manicare is an Australian beauty and personal-care brand best known for beauty tools, nail-care implements, cosmetic accessories, grooming products and at-home beauty devices. It has a particularly strong heritage in nail care and beauty accessories and is currently part of McPherson’s Limited, an Australian health-and-beauty company. McPherson’s describes manicare as the Australian market leader in essential beauty tools and accessories, with more than four decades of brand history. 1

McPherson’s currently identifies manicare as one of its core brands alongside Lady Jayne, Dr. LeWinn’s, Swisspers and Fusion Health. 2

Quick Facts

manicare is essentially a beauty-tools specialist rather than a traditional colour-cosmetics company. Instead of concentrating primarily on products such as foundation, lipstick or eyeshadow, the brand has historically focused on the tools people use to perform beauty and grooming routines.

Its range today covers:

• Nail clippers
• Nail files and buffers
• Nail scissors
• Cuticle tools
• Artificial nails
• Nail treatments
• Tweezers
• Cosmetic brushes
• Makeup sponges
• Facial-cleansing tools
• Skincare devices
• Body brushes and exfoliation tools
• Foot-care products
• Grooming kits
• Travel beauty accessories
• Beauty mirrors and accessories

The current Australian catalogue contains roughly 250 products across its wider assortment, while individual categories contain substantial ranges of their own. The brand’s basic proposition is straightforward: make professional-style beauty and grooming routines possible at home through affordable, easy-to-use tools.

manicare’s history goes back more than 40 years, making it considerably older than many contemporary Australian beauty-tool brands. McPherson’s describes it as having been an Australian market leader in essential beauty tools and accessories for over four decades.

Older industry material shows that manicare was already established as a significant Australian nail and hand-care brand by the early 2010s. A McPherson’s document from 2011 described manicare as a dominant brand in the nail and hand-treatment market in Australia and New Zealand, with products spanning nail treatments, artificial nails, nail colours and other beauty products. 3

By the late 2010s, the brand had broadened well beyond traditional nail implements. For example, McPherson’s reported the introduction of:

• Cosmetic brushes
• Beauty sponges
• Facial-cleansing devices
• Skincare tools
• Fashion-oriented beauty accessories
• False lashes through the Glam by Manicare sub-brand

This represented an evolution from a primarily nail-care-oriented brand into a broader beauty-tools platform.

manicare is not an independent startup brand. It belongs to McPherson’s Limited, an Australian consumer-products company with roots going back to 1860. McPherson’s has progressively shifted from its historical industrial/manufacturing origins toward a portfolio of consumer health, beauty and household brands.

Today, manicare is one of its five core brands. The broader McPherson’s portfolio includes brands such as:

• manicare
• Lady Jayne
• Dr. LeWinn’s
• Swisspers
• Fusion Health
• Revitanail
• Maseur

This gives manicare access to McPherson’s established relationships with pharmacies, grocery retailers and online retailers across Australia and other markets.

Nail Care

Nail care is arguably the historical heart of manicare. Its assortment includes:

• Nail clippers
• Nail scissors
• Nail files
• Nail buffers
• Cuticle clippers
• Cuticle pushers
• Nail shapers
• Artificial nails
• French manicure kits
• Nail-polish-removal products
• Nail treatments

The company’s current Hand & Nail category contains dozens of products, reflecting the importance of this category to the brand. This is where the manicare name has traditionally had the strongest consumer association.

Tweezers and Precision Tools

manicare also has an extensive selection of tweezers and small precision-grooming implements. Examples include:

• Slant-tip tweezers
• Point tweezers
• Flat tweezers
• Gold-tipped tweezers
• Precision grooming kits

These products fit the brand’s broader philosophy of providing inexpensive tools for tasks that might otherwise require a professional beauty service.

Cosmetic Brushes

As makeup application became increasingly important to at-home beauty routines, manicare expanded into cosmetic brushes. The range includes brushes for:

• Foundation
• Face makeup
• Eyes
• General complexion work
• Blending
• Precision application

The company has also collaborated with professional makeup artists. One notable example was Australian makeup artist Liz Kelsh, who worked with manicare on its next-generation cosmetic brush collection.

Makeup Sponges

manicare sells a variety of makeup and complexion sponges, including foundation sponges and beauty-blender-style products. Its current catalogue includes products such as the 3-in-1 Beauty Blender, Flawless Complexion Sponge and other makeup applicators. This is an important example of how the company has moved from traditional grooming implements toward the broader beauty-accessories market.

Skincare Tools

One of manicare’s more significant areas of expansion has been beauty technology and skincare tools. The company has introduced products such as:

• Facial-cleansing brushes
• Facial-cleansing devices
• Massage tools
• Derma rollers
• Facial-hair removal tools
• Pore-care devices
• Skin rollers
• Cleansing accessories

McPherson’s specifically highlighted manicare’s move into “smart beauty tools” and introduced the Sonic Mini, a rechargeable facial-cleansing brush, as part of this strategy. The current range includes more technologically oriented products such as the Salon Magnifying Pore Vacuum and Salon Thermal Sonic Cleanser. This represents an important strategic change: manicare increasingly positions itself not merely as a supplier of basic manicure implements, but as a DIY beauty-tech brand.

Body and Foot Care

manicare also has a substantial body-care category. Products include:

• Loofahs
• Body brushes
• Cleansing sponges
• Foot files
• Pumice-related tools
• Corn planes
• Nail brushes
• Exfoliation products
• Bath brushes

The company describes this category as being focused on tools for healthy-looking, soft and refreshed skin. So, despite the “mani” association in its name, modern manicare is much broader than manicure products.

