When Kate Lillian Muir left Sydney for Athens to build a skincare brand from scratch, in a city where she barely spoke the language, winning a major Australian beauty award was probably not something she allowed herself to think about too soon. Less than a year after launching her first face care collection, it has happened anyway.
Lillian Muir’s Summer Nights Renew & Restore Cream has been named Best Luxe Night Cream at the Prevention Australia Beauty Awards 2026, judged by an independent panel including Prevention beauty editor Cecily-Anna Bennett, award-winning makeup artist Amanda Ramsay and consultant dermatologist Dr Eleni Yiasemides. Products are submitted for hands-on assessment rather than simply nominated, which makes the verdict from Bennett all the more satisfying: “Antioxidant rich and full of skin-nourishing and hydrating ingredients, this is an exquisite moisturiser that transports you with its divine fragrance and skin feel.”
The “divine” fragrance – as described by Bennet – of the cream was designed to carry the feeling of a specific kind of Mediterranean night – the heat of the day still rising from the stone, tables spilling onto the street, the air thick with salt and night blossoms. It is the kind of sensory detail that could easily tip into cliché in the wrong hands. In this cream it is anchored by serious formulation: Chios Mandarin to support collagen production and skin firmness; Rambutan, a gentle retinol alternative that softens fine lines and boosts elasticity; Sea Water and Red Algae for deep hydration; Sodium Hyaluronate for skin repair; Astaxanthin for antioxidant protection overnight; and Vitamin E to restore and nourish. The poetry and the science are doing equal work.
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“Our ambition has always been to create skincare that delivers exceptional results while making the everyday feel a little more special.”
For Muir, who developed the collection working directly with Greek chemists, formulators and farmers – at one point arriving at a Thessaloniki farm in sneakers to dive into vats of freshly picked botanicals – the recognition lands with a particular resonance. She is an Australian building a Mediterranean brand from within Athens, in a city she has visited for nearly fifteen years and now calls home, in a language she cheerfully admits remains fairly miserable. The award comes from back home in Australia. That distance, and what it means to be respected across it, is not lost on her.
“There’s something incredibly special about building an Australian-founded brand here in Athens, drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean way of life, and then having our work recognised back home in Australia,” she says. “It’s a wonderful, full circle moment for our growing brand, and for the talented people here in Greece who help bring our products to life.”
This is Lillian Muir’s second independent formulation award. The brand launched its face care collection in March this year – five products made in Athens, rooted in Mediterranean botanical ingredients and biomimetic science – and opened its concept store on Tsakalof Street in Kolonaki not long before that. To receive this level of recognition within months of both milestones suggests that what Muir has built in Athens is not simply a beautiful object but a genuinely effective one.
Prevention Australia describes its Beauty Awards as the most trusted guide to beauty in the Australian market, with products assessed by an independent panel of editors, makeup artists and dermatologists. Winning in that company, for a young independent brand still in its first year of face care, is no small feat.
The Summer Nights Renew & Restore Cream is $120 and available online at lillianmuir.com and through the Lillian Muir concept store on Tsakalof Street, Kolonaki, Athens.
Follow Lillian Muir on Instagram at @lillianmuir
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