Our story

Founded by Kathleen Andersen

An inner and outer journey home to myself

I had lost myself, slowly, the way one does — in children, in marriage, in the everyday weight of holding everything together. Skincare had always been my refuge. Hours on the bathroom floor as a girl. Music playing. A door closed.

It was identity disguised as routine.

But as life grew louder, the refuge turned into a system. Fifty bottles on the shelf. Morning routine. Evening routine. Layer upon layer. Glass skin. Trends.

The questions that wouldn't go away

It started, paradoxically, with too much. Vitamin C serums, retinol, exfoliants, masks, ten-step routines — each promising more than the last. My skin grew dependent on every new layer.

At the same time I was on a quieter journey: better food for the children, for the dog, for myself. Asking why hormonal balance feels harder than it should. Why so much of what we consume in 2026 feels manufactured rather than nourishing.

"I wanted to put something on my skin that was actually good for it."

The forgotten ingredient

Through research — much of it on social media — I discovered tallow. I had never heard of it as skincare. Cleopatra used it. The Vikings used it to protect against cold. Before the 1970s, much of skincare was built around natural fats, oils and waxes.

Then the industry shifted to plant-based and synthetic formulas. The honest reason is largely economic: you can't patent what's natural. Labs and laboratories carry better margins than ancestral fats.

I tried it on myself. The change was immediate. I gave it to friends; they noticed the same thing.

The skin remembers. Tallow shares roughly half of the skin's own lipid profile. It is recognised. Incorporated. Used.

What was missing

In the US, tallow-based skincare had exploded. In Norway and Europe, almost nothing existed at premium quality. There was no clean, transparent, considered brand built on the ingredient that had once been the foundation of skincare itself.

That gap became the brief.

The idea sat with me for almost two years. Sketches in notebooks. Mockups on the kitchen table. I didn't think of myself as someone who builds a business. But the ideas wouldn't let go.

In October 2024, I decided this could become something real. In March 2025, I registered the company. Libra Luxe began.

What we're fighting for

"It's not just about tallow."

It's about cleaner skincare — clean enough to use on a child, on yourself, on the people you love. About being able to read a label and understand what you're putting on your skin.

The same shift is happening in food. We've discovered that what's fast and cheap is not always what's good. Skincare is the same conversation, one step behind.

Tallow has been used for thousands of years. What's different now is that we can pair that tradition with modern science — selecting the right complementary oils, formulating with precision — and make what worked, work better.