7 Black-Owned Beauty Brands We Can All Support Today

As part of the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, millions of allies have not only taken to the streets to protest systemic racism, but taken to their wallets to support black-owned businesses.

With that said, we’re still in a global pandemic, so it’s not quite as easy to support black-owned brands as it would have been pre-coronavirus, but it is certainly within our power to reassess our consumer habits and support black-owned businesses which offer items most of us are still buying, like beauty products.

In fact, it’s a win-win for everyone involved; black-owned beauty brands make some of the best, most sustainable, and most skin tone/type-inclusive products on the market.

So, starting today, you basically have no excuse not to buy your makeup and skincare goodies from the likes of:

Pat McGrath Labs

Within the industry, Pat McGrath (aka ‘Mother’) has long been considered the most influential make-up artist of them all. Despite having no formal training, McGrath, the British daughter of a Jamaican immigrant, her talent always spoke louder than words, leading her to create some of Fashion Week’s most iconic beauty looks. Her eponymous make-up line finally launched in 2016, covering everything from lipsticks and foundations to luxurious eyeshadow palettes, and it recently brought Naomi Campbell on as brand ambassador.

Shop Pat McGrath Labs

Liha Beauty

Liha Beauty was founded by Liha Okunniwa and Abi Oyepitan who, like their brand’s products, offer a “mixture of natural African roots and a quintessentially British attitude”. As such, they have some of the most gorgeous products around—all within the natural, organic and vegan skincare category. Products like the Ose Gidi Soap (a powerful natural acne cleanser) frequently sell-out, so their gift sets offer great value for money and discovery.

Shop Liha Beauty

Fenty Beauty

Praising black beauty businesses without praising Fenty would be a major mis-step. Since launching just over two years ago, the colour cosmetics brand, founded by Rihanna (aka Robyn Fenty), has seen unparalleled success—thanks, in large part, to its diverse range of foundation and concealer shades. The LVMH-owned company now turns over an estimated $570 million (£454 million) a year and continues to push the envelope with extremely inclusive marketing (all shapes, sizes and sexual identities).

Shop Fenty Beauty

Epara Skincare

Epara, or “to cocoon oneself” in Ebira, a Nigerian dialect, was founded by Nigerian