A Toronto-based natural skincare brand known for 100% natural, clinically-driven formulas — most famously the award-winning HydrExtreme hydration booster.

The story behind Consonant Read the full story

A stubborn refusal sat at the center of this Canadian line's identity: it would not add scent to its bottles, even though fragrance is one of the cheapest, most reliable ways to make a product feel luxurious and sell. That decision, treating unscented as a principle rather than a niche, framed the whole project of dragging genuinely natural skincare out of the health-food-store ghetto and onto mainstream beauty counters where it could be judged on performance instead of virtue. The catalog stayed deliberately compact, roughly three dozen SKUs spanning a wide affordability range, from low-cost daily basics to premium serums, so the lineup read as a curated edit rather than an endless wall. What turned it from cult favorite into a real retail presence was bricks and mortar: the brand opened a string of Toronto storefronts through the 2010s, starting in the Yonge and Eglinton area, adding a location on the underground PATH concourse in the financial district, and culminating in an intimate flagship on the fashionable West Queen West strip with a dedicated counter for its award-winning hydration booster. Those stores let shoppers touch, smell the absence of fragrance, and feel the textures firsthand, an advantage purely digital naturals brands rarely matched. The ending is as instructive as the beginning. Facing a punishing post-pandemic retail climate and squeezing pressure from wholesale partners, the founder chose to wind the business down rather than limp along or sell out the ethos, announcing the closure openly and shutting the doors at the close of 2024 after a long run. Industry observers singled it out as a rare example of a brand closing with transparency and grace, paying out and communicating honestly rather than vanishing. The formulas now live on only as a legacy catalog.

Sources:[1][2][3][4]

Founded
2010
Origin
Canada
Heritage
Established
Type
Indie
Verdicts
0 Strong choice · 3 Good choice of 5 assessed
5 products reviewed

All Consonant Products

Good choice dullness
No.1
Consonant Maximum Glycolic Meta Serum dropper bottle, a fragrance-free 10% multi-acid resurfacing serum with niacinamide Potent Multi-Acid Resurfacer
Consonant exfoliant

Maximum Glycolic Meta Serum

Consonant's Maximum Glycolic Meta Serum is the brand's potent outlier: a serious 10% glycolic acid stacked with a lactic-malic-citric-salicylic blend, buffered by niacinamide and soothing botanicals, and — refreshingly for Consonant — fragrance-free. It genuinely resurfaces, brightening tone and smoothing texture. The flip side of that potency is real irritation risk, so it's strictly for resilient skin used with discipline.

Key Glycolic Acid · Salicylic Acid

normalcombination Fragrance Free
4.4 (900)
$40.00 $39.43/fl oz
Good choice dryness
No.2
Consonant Ultra Moisturizing Organic Face Cream, a rich Canadian natural cream with organic plant oils and niacinamide for dry skin Organic Oil Cream for Dry Skin
Consonant moisturizer

Ultra Moisturizing Organic Face Cream

Consonant's Ultra Moisturizing Organic Face Cream is a genuinely rich, barrier-replenishing treat for dry skin: a deep blend of organic shea, argan, avocado, and omega-rich oils on a humectant base, with niacinamide for real substance. Its signature natural enzyme preservation is a clean-formulation flex with trade-offs — shorter shelf life, not vegan — and the tea tree and comedogenic oils keep it from suiting oily or sensitive skin.

Key Avocado Oil · Glycerin

drynormal
4.4 (800)
$40.00 $23.66/fl oz
Good choice dehydration
No.3
Consonant HydrExtreme Hydrating Serum dropper bottle, a two-ingredient hydration booster with cassia seed polysaccharide and glycerin Two-Ingredient Hydration Booster
Consonant serum

HydrExtreme Hydrating Serum

Consonant's HydrExtreme is radical minimalism that works: just cassia seed polysaccharide and glycerin, two humectants that plump and hydrate any skin type with virtually zero irritation risk. It's a near-foolproof, mixable hydration booster and an award-winning cult favorite. The catch is paying a premium price for, essentially, two ingredients — and remembering it's a booster, not a moisturizer.

Key Hyaluronic Acid · Glycerin

drynormal Fragrance Free
4.5 (2.0k)
$50.00 $49.29/fl oz
Supporting role excess oiliness
No.4
Consonant Natural Foaming Face Wash pump bottle, a sulfate-free gentle cleanser with niacinamide, tamanu oil, and botanicals Gentle Natural Foaming Cleanser
Consonant cleanser

Natural Foaming Face Wash

Consonant's Natural Foaming Face Wash is a genuinely gentle, sulfate-free everyday cleanser that slips niacinamide and a soothing dose of tamanu oil into a soft, non-stripping foam. It cleans without leaving skin tight, suits most skin types, and is vegan and naturally preserved. The light tea tree and citrus extracts are the only real caveat for the most reactive skin.

Key Cocamidopropyl Betaine · Niacinamide

normalcombination
4.4 (700)
$26.00 $6.15/fl oz
Not yet assessed dullness
No.5
Consonant DHE Mask, a Canadian three-in-one detoxify-hydrate-exfoliate mask with Manicouagan clay, plant oils, and fruit acids Three-in-One Detox Mask
Consonant mask

DHE Mask

Consonant's DHE Mask is a genuinely clever three-in-one — it detoxifies with clay, hydrates with oils, and exfoliates with fruit acids, all without the tight, cracking dryness a pure clay mask causes. The hero Manicouagan clay, from a Quebec asteroid crater, is a one-of-a-kind touch. The catch is a heavy load of tea tree, eucalyptus, and citrus oils that makes 'natural' a real liability for sensitive skin.

Key Kaolin · Enzymes

normalcombination
4.4 (1.2k)
$38.00 $14.98/fl oz

More about Consonant

Founded in 2010 by Bill (William) Baker in Toronto after his own struggles with dry skin and eczema, Consonant Skin+Care was an independent Canadian brand emphasizing natural formulations and fragrance-free products.

Its hero hydration booster, HydrExtreme, won a Canadian Beauty Innovation Award. After 16 years in business, the company closed at the end of 2024, so its catalog is effectively legacy; credibility rested on brand-led testing and natural-ingredient positioning rather than extensive independent clinical research.