branched out into a multi-modality skincare line.

Code NEWKNEW15 will save first-timers 15%!

A quick chat with Laura Xiao

Laura sitting cross-legged at a dining room table

Lisa: What is your personal favorite from HENNÉ? Why?

Laura: This is a tough one! It usually changes on an almost weekly basis. Right now, I would say it’s the hand creams because of how often I’m washing my hands every day.

Lisa: Is HENNÉ what you do full time? Or is this more of a part-time passion? 

Laura: Yup! Henné is what I do full-time. 

Lisa: How else do you spend your time?

Laura: I love working out, so in the morning I’m usually at a kickboxing class, at the gym, or going for a run outside. I love to have long coffees out (or to “fika” as we say in Swedish). And live music. As I get older, music festivals aren’t as much of my thing anymore, but I still enjoy going to a concert here and there. Lately with the self-quarantine, it’s mainly been cozy nights in with my husband and lots of home-cooked meals. We love being around each other 24/7 though (as we’re also business partners), so it’s actually been quite lovely overall. I do miss those fikas and workout classes though.

Lisa: Do you make this line yourself (like in your own studio?) Or does a manufacturer make this for you?

Laura: Everything is handmade in small batches in-house and then packed and shipped to all of our wonderful customers and retailers.

a head shot of Laura Xiao smiling and looking off into the distance

Lisa:  Why did you start a lip skincare line?

Laura: It was a combination of desperation and opportunity. My husband and I both got very dry and cracked lips from living in the desert. I’m not going to say there was no lip balm on the market that worked; all the ones I bought worked okay, not great. And they weren’t exactly the most aesthetically pleasing either. Several trials and errors later, I created a lip balm that all of our friends loved. 

Around the same time, I had also become very uninspired by the work I was doing at that time (designing back-end business and service systems). Some years before that, I had thought about launching my own line of organic products but I was in my early 20s and thought I needed to wait until I had more work/business experience and more savings. After the lip balm formula was ready in 2015, I decided to just go for it, launch the lip balm, and see what happens. That’s how Henné was born!

Lisa: What was the inspiration to add a hand cream? 

Laura: When we launched Henné, initially it was just the Luxury Lip Balm. My goal was to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary; self-care that could be experienced throughout the day; luxury in the basics. I think we’ve kind of come full circle by launching the hand creams. Hand creams are another essential that is usually not considered to be luxurious, but why shouldn’t it be? I want our customers to experience little moments of pampering every day, not just on #selfcaresunday. And just like the lips, the hands are an often neglected area but are also one of the areas that show the earliest signs of aging, so it’s never too early or late to take care of the hands. 

Lisa:  Are you planning to add more to HENNÉ or keep it a small edit it currently is?

Laura: Definitely! Due to what’s been happening lately, we are launching 2 extensions of one of our current lip care categories. However, next year we plan to be more aggressive with more new product launches, some of which will be in a new category for us. 

Lisa: Can you tell me a little bit about your packaging and anything that sets it apart?

Laura: Our packaging is luxurious, modern, and minimalist while still being very functional. We aim to use very little plastic in our packaging and mostly use glass and metal. The exception is the hand creams, which after lots of testing, we discovered plastic tubes were easier to use and more lightweight for on-the-go. However, even for the hand cream tubes, we are planning to switch over to recycled plastic (most likely ocean plastic) within the next few years. 

Some HENNÉ Organics faves

Honestly, every product is fantastic here. I’ve had the pleasure of trying everything. These are my favorites from HENNÉ Organics.

LUXURY LIP TINTS

Think of the Luxury Lip Tints as tinted lip balms rather than lipsticks. Check out this FULL ingredient list:  

Made with a base of; organic coconut oil, organic castor seed oil, organic jojoba seed oil, organic beeswax, organic avocado oil, candellia wax and vitamin E and tinted with titanium dioxide and iron oxides. THAT’S IT! 

These come in six shades. My personal fave is Intrigue and I also really love Bare which is the closest thing I have found to a truly natural nude that works with my warm skin and cool hair tones.

a selfie wearing bare a very light nude
Henné Organics Luxury Lip Tint in Bare
a selfie wearing Coral a fun pinky orange
Henné Organics Luxury Lip Tint in Coral
a selfie wearing Azalea a translucent poppy pink
Henné Organics Luxury Lip Tint in Azalea
a selfie wearing Intrigue a pretty brown red
Henné Organics Luxury Lip Tint in Intrigue
A woman wearing Henne lipstick
Henné Organics Luxury Lip Tint in Desire

Moisturizing, nourishing and beautiful. These deliver buildable color that you can wear as a wash or layered for a more rich representation. These are packaged in slim, metal twist tubes. Chic. Elegant. Simple. Effective. 