One of the most important extensions of the brand is Glam by Manicare. Glam was developed as a more fashion- and trend-oriented extension, particularly aimed at younger beauty consumers. Its categories have included:

• False eyelashes
• Cosmetic brushes
• Artificial nails
• Fashion-oriented beauty accessories

McPherson’s describes Glam by Manicare as being inspired by current makeup trends, with false lashes, premium cosmetic brushes and salon-quality artificial nails. Historically, the company used influencers and fashion collaborations to make the brand more relevant to younger consumers. For example, Glam by Manicare worked with Australian influencer Pia Muehlenbeck during a 2018 campaign.

This effectively creates two related propositions:

manicare → practical everyday beauty tools

Glam by Manicare → fashion/trend-led beauty accessories

manicare’s positioning can be understood through four major ideas:

1. Accessibility: The brand is designed for ordinary consumers rather than exclusively for professional salons. A nail clipper, tweezer, facial sponge or brush can be purchased relatively easily and used at home.
2. Practicality: manicare focuses heavily on tools that solve specific beauty problems. Rather than selling beauty purely as fashion or luxury, it often approaches beauty from a functional perspective.
3. Professional-inspired results: The company increasingly uses language around salon-quality performance and professional techniques. Its recent strategy has specifically emphasized reinforcing manicare’s reputation for salon-quality performance while modernising the brand’s role in everyday self-care.
4. Value: Historically, manicare has occupied an accessible price position rather than positioning itself as an ultra-premium luxury beauty brand. That makes it particularly compatible with pharmacy and mass retail distribution.

One of manicare’s biggest competitive advantages is its retail distribution. Historically, the brand developed a particularly strong presence in Australian pharmacies. McPherson’s has also distributed manicare through grocery and other retail channels. Its current strategy increasingly incorporates e-commerce as well. McPherson’s says its core brands, including manicare, are being developed through pharmacy, grocery, and online retail.

The company has also expanded manicare internationally, particularly into New Zealand and parts of Asia. Retail information indicates that manicare products, such as cellulose sponges, are available in international markets like the United Arab Emirates. 4

manicare has historically held a particularly strong position in Australia’s beauty-tools market. McPherson’s reported that in FY2025, manicare maintained approximately 29.7% market share and continued to be Australia’s No. 1 beauty-tools and accessories brand. This is important because manicare isn’t simply a niche nail-tool brand. Within its home market, it has developed into a substantial mainstream beauty-accessories brand.

McPherson’s has also described manicare and Glam by Manicare as jointly contributing more than half of category growth in a previous financial year, demonstrating the strategic importance of these brands to the company.

A notable feature of manicare’s history is its ability to expand with changing beauty habits. The brand originally had a strong association with nails, manicures, and basic beauty implements. But its modern portfolio is closer to nails, makeup, skincare, grooming, beauty technology, and self-care.

Some examples of this evolution include sonic facial cleansing, derma rollers, facial-hair removal, massage tools, modern cosmetic brushes, beauty sponges, trend-driven artificial nails, and fashion-oriented accessories. The strategy reflects the growth of DIY beauty and at-home self-care. During the COVID-era shift toward home beauty routines, McPherson’s specifically reported that manicare and Glam by Manicare were well positioned to benefit from the DIY Beauty @ Home and self-care movement.

An important distinction is that Australian brand does not necessarily mean Australian-made. manicare is an Australian-origin brand, but its products can be manufactured internationally. For example, retail information for one manicare cellulose-sponge product identifies China as the country of origin. At the corporate level, McPherson’s has stated that manufacturing across its portfolio is outsourced to various suppliers, predominantly in Asia and Australia. So the most accurate description is: manicare is an Australian beauty brand whose products are manufactured through an international supply chain.

In recent years McPherson’s has concentrated its resources on a smaller number of core brands. manicare is one of those core brands. The company’s strategy has been to strengthen established brands rather than spread investment too thinly across its portfolio.

For manicare specifically, recent priorities include maintaining leadership in beauty tools, modernising the brand, strengthening digital engagement, developing higher-value beauty-tool categories, expanding its skincare-tool proposition, maintaining its strength in traditional categories such as tweezers and clippers, and making the brand more relevant to modern self-care. McPherson’s reported that manicare continued to show strong performance in the first half of FY2026, alongside Swisspers.

manicare is best understood as an Australian heritage beauty-tools brand that evolved from a strong nail-care foundation into a broad DIY beauty and self-care business. Its longevity is significant: the brand has operated for more than four decades and has established a particularly strong position in Australia.

Its core competitive advantage isn’t celebrity, luxury positioning or cutting-edge cosmetic formulas. Instead, it is brand familiarity + distribution + breadth of tools + affordable professional-inspired beauty solutions. The brand’s evolution from nail clippers and files into facial devices, cosmetic brushes, skincare tools and modern grooming products shows how it has adapted to the changing definition of beauty—from occasional salon treatment toward everyday, at-home self-care. Today, manicare sits within McPherson’s portfolio as one of its principal consumer brands, with Glam by Manicare providing a more fashion- and trend-led extension.

1. Manicare – MCP Corporate
2. Official Manicare website
3. MANICARE – Manicare
4. Manicare Cellulose Sponges – Spinneys United Arab Emirates