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Our Story
How Luyana began · And where it is going
Two sisters.
One conviction.
A brand built to honour it.
Long before skincare became an industry, beauty rituals were being passed from one generation to the next. We grew up with stories of baobab, marula, shea, and the botanicals our mother learned from her mother, our grandmother. These ingredients were never trends or discoveries. They were part of a living tradition — trusted for centuries, shared through generations, and woven into everyday rituals of care.
"Africa is home to some of the world's most remarkable botanicals — ingredients prized for generations not because they were fashionable, but because they became indispensable. "Mari-Anne & Melinda — Founders, Luyana Skincare
01
The beginning
It started with a conviction we could not set aside.
Luyana was founded by two sisters — Mari-Anne and Melinda — in Copenhagen. We grew up between two worlds: the African continent, where our family roots run deep, and Scandinavia, where we built our professional lives. Both shaped us. Neither alone explains what Luyana became.
The rarity, beauty, and enduring efficacy of African botanicals inspired the creation of Luyana. A return to heritage. A celebration of botanical wisdom.
A modern ritual rooted in generations of knowledge.
02
The name
Luyana is a people, not a word.
Luyana is the ancestral name of the Lozi people of western Zambia. Luyana is the ancestral language of the Luyana people of Barotseland – a region of extraordinary natural abundance along the upper Zambezi river, where the botanicals that now define our formulations have been understood and used for generations.
Luyana is our family heritage.
We chose the name not as a marketing decision but as a declaration of origin – one that honours our matriarchal line. Every bottle that carries it is a statement about where the knowledge inside came from and who it belongs to.
03
Made in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen
Made in Copenhagen.
Rooted in Africa.
We formulate in Copenhagen — a city whose design culture values precision, restraint, and the honest use of materials. These are values that align naturally with our African botanical heritage, which has always understood that the most effective skincare is also the simplest.
Copenhagen is where the formulations are developed, tested, and hand-packed. Africa is where the ingredients are grown, harvested, and pressed. The distance between these two places is bridged by relationships we have built with care over time — with collectives, with women-owned businesses, and with the communities that make Luyana possible.
The brand lives in both places. It would not exist without either.
04
Quiet validation,
Recognition
Quiet validation,
in the right places.
In 2024, our Ancestral Glow Cleanser won a European Natural Beauty Award. In 2025, Sanctum Mama Oil and Sacred Beginnings Baby Oil were both recognised in the same programme. This summer, Luyana was featured in Tatler's Glow Guide.
These recognitions matter to us not as symbols of status, but as quiet validation of a philosophy we have believed in from the beginning: that ancestral botanical knowledge, when treated with care and respect, remains profoundly relevant today.
We do not pursue press. We pursue quality. The rest has followed.
Continue the story
See the beliefs behind every decision we make.
The philosophy that shapes how we source, formulate, and communicate — in our own words.
Our philosophy