LUXURY LIP BALM V2 

The mother of all lip balms. And as a self-proclaimed lip balm connoisseur, I should know. You can see it’s one of my top picks here

a black metal tube with a clear lip balm exposed

Let me start off by saying the Luxury Lip Balm V2 is USDA Certified Organic y’all! HALLA! It’s made with 99% organic and 100% non-GMO ingredients. This formula is similar to the Luxury Lip Tint formula but with a few tweaks like the addition of organic shea butter and organic cocoa seed butter. 

This is a medium consistency lip balm with a light finish that delivers the perfect amount of moisture. Great for day, night or on-the-go. 

LIP EXFOLIATOR

What would a luxury lip line be without a great exfoliator?!  HENNÉ has several. Their Lip Exfoliator is essentially organic sugar in the same rich base of organic coconut oil, organic beeswax, organic jojoba, organic shea and organic vitamin E. 

rubbing pink sugar scrub on lips
  • Rose Diamonds Lip Exfoliator is infused with organic vanilla flavor, lingonberry and rose oil. 
  • Nordic Berries Lip Exfoliator is USDA Certified Organic and infused with organic raspberry fruit seed, organic vanilla and berry flavors and organic blueberry fruit seed. 
  • Lavender Mint Lip Exfoliator is also USDA Certified Organic and infused with organic peppermint oil and organic lavender oil.

I’ve found the best way to use this is to apply a pea-sized amount to wet lips and massage for a couple of minutes. Then rinse off with water, pat dry and apply a lip balm. All three of these formulas leave lips soft and exfoliated. I personally love Rose Diamonds.

LIP MASK

scooping a yellow colored lip mask out of a small black jar

The HENNÉ ORGANICS Lip Mask is also USDA Certified Organic. (Yeah girl!) Like a mask for your face, think of this formula as a mask for your lips! It has..

  • Organic peppermint essential oil helps to boost blood circulation in the lips which nourishes cells and keeps skin looking fresh and healthy. 
  • Sea Buckthorn Oil which is anti-inflammatory with high levels of essential fatty acids help replenish moisture and nourish the lips. Sea buckthorn also contains lots of Vitamin A and Vitamin C, which help soften the lips, giving you a smooth and supple pout.
  • Evening Primrose Oil High which has high levels of GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) in evening primrose oil helps smooth lines and helps with inflammation and redness. Evening primrose oil can also help lighten hyperpigmentation on the lips.
  • Black Cumin Seed Oil helps replenish and soften lips and can also help speed up the skin’s healing process with its high levels of antioxidants, vitamins and essential fatty acids.
a close up of a rich yellow balm in a black jar

Apply a thick layer and leave this mask on for as little or as long as you’d like. Then wipe clean and say hello to supple, soft lips. 

BLOMMA LUXURY HAND CREAM

Again HENNÉ maintains form delivering one of the cleanest hand creams on the market. Organic oils and butter emulsified with aloe leaf juice and water gift a decadent yet quick-absorbing hand cream. I love their Luxury Hand Cream for my bedside table and on the go. This formula is 82% organic and 100% non-GMO. 

applying HENNÉ Organics hand cream onto hands

Love the lightweight packaging and the screw top for added protection from leaks. Comes in two beautiful scents: 

  • BLOMA – a floral blend of twinflower, rose, and geranium.
  • CITRUS – a blend of bergamot, orange, and grapefruit. 

By Lisa Fennessy

Lisa is the founder of The New Knew. Passionate about clean beauty, organic eats and nontoxic lifestyle, Lisa writes to create awareness. Conscious consumerism and informed decisions will impact the marketplace, our health and THE WORLD!

4 Comments

  1. Reply

    Amy

    Love, love, love The New Knew and her clean hair and skin care. ❤️

    1. Reply

      Lisa

      Oh my gosh – thank you Amy! xo

  2. Reply

    Charla

    I love all the info I’ve gained from your posts. I have rosacea and some scalp psoriasis. Can you recommend products to help? Especially the rosacea. I’m a teacher and have to wear a mask many hours per day, so I’ve been trying to figure out the best skincare and simple makeup that will wear well. I’m so glad I found your blog.

    1. Reply

      Lisa

      Hi Charla! Thanks so much for reading! We get this question A LOT. Try doing a manuka honey mask a couple times a week and see if that helps!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *