Uni sent me two of its best-known body products to try: the 24-Hour Body Serum and the Plush Marine Shower Oil. I had seen the brand online before, but using the products made the positioning much clearer. Uni is not just selling body wash and lotion in nice packaging. It is part of a larger shift in beauty: the idea that body care deserves the same attention, ingredients, texture, and design language we already expect from facial skincare. After spending time with both, I wanted to look not only at how they perform, but at what Uni is building as a brand.
The brand was founded by Alexandra Keating, an Australian-born tech entrepreneur and the daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. She launched Uni in 2022 with a refillable body care system and a clear sense of category timing: body care was becoming more serious, more ingredient-led, and more design-conscious.
Uni is also a venture-backed company, which is important to understand. It is not a tiny kitchen-table beauty brand. The company launched with a reported $4 million seed round led by SoundWaves, the impact vehicle associated with Guy Oseary and Ashton Kutcher, and later secured additional investment from L’Oréal’s venture capital arm BOLD, Break Trail Ventures, Milk Makeup founder Mazdack Rassi, and model Adwoa Aboah. Keating clearly has access to a powerful network, but she also has a history of building companies before Uni. That combination explains a lot about the brand: it feels polished, funded, retail-ready, and built to scale from the beginning.
Uni feels like a brand built for scale, but with enough aesthetic discipline to still feel personal in the bathroom. The aluminum refillable packaging is part of the story, but the stronger story is the formulas. These are sensorial, polished, and easy to use.
24-Hour Body Serum
The 24-Hour Body Serum is the product that best explains Uni. It is lightweight, fluid, and quick to absorb, more like a body treatment than a traditional lotion. The brand describes it as a body treatment inspired by facial skincare, with its Marine Complex for moisture, Australian lime caviar for gentle exfoliation, Kakadu plum for antioxidants, bladderwrack seaweed, and aloe vera.
On the skin, it feels smooth and fresh rather than heavy. There is no greasy film, which is important for anyone who hates getting dressed after applying body lotion. This is the kind of product you can use after a shower and still put on clothes without feeling coated.
The benefits are hydration, smoother-looking skin, a brighter look over time, and a more refined skin feel. Customer feedback is strong but also useful to understand. At Ulta, the serum is rated 4.9 from more than 1,600 reviews, with reviewers often praising the quick absorption, scent, and non-oily finish. The main criticism is that people with very dry skin may still want something richer, especially if they are used to body butters or heavy creams.
Who is it for? Someone who wants daily body hydration without stickiness. It is especially good for people who like body care to feel clean, elegant, and practical rather than thick or perfumed in a loud way.
Plush Marine Shower Oil
The Plush Marine Shower Oil is a shower product with a more indulgent texture. It starts as an oil and turns into a soft, milky lather. Uni describes it as a hydrating body wash powered by glycerin, antioxidant-rich oils, kelp extract, red and brown algae, niacinamide, and plant-derived squalane.
I like this product because it makes the shower feel more expensive without becoming fussy. It cleanses gently, rinses clean, and leaves the skin comfortable. The scent is warm and woody, with cedar, juniper, and sandalwood. It has that modern unisex bathroom scent: clean, slightly resort-like, and polished.
The benefits are moisture retention, a softer skin feel, and a gentler cleanse than a stripping body wash. Customer feedback is very good here too. Ulta shows a 4.6 rating from 224 reviews, with 92 percent of respondents saying they would recommend it. The most common praise centers on the scent, texture, packaging, and the fact that it does not leave skin feeling tight. The criticism is fair: some people who expect a very slippery traditional shower oil may find this closer to a plush, low-lather body wash.
Who is it for? Anyone who wants a body cleanser that feels more elevated than drugstore shower gel, especially if you have normal to dry skin and dislike that tight post-shower feeling. It is also good for people who care about how products look in the shower, because the packaging is part of the pleasure.
Both products are genuinely good. The 24-Hour Body Serum is the more essential product, especially if you want body care that absorbs quickly and makes skin feel hydrated without heaviness. The Plush Marine Shower Oil is the more sensorial product, the one that turns an ordinary shower into a small ritual.
Uni is interesting because it sits at the intersection of skincare, body care, fragrance, and design. The formulas perform, the scents are tasteful, and the packaging makes daily products feel considered. I would not describe this as basic body care. It is body care for people who already think about texture, scent, ingredients, and the way a product lives on the bathroom counter.
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