February is Black History Month, and – though we try to support BIPOC-owned businesses all year round – we wanted to profile a few of our faves for the occasion! Keep reading to find out more about some Black-owned beauty and skincare brands you’ll definitely want to explore!
{Black-Owned Beauty Brands You’ll Love}
Disclaimer: Many of the following products were provided to us at no cost for editorial consideration. All opinions are my own. Gifted products are indicated with an asterisk (*).
While the beauty world has made positive strides in ensuring that their collections and marketing materials are increasingly diverse, the sad reality is that companies owned by people of colour make up a very small percentage of the brands stocked in major stores. Things are changing for the better, but there’s a very long way still to go to ensure equitable distribution and opportunity. By sharing some of our favourite Black-owned brands with you, we hope to shine the spotlight on some amazing products and inspire you to diversify your makeup bag!
The Black-owned brands we’ll be talking about in this post are:
- Fenty Skin
- Madeup Beauty
- Beauty Bakerie
- Sade Baron
- Lys Beauty
- Pat McGrath Labs
- Danessa Myricks
- PrettyKind
- Uoma Beauty
Skincare & Beauty Tools
Fenty Skin: When she’s not busy absolutely crushing the SuperBowl halftime show, Rihanna is a major player in the beauty game. Her Fenty Beauty products are legendary, but I also love her Fenty Skin line. The Cookies N Clean Whipped Clay Detox Face Mask ($42) is a bit of an investment, but it leaves your skin feeling incredible. The combo of charcoal and kaolin clay purifies skin while the salicylic acid refines skin tone. It’s also cruelty-free, fragrance-free, part of the Clean at Sephora collection, and an Allure Best of Beauty Award Winner!
Madeup Beauty: Madeup Beauty is one of the relatively few Black-owned brands available at Shoppers Drug Mart. This Canadian brand offers a range of product types, but their focus is on lip care. They’ve got lip pencils ($14), lip glosses ($18), cream lipsticks ($20), liquid lipsticks ($22), lip oils ($21), and lip plumper ($32)! My favourite product is their Lip Conditioner* ($15): a silky, hydrating formula that helps repair and nourish chapped lips. This baby is practically mandatory in Canadian winters! Madeup Beauty products are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and made in Canada.
Beauty Bakerie: This brand has gone viral for their adorable patisserie-inspired makeup and skincare, as well as for their commitment to raising money for children experiencing poverty through their Sugar Homes initiative. Their Flour Setting Powder ($29) is legendary, but my personal favourite has to be their Blending Eggs* beauty sponges (package of 6 for $23). These latex-free sponges are incredibly soft and help my foundation look flawless. Beauty Bakerie products are vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and sulfate-free.
Sade Baron: This mother & daughter-founded brand is all about inclusivity. Their products are unisex and vegan, with a focus on nourishing skincare and bodycare that addresses specific conditions. If you suffer from contact dermatitis, eczema, dry or sensitive skin, you should definitely check out their lineup. I’ve raved before about their multipurpose Moi Balm* ($24), but I also use their Body Mist* ($14) as a nourishing alternative to traditional fragrance.
Makeup Brands
Lys Beauty: Founded by makeup artist Tisha Thompson, Lys Beauty was the first Black-owned Clean at Sephora brand! Their products are affordable, inclusive, and effective, packed with skin-nourishing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, green tea extract, avocado oil and turmeric. I love the No Limits Matte Bronzer in Motivate ($24): the perfect contour-y bronzer that looks natural on the skin and isn’t too warm-toned. Lys Beauty products are cruelty-free and vegan, and the bronzer is a Byrdie Eco-Beauty Award winner.
Pat McGrath Labs: All hail the queen of sparkle! Most beauty lovers will be no stranger to Pat McGrath’s iconic Mothership eyeshadow palettes and their dazzling metallic shades. They’re quite expensive (often $170+), but they do have quads that are more reasonably priced, and the palettes do sometimes go on sale. I recently got my Celestial Nirvana palette for $67.50 at Sephora. These shadows are extremely pigmented, so you won’t be hitting pan anytime soon – though if you’re anything like me, the tantalizing colours will be so tempting you won’t be able to help yourself from using them daily! Pat McGrath products are cruelty-free.
Danessa Myricks: If you’re looking for a multipurpose base product, you can’t go wrong with Danessa Myricks’ famous Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder ($48). This innovative product comes in 11 shades and can act as a primer, foundation, spot concealer, or setting balm depending on how you apply it! It takes a few tries to get the hang of the application (there’s a demo video if you need some guidance), but once you do, you’ll be hooked. I love that I can apply this without a setting powder and that it blurs my texture and covers redness without looking cakey. Danessa Myricks products are cruelty-free and vegan, and the balm is an Allure Best of Beauty winner!
PrettyKind: This Canadian brand was born out of necessity and a sad lack of diversity in drugstore products. After moving to Canada from her native Nigeria, founder Toyin Okezie-Mba was unable to find makeup products that matched her skin tone and products that nourished her textured hair. Never wanting her daughter to feel the same sense of embarrassment and frustration that she did at not finding products that reflected her needs, Toyin created PrettyKind. This brand now includes a range of skincare, haircare and makeup products for all skin tones and hair types. I particularly love their Dark & Pretty Matte Liquid Lipstick in Shine* ($15): it’s the perfect rose-mauve and has major lasting power. PrettyKind products are cruelty-free, and free of parabens, sulfates, and paraffins.
Uoma Beauty: This is another brand that you’ve likely seen all over social media, and for good reason! (You’re probably mispronouncing it, though: it’s “uh-mah” not “oo-oh-ma”!) Their eyeshadow palettes ($56) are a budget-friendly alternative to the Pat McGrath ones, and they have some truly fabulous lipsticks. I also love that the founder has created the Pull Up for Change and Make It Black initiatives to empower and support Black entrepreneurs. My must-have Uoma product is their Drama Bomb Mascara* ($25). Holyyyy does this baby pack a punch and mega volume! Uoma products are cruelty-free.
When it comes to ensuring increased diversity and inclusion in the beauty world, we all have a part to play. And with so many amazing products from incredible brands, it couldn’t be easier to find Black-owned alternatives to your general drugstore products. We hope you check out some of these (and other!) Black-owned beauty and makeup brands, during Black History Month and beyond.