27 Black-owned beauty brands you should try ASAP
We don’t know about you, but our beauty routine could definitely use a refresh. And while we’re looking to spend our hard-earned money on new products, there are a whole lot of Black-owned beauty brands that have award-winning, top-rated products we’re dying to try (and beauty staples we already use and love).
Ahead, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Black-owned makeup, hair and skin care brands that dedicate themselves to inclusivity for all skin tones, skin types and hair types. Be sure to check out our Black-owned brands for everyday essentials too.
“Uoma” means “beautiful” in Igbo (a common language spoken in Nigeria), a name well-suited for a brand committed to rewriting the rules of inclusivity and diversity in beauty. Founded by beauty industry veteran Sharon Chuter, Uoma is inspired by self-expression, colorful living and Chuter’s own African pride. For example, the brand’s Say What?! Foundation is available in 51 different shades, and each of its Badass Icon Matte Lipsticks (which we named the best moisturizing matte lipstick of 2021) are named in honor of an influential Black woman.
You shouldn’t need a bag full of products to achieve a flawless beat. That’s why we’re obsessed with the Uoma Beauty Double Take Contour Stick. It’s a double-ended highlighter and contour stick that reviewers say is pigmented yet super blendable.
Beauty connoisseur and entrepreneur Kristen Noel Crawley knew she wanted to create her own natural lip mask when she spotted some on a trip to Tokyo, and thus KNC Beauty was born. Now the brand not only has its own Collagen-Infused Lip Mask but also a Retinol-Infused Eye Mask and lip balm. You probably can find your favorite influencer lounging around in them daily.
For super-soft and hydrated lips, try out the KNC Beauty All-Natural Collagen-Infused Lip Mask, infused with naturally derived ingredients to give you a perfectly moisturized pout.
We still can’t get over how we felt when we were first introduced to Fenty Beauty — especially when it came to the extensive shade range of the brand’s complexion products. It quickly became clear that Queen Rihanna had outdone herself yet again. Even if we aren’t sure when her next album will arrive, we’ll gladly keep shopping the brand’s glittering highlighters and pigmented lipsticks.
Gloss Bomb is one of our favorite products in the Fenty Beauty arsenal. Available in seven shimmering shades, you’re sure to find a gloss to complete your lip combo or make you feel done up on an otherwise no-makeup day. It’s simply an all-around great lip gloss.
Tristan Walker created Bevel to enhance the grooming experience for people of color by developing products that meet the needs of coarse and curly hair. The brand offers everything you can think of, from face wash to shaving cream to aftershave, so that you can curate your grooming routine exactly how you like.
A quality shave can do a lot for your skin’s condition, let alone your confidence. With this starter kit by Bevel, you’ll hold all the keys for a great shave each time. The set includes a safety razor, shave brush, priming oil, shave cream, restoring balm and 40 replacement blades — a system that reviewers say has led to “less razor bumps and ingrown hairs.”
Born in Harlem, New York and inspired by founder Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye’s Senegalese heritage, Ami Colé offers makeup essentials for melanin-rich skin. Keeping it clean and simple, the brand offers eight products with a you-but-better approach, including tinted moisturizer, concealer and lip oil.
This best-selling lip oil gives a sheer, juicy shine for a “glass lip” effect. It comes in four shades, each infused with nourishing ingredients like camelia seed oil and baobab seed oil.
Beauty Bakerie stands out from other makeup brands partly because its packaging and products resemble those that you’d find in an actual bakery. From Cake Pop Lippies to Blending Egg Beauty Sponges housed in an egg carton, founder Cashmere Nicole’s brand is super sweet. Not only is the brand cruelty-free, but it’s also shade-range inclusive, even numbering its complexion products from darkest to lightest as an acknowledgment and prioritization of deeper skin tones.
With Beauty Bakerie’s Face Flour Baking Powder, you’ll likely never use another powder again. Available in six Black-girl-friendly shades, this vegan powder sets your face without being too cakey and leaves your skin looking ultra-smooth.
Pat McGrath is one of the world’s most legendary makeup artists, so it comes as no surprise that her makeup brand is truly exceptional as well. From lipsticks and eye shadow palettes to concealers, the brand’s products are known industry-wide for stunning pigment and coverage, with opulent packaging to match.
Upgrade your makeup game this year with the Pat McGrath Labs Celestial Odyssey Luxe Quad. It features four rich eye shadows in gold, bronze, metallic rose and matte rose for a dimensional eye look that can be best described as ethereal.
Founded by Karen Young, Oui the People is on a mission to deliver products that work and help you feel confident in the skin you’re in, not what society wants you to be. From a rose gold razor that we named the best luxury razor of 2022 to a PHA Ingrown Relief Toner, this brand offers all the body care products you’ll need for your next self-care day.
For a close shave without the razor burn, you’ll want to have Oui the People’s Rose Gold Sensitive Skin Razor on hand. This single-blade safety razor doesn’t require a lot of pressure to achieve a smooth finish and comes with 10 individually wrapped blades.
Briogeo is the hair care brand that should be on the top of your wish list. Founded by Nancy Twine after she was unimpressed by other solutions on the market, Briogeo was created to treat hair the way we treat our skin. Better yet, each product is cruelty-free and formulated with mostly naturally derived ingredients, inspired by Twine’s grandma’s homemade recipes.
Fragile, brittle hair is a thing of the past with the Briogeo Deep Conditioning Mask. This intensive weekly treatment is formulated with a blend of hydrating oils, vitamin B5 and biotin to revitalize damaged hair and prevent future damage too.
If we’re on the hunt for a new lip product, The Lip Bar is always one of our first stops. Melissa Butler started making clean lip products in her kitchen to address the lack of diversity in the beauty industry — and to avoid the chemicals found in other beauty products. Now her vegan and cruelty-free brand has expanded to include makeup from eye shadow palettes to tinted moisturizers suitable for all skin tones.
All matte lipsticks aren’t created equal. The Lip Bar’s Vegan Matte Liquid Lipstick is well-loved for its pigmented color options, long-wear formula and affordable price point.
Superfoods are at the center of beauty and wellness brand Golde. Founded in Brooklyn by Trinity Mouzon Wofford, Golde wants to make wellness accessible and fun through its selection of products that are natural and vegan-friendly.
Golde’s Papaya Bright Face Mask is one of our favorite masks to date. Made with 100% pure superfoods, the product is formulated to brighten, packed with papaya enzymes to gently exfoliate skin and reveal a glowing complexion.
Founded by Maeva Heim, Bread Beauty Supply just wants to simplify your wash day — and we love that for us. The collection includes a trio of hair wash, a hair mask and an oil that’s sure to have your tresses looking great.
Say hello to your new favorite deep conditioner: Featuring moisturizing superfoods like Australian kakadu plum and starflower oil, this hair mask cream deep conditioner works to soften your strands and fight dryness for your most defined and moisturized curls yet.
During his work as a nurse anesthetist, Nuebiome founder Ricardo Gray found that the hospital’s drying environment was causing his hands to suffer. He set out to create the perfect hand cream, and launched Nuebiome in 2022 with his ideal formula that absorbs quickly, isn’t greasy and, most importantly, keeps hands hydrated. The key behind his hand cream, and the rest of Nuebiome’s skin care products, are the probiotic-infused formulas that nurture the skin’s microbiome and support its barrier function.
Nuebiome’s second hand cream, this new lotion is packed with nourishing ingredients like the brand’s blend of pre-, pro- and postbiotics, amino acids and echinacea stem cells to relieve dry skin.
The search for the perfect nude lipstick for women of color inspired KJ Miller and Amanda E. Johnson to create their own makeup line: Mented Cosmetics. The collection of lip glosses, foundations and blushes is meant to complement every skin tone, from fair to deep.
A matte lipstick that won’t dry out your lips? Yes, please! Available in nine nude shades, Mented Cosmetics Semi-Matte Lipstick is creamy in texture and looks super natural on, without being too shiny or too matte.
Shontay Lundy founded Black Girl Sunscreen to combat the idea that Black people don’t need sunscreen, a product many shy away from because of the white cast some formulas leave behind, so of course Black Girl Sunscreen doesn’t do that at all. The formulas apply clear and are made without harmful chemicals for no-fuss sun protection. Known for its broad spectrum variant, the brand recently launched a kids’ sunscreen and matte formula too.
Black Girl Sunscreen’s Broad Spectrum SPF 30 has easily become one of our go-to daily sunscreens for both face and body. Formulated with nourishing ingredients like avocado and jojoba oil, this vegan and cruelty-free sunscreen provides necessary sun protection without turning you gray.
We often look at actress Tracee Ellis Ross’s luscious locks and think, “How can we get our hair like that?” With her hair care line, Pattern Beauty, the celeb wants us to embrace and celebrate our unique textures and curl patterns by giving us a collection of products that support our hair goals.
Pattern Beauty’s Leave-In Conditioner is the star of the collection, what the brand calls its “holy grail.” It’s a lightweight formula meant to lock in moisture and help detangle hair post-wash, defining your curls in the process.
Black Opal only recently became Black-owned, but it has long been known to provide makeup essentials that really work for people of color at an affordable price. From matte lipsticks to setting powders, Black Opal is sure to carry a product you need to add to your collection.
If you’re in the market for a long-wear, full-coverage foundation stick, you’ll want to give this bestseller by Black Opal a try. Available in 21 shades, the stick foundation is even formulated with sunscreen and vitamins C and E for skin protection.
In an industry dominated by male, Euro-centric noses, Moodeaux sets itself apart as a female-founded, Black-owned fragrance brand. Led by Brianna Arps, Moodeaux’s clean fragrances take a fresh approach, focusing not only on how the scents smell, but how they make you feel.
Moodeaux’s newest launch, this eau de parfum takes the same notes as its award-winning perfume oil — white tea, orange blossom, rose, lavender, musk and vanilla — and turns them into a traditional spray. The intoxicating scent reacts with the body’s pheromones, so it creates a truly unique scent on every wearer.
When you look good, you feel good. It was this mindset that inspired Calvin Quallis to quit his corporate job and create grooming products that make people feel good. From treating ingrown hairs to getting that fresh cut, Scotch Porter is on a mission to be there for you at each step of your grooming journey.
This set contains everything you need for your best beard yet. Featuring biotin, burdock root and white willow, each product in the Beard Collection helps condition and soften your beard so that it can grow out healthily.
Desiree Verdejo suffered from hormonal acne and hyperpigmentation but couldn’t find a product that worked for her — and on a mission to make one herself, Hyper Skin was born. The brand is known for its cult-favorite brightening serum that hundreds of reviewers can’t get enough of.
Say goodbye to stubborn dark spots with Hyper Skin’s Hyper Clear Brightening Clearing Vitamin C Serum. Incorporating vitamin C, vitamin E and an array of natural botanicals, this lightweight serum is formulated to brighten, smooth and clear the skin of acne scarring and other hyperpigmentation issues.
Chichi Eburu founded Juvia’s Place after struggling for years to find makeup that enhanced the dark hues of her skin tone. The collection is filled with everything from eye shadow palettes with spectacular color payoff to foundations with rich shade ranges, all created to celebrate the vibrancy of Africa.
This is seriously one of the prettiest eye shadow palettes we’ve ever laid our eyes on. Inspired by the spirit of the Fulani culture, Juvia’s Place The Saharan Palette contains 12 shades, from matte to shimmery finishes, that reviewers say blend easily and are highly pigmented. Did we mention it’s rated 4.9 stars at Ulta?
Founded by She’Neil Johnson-Spence and Nicolette Graves in an effort to learn how to treat their oily, combination and acne-prone skin, Base Butter seeks to make skin care simple and deliver products that really work. The brand is known for its Radiate Face Jelly, which can be purchased as a one-off or on a subscription basis once you fall in love.
The Radiate Face Jelly is a lightweight moisturizer infused with aloe vera gel to rejuvenate and protect the skin. Reviewers can’t get enough of the product, which aims to balance skin and leave it glowing without any annoying greasy feeling.
Taraji P. Henson is a beauty icon, so we couldn’t wait to get our hands on her hair care line. The line was created to embrace how versatile Black hair is, ensuring that scalp care is the No. 1 priority. From a Master Cleanse scalp wash to a Honey Fresh clarifying shampoo, TPH features products that will provide a deep clean and targeted treatment for any hair type.
We’d recommend the Never Salty Sugar Hair & Scalp Scrub, a scrub-to-balm exfoliant that lifts dead skin cells and buildup — a necessity when maintaining a protective style.
Jamika Martin founded Rosen Skincare to help those with acne-prone skin feel more confident, not only in themselves but in the products they’re using. The brand is committed to avoiding questionable ingredients to help consumers understand what exactly they’re putting on their face. Rosen is both a thoughtful and affordable brand, which is why purchasers are obsessed with its products.Fr
Formulated with fruit powder, this smoothie-textured cleanser slightly exfoliates the skin to remove dead skin cells and improve the look of textured skin.
Each Danessa Myricks Beauty product is multi-purpose, which comes from the founder’s own background as a self-taught makeup artist and unique approach to her work. From sparkling chrome pigments to flexible base shades, the expert-approved brand has everything you need to create a show-stopping look.
Available in 12 iridescent shades, this liquid eyeshadow is packed with color-shifting pigment. The long-wearing formula doesn’t budge once it’s dry, so it’s perfect for a night out.
Katonya Breaux (who, we might add, is the mother of musician Frank Ocean!) was frustrated with the selection of clean sunscreen products for women of color, so naturally she decided to create her own. The brand carries multiple sunscreen products, from face and body highlighters to hand creams that won’t leave a white cast while being environmentally friendly too.
That annoying white cast that many mineral sunscreens leave behind is a thing of the past with this one by Unsun. Available in beige and dark tan, the tinted sunscreen acts as a primer and color corrector that one reviewer even calls “addictive.”
Since its launch in 2018, Dorion Renaud’s Buttah Skin has built a devoted fanbase that loves the brand’s accessible approach to skin care for melanin-rich complexions. Initially made to empower Black men in their skin care journeys, the line’s moisturizers, serums, masks and more have become favorites across any binaries.
This top-rated moisturizer delivers hyaluronic acid, grape seed extract, aloe, niacinamide and more, making it a great option for dry skin.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/beauty/black-owned-beauty-brands?iid=CNNUnderscoredHPcontainer
