Fresh Skincare Guide: Soy, Rose, Kombucha and Black Tea

Fresh is a New York skincare brand founded in 1991 by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg and owned by LVMH since 2000. It is known for the Soy cleanser, the Rose hydration line, the Kombucha essence and the Black Tea anti-aging creams, all built around one food or botanical hero. Most Fresh face products list added fragrance or fragrant plant oils, so they suit people who enjoy a scent more than people with reactive skin.

Before you buy, you can scan the barcode or label with the ingredient scanner in Pori to check a Fresh formula against your skin type. Pori highlights ingredients such as fragrance and essential oils; it does not diagnose skin conditions.

This guide covers who owns Fresh, what is actually in its four best-known lines, where fragrance shows up, and what is worth the money. We compared published ingredient lists, brand claims and listed prices; we did not test these products on skin. Prices are Ulta Beauty list prices as of November 2026.

Who owns Fresh?

LVMH owns Fresh. The French luxury group describes Fresh as "an LVMH Maison since 2000," the same group that owns Sephora, Benefit and the Dior and Guerlain beauty lines. LVMH says Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg founded Fresh as a shop in 1991, and that the brand is based in New York and sold in more than 25 countries.

Fresh's image rests on natural, plant-based ingredients and on a few signature products. LVMH names two: Crème Ancienne, a rich cream it says is handmade in small batches in a monastery, and the Soy Face Cleanser, which it says sells one every 30 seconds worldwide. That sales figure is a brand claim.

What are Fresh's main skincare lines?

• Soy: cleansers, including the Soy Hydrating Face Cleanser and a Soy Cleansing Jelly Balm.
• Rose: hydration products, including a toner, a face cream, a lightweight moisturizer, a mist and a sleeping mask.
• Kombucha: the Kombucha Antioxidant Facial Treatment Essence.
• Black Tea: anti-aging creams, a serum, an eye cream and masks.
• Lotus and Sugar: a Lotus Youth Preserve line, a Sugar Strawberry exfoliating wash and the Sugar lip products the brand is also famous for.

Is Fresh Soy Face Cleanser good?

The Soy cleanser is a gentle face wash, and the current US label is a short, mild formula. Ulta now lists it as the Soy Hydrating Face Cleanser, at $39 for 5.0 oz. Its cleansing agent is coco-glucoside, a mild sugar-based surfactant, followed by butylene glycol, glycerin and propanediol. It adds cornflower water, cucumber extract, sunflower seed oil, borage seed oil, hydrolyzed soy protein, rose extracts, aloe and ginseng.

The current list does not name "parfum," but it does include Rosa damascena flower oil, the essential oil of the damask rose, which carries a scent. On paper this is a mild everyday wash for most skin types. If you react to essential oils, it is worth a patch test. At $39 it costs about twice as much as many drugstore gentle cleansers with similar surfactants; see types of face cleansers for comparisons.

The Sugar Strawberry Exfoliating Face Wash ($39 for 4.2 oz) is the other Fresh cleanser people ask about. It is a glycerin and sugar base with strawberry juice, corn starch and quillaja bark extract, plus a small amount of ascorbic acid. It lists parfum, limonene, citral and linalool, so it is a scented product. Sugar grains give a physical scrub; our guide to physical vs chemical exfoliants explains when that helps.

What is in the Fresh Rose line?

The Rose line is about hydration. The two best-known products are the toner and the cream.

Neither product lists "parfum," but both get a rose scent from rose flower oil, and citronellol and geraniol are fragrance allergens that the EU requires labels to name. The formulas themselves are simple humectant and emollient blends. The hyaluronic acid is a useful hydrator, and it appears in many cheaper toners too. Our guide to what toner does explains whether you need this step at all.

What does Fresh Kombucha essence do?

The Kombucha Antioxidant Facial Treatment Essence ($85 for 5.0 oz) is a watery first step after cleansing. Its second ingredient is Saccharomyces/xylinum/black tea ferment, which is fermented tea made with yeast and bacteria, the same idea as the drink. The rest of the list is mainly humectants (glycerin, polyglycerin-3, diglycerin), with kigelia fruit extract, artemisia flower extract, vitamin E, sodium hyaluronate and adenosine. It lists parfum, rose flower oil, linalool, citronellol and geraniol.

Fermented tea contains antioxidant compounds, and tea extracts have some evidence for calming and antioxidant effects in skin. We found no independent study of this finished product. If you like layering, it is a pleasant hydrating step. If you are trimming your routine, a basic hydrating serum does the same core job. See serum vs moisturizer vs essence.

Is Fresh Black Tea cream worth it?

Black Tea is Fresh's anti-aging line, and it is the most expensive part of the range covered here. Two creams lead it.

• Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Cream ($95 for 1.6 oz): glycerin, coconut-derived emollients, squalane and jojoba esters, with green tea leaf extract, rambutan leaf extract, ceramide NP and adenosine. It lists parfum, linalool, citronellol and geraniol.
• Black Tea Firming Corset Cream ($95 for 1.6 oz): a richer base with black tea ferment, galangal, goji, blackberry leaf and lychee seed extracts, acetyl dipeptide-1 cetyl ester and sodium hyaluronate. It also lists parfum and linalool.

Both are well-built moisturizers. Neither contains a retinoid, vitamin C at a meaningful level or sunscreen, which are the ingredients with the strongest evidence for visible aging. Paying $95 buys the texture, the botanicals and the scent. If wrinkles are your priority, pair any good moisturizer with retinol at night and SPF in the morning, and compare more options in our moisturizers catalogue.

Does Fresh skincare have fragrance?

Yes, in most of the face products we checked. Here is what each label on Ulta shows.

• Lists parfum (fragrance): Sugar Strawberry Exfoliating Face Wash, Kombucha essence, Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Cream, Black Tea Firming Corset Cream and Soy Cleansing Jelly Balm. The balm also lists bergamot and lemon peel oils.
• No parfum, but a fragrant plant oil: Soy Hydrating Face Cleanser, Rose toner and Rose Deep Hydration Face Cream all contain rose flower oil, and the Rose products also list citronellol and geraniol.

Fragrance and essential oils are among the more common causes of contact allergy from cosmetics, and the risk grows with repeated use. Many people use scented products with no trouble. If you have eczema, rosacea or skin that stings easily, look for products labeled fragrance-free and read our guides to fragrance and essential oils and sensitive skin triggers.

Is Fresh worth the price?

Fresh makes pleasant, sensorial products with short ingredient lists and a consistent botanical story. What you pay for is mostly experience: scent, texture and packaging. The actives that move the needle on acne, dark spots and wrinkles are mostly absent from the lines covered here.

• Worth it if: you have normal, resilient skin, you enjoy rose or tea scents, and a product you love using keeps you consistent.
• Skip it if: your skin is sensitive, or you want measurable results per dollar. A fragrance-free drugstore cleanser and moisturizer from our CeraVe guide or La Roche-Posay guide cost far less.
• Best pick: the Soy cleanser. It uses a mild surfactant, it lists no parfum, and a 5.0 oz tube lasts a while.

How do I build a simple Fresh routine?

You do not need a whole line. Pick one Fresh product you enjoy and fill the rest with plain basics.

1. Cleanse: the Soy cleanser morning and night. If you wear long-wear makeup or water-resistant sunscreen, remove it first with a cleansing balm or oil; see how to double cleanse.
2. Hydrate: the Rose toner or Kombucha essence if you like a watery layer. Skip this step if your budget is tight.
3. Moisturize: the Rose cream for normal to dry skin, or any fragrance-free moisturizer if your skin is reactive.
4. Protect: a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher every morning. The Fresh products covered here do not include sunscreen.

Introduce one new product every week or two so you can tell what your skin likes. Our guide to introducing new products and our patch test guide walk through it.

For other prestige brands read the same way, see our Shiseido, Tula, Kiehl's and Clinique guides, or browse our cleansers and toners catalogue.