We don’t know about you, but our beauty routine could definitely use a refresh, and 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 businesses for everyday essentials too.
KNC Beauty
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 has a line of lip care products, as well as skin care masks for your eyes and face.
For instantly kissable lips, try this lovable and deeply moisturizing lip scrub. It’s packed with nutrients and antioxidant properties we’re obsessed with.
This set includes Irish moss, marula oil and rosa centifolia bio-cellulose masks, dripping with nutrients designed to soothe and revitalize your stressed and tired skin.
Fenty Beauty
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. With 11 shimmering shades, you’re sure to find a gloss to complete your lip combo.
Shine bright like a diamond with this shimmering highlighter. It’s available in two shades designed to suit all skin tones, since everyone can benefit from a little shine.
Bevel
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.
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 leads to “[fewer] razor bumps and ingrown hairs.”
For the minimalist, this restoring product doubles as shampoo and conditioner. It’s formulated without sulfated cleansers and uses hemp-seed oil and biotin to bring your hair up to speed for productive and hectic mornings.
Ami Colé
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 bestselling lip oil gives a sheer, juicy shine for a “glass lip” effect. It comes in four shades, each infused with nourishing ingredients like camellia seed oil and baobab seed oil.
Perfect your summer date-night look with this dewy multipurpose tint from Ami Colé. It includes baobao seeds to replenish your skin's moisture and antioxidant-rich hibiscus flower extract to sustain your dewy glow amid the environmental pollution.
Beauty Bakerie
Beauty Bakerie stands out from other makeup brands partly because its packaging and products resemble those that you’d find in an actual bakery. With options like 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 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.
The warm, metallic shades in this vegan multiuse palette can be used as highlighter, contour or blush. Like a sip of espresso, these four shades will wake up any complexion.
Pat McGrath Labs
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.
Versatile and flattering on a wide range of skin tones, this cheek and lip tint has been infused with squalene, passion fruit extract and shea butter to nourish your skin toward the pristine glass look that’s more achievable than ever.
Be an interstellar icon with the Pat McGrath Labs Celestial Divinity Eye Shadow Palette. It features four eye shadows in electric turquoise, golden champagne, deep shimmering burgundy and rich golden rose for a dimensional eye look that can be best described as ethereal.
Oui the People
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 to an exfoliating Resurfacing Body Serum, 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 elegant razor on hand. This single-blade safety razor — our favorite luxury razor for women — doesn’t require a lot of pressure to achieve a smooth finish and comes with 10 individually wrapped blades.
This body serum is designed to hydrate like a moisturizer while being lightweight and silky. It comes in two scents — Orange Blossom and Cedarwood — or an unscented option.
Briogeo
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.
This vegan and non-aerosol dry shampoo has been designed to replenish your hair’s natural volume. With oil-absorption properties and a 99% natural ingredient mix including charcoal, biotin and witch hazel, all hair types stand to benefit.
The Lip Bar
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 eyeliner to tinted moisturizers suitable for all skin tones.
Dry lip days are over. This high-shine lip oil is pigmented and moisturizing. Effortlessly swipe on the nourishing blend of botanical oils, mango butter, lavender oil and vitamin E.
Uoma Beauty
“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. 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) are named in honor of an influential Black woman.
Available in six customized formulas across 51 shades, this foundation provides seamless coverage for the perfect base.
This limited-edition palette includes all the flattering and bold shades you need to make eyes pop. We promise it doesn’t take witchcraft to get heads turning — just the right color combination.
Golde
Superfoods are at the center of beauty and wellness brand Golde. Founded in Brooklyn, New York, by Trinity Mouzon Wofford, Golde wants to make wellness accessible and fun through its selection of products that are natural and vegan.
Now your skin can drink in healthy nutrients like chlorella and spirulina, minus fragrances or artificial preservatives, with this mask that’s like a green smoothie for your face.
For an actual drink with skin-boosting properties, beauty lovers are in for a treat. This vanilla-coconut creamer makes the perfect add-in for your morning cup of coffee. The powder includes superfood ingredients like bamboo extract and hyaluronic acid to support your body’s collagen supply, which decreases with age.
Bread Beauty Supply
Founded by Maeva Heim, Bread Beauty Supply just wants to simplify your wash day — and we love that for us. The collection includes an assortment of hair care and styling products that are sure to have your tresses looking great.
Thanks to a blend of ingredients like silk proteins and keratin, your hair will be ready to handle any weather. The hair foam protects against humidity and repairs broken strands for effortless curls and waves that last.
Bread Beauty’s mud mask includes clay, quartz and broccoli extract to eliminate toxins and free radicals prone to accumulating on the scalp. The matcha tea leaf extract also encourages new growth for a blossoming start to your hair day.
Pound Cake
You may be familiar with how foundation should be matched to your skin’s undertones, but did you know the same is true for your lipstick? That’s where Pound Cake comes in. Founders Camille Bell and Johnny Velazquez created a beauty brand around making one of the most intimidating makeup products to shop for — red lipstick — a successful experience for all. As the brand explains, your lips’ natural color will affect how a lip color will look on you: “Someone with pink lips and someone with deep-brown lips wearing the same lipstick will achieve different results.” So, the brands hero product offers comes in a range of red shades so every skin tone can find its perfect shade.
Pound Cake’s signature semi-matte lipstick comes in six red shades, each suited for different lip tones. It was created by women of color chemists and tested by makeup artists to ensure a quality lip color that actually flatters all skin tones.
Nuebiome
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 to his hand cream, and the rest of Nuebiome’s skin care products, is the probiotic-infused formulas that nurture the skin’s microbiome and support its barrier function.
This hand cream is packed with nourishing ingredients like the brand’s blend of pre-, pro- and post-biotics, amino acids and echinacea stem cells to relieve dry skin.
Nuebiome crafted this glowy, powerful essence for all seasons, with sensitive skin in mind. The grape seed tones and tightens your skin, while the whitewood controls oil production and the glycolic acid provides gentle exfoliation.
Mented Cosmetics
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 Semimatte Lipstick is creamy in texture and looks super natural on, without being too shiny or too matte.
For a palette that seamlessly transitions from work to going out, look no further. The 10 shades are named after the founders’ favorite cities and neighborhoods, so you can move from Los Angeles to Brooklyn in the same (not to mention literal) blink of an eye.
Black Girl Sunscreen
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.
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.
If you prefer sunscreen in spray form, the Make It Glow formula is perfect for people of color. It dries completely clear and it’s even water-resistant, so you can go swimming without worrying about white residue.
Pattern Beauty
We often look at actress Tracee Ellis Ross’ 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 supports 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.
This moisturizing hair milk promises better hair and delivers shiny results. The sensational product contains rich amla oil, Irish moss and agave nectar to soften curls and rid hair of frizz and pesky flyaways.
Black Opal
Black Opal became Black-owned in 2019, 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.
Featuring an airy and oil-absorbing finish, this setting powder is an effortless pathway to achieving an airbrushed look. It’s hypoallergenic, and the four shades suit a multitude of skin tones.
Moodeaux
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 and its clean fragrances take a fresh approach, focusing not only on how the scents smell but how they make you feel.
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 skin scent reacts with the body’s pheromones so it creates a truly unique scent on every wearer.
Rock and roll in a bottle. If you’re looking for a playful yet edgy scent, you’ll enjoy this complex eau de parfum that includes notes of apple, black currant, raspberry, cedar leaves, saffron, honeysuckle, rose, birchwood and moss.
Scotch Porter
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 citrus- and spice-infused bundle contains everything you need to attain natural and healthy skin. The face wash and lotion both contain ingredients like turmeric, known for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and peony to boost skin clarity, brightness and moisture.
Hyper Skin
Desiree Verdejo suffered from hormonal acne and hyperpigmentation but couldn’t find a product that worked for her. 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 fan-favorite brightening 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.
Exfoliate and brighten your complexion with this radiance-boosting mask. The mandelic acid, glycolic acid and niacinamide power trio lifts surface cells, mitigates blemish marks and evens overall texture. Simultaneously, the salicylic acid and sea buckthorn act as preventive measures to ward off future breakouts.
Juvia’s Place
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.
Inspired by the spirit of the Fulani culture, this 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?
Moody and understated, the 16 shades in this palette include a mix of highly blendable mattes and metallics for an unforgettable beauty look. The auburn and rich dark-chocolate colors can easily be worn on a daily basis or smoked up for the night, making this palette extremely versatile.
Eadem
Eadem is redefining the beauty industry with inclusion in mind. Rather than just paying lip service to the idea of diversity, the brand has a team of chemists, dermatologists and testers — all women of color — dedicated to creating products that work for and not against your skin’s natural melanin.
This gentle toner refines skin texture and pores through a 9% blend of lactic, azealic and transexaminic acids sure to provide a glowy boost.
Skin milks are gaining popularity, and this milky serum works to reduce visible dark spots, hyperpigmentation and post-acne marks, helping you achieve a healthy glow.
Cécred
Béyonce is not just a pioneer in the music industry. The star has taken the hair care world by storm, inspired by her mother’s salon business that mixed mainstream products with textured hair care. Launched in February this year, the brand’s keratin recovery science — found in products like the Fermented Rice and Rose Protein Ritual and Reconstructing Treatment Mask — is cutting-edge, replenishing hair with bioactive keratin, honey and lactobacillus ferment through replacing depleted proteins.
This hydrating shampoo is infused with rich antioxidant oils and hyaluronic acid to promote hair health. The scent has notes of oud, Australian sandalwood, warm musk, night-blooming jasmine, Haitian vetiver and violet leaves.
This special treatment involves a two-step system that fortifies and smoothes the hair. We tried it on three hair types, and while it wasn't life-changing, we appreciated how easy it was to give our hair a healthy boost.
Mielle Organics
Created by the “Queen of Hair” Monique Rodriguez, this multicultural hair care brand has a health-conscious approach. It aims to promote healthy hair and scalp preservation through products like Rice Water Moisturizing Milk and Pomegranate and Honey Coil-Sculpting Custard designed for curly hair.
Safe for all hair types and color-treated hair, this deep conditioner contains a rewarding blend of amino acids derived from wheat, soy and other all-natural ingredients guaranteed to hydrate and replenish your hair.
If you’re seeking increased definition, Mielle Organics can help you out. Featuring pomegranate seed oil and honey, this leave-in conditioner is sure to deeply condition your strands and leave them feeling luminous.
TPH by Taraji
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 number-one 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 this scrub-to-balm exfoliant that lifts dead skin cells and buildup — a necessity when maintaining a protective style.
When your hair is deeply tangled, try this deep conditioner infused with aloe, quinoa, avocado oil and mooring oil. Simply apply the product to damp hair, leave on for two to three minutes before washing and watch the magic happen.
Rosen Skincare
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.
Formulated with fruit powder, this smoothie-textured cleanser slightly exfoliates the skin to remove dead skin cells and improve the look of uneven skin.
This toner revitalizes dehydrated patches with hyaluronic acid, fades dark spots with kojic acid and exfoliates away dead skin cells, thanks to natural enzymes.
Danessa Myricks Beauty
Each Danessa Myricks Beauty product is multipurpose, 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 showstopping look.
Available in 12 iridescent shades, this liquid eye shadow 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.
This texture-reducing and award-winning balm powder has a unique application where the balm melts into the skin and then dries down with a matte, smooth finish. It’s surprisingly easy to use and blends in beautifully.
Unsun Cosmetics
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, all the while being environmentally friendly.
That annoying white cast that many mineral sunscreens leave behind is a thing of the past with this one by Unsun. Available in two shades, the tinted sunscreen acts as a primer and color corrector that one reviewer even calls “addictive.”
If you like your makeup with skin care benefits, this mineral sunscreen highlighter will become a tried-and-true favorite. It has a universally flattering finish and is available in bronze and golden shades.
Buttah Skin
Since its launch in 2018, Dorión Renaud’s Buttah Skin has built a devoted fan base 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 many binaries.
The Buttah Skin kit unlocks the secret to healthy skin with the brand’s cleanser, revitalizing cream and vitamin C serum. It is designed for both day and nighttime use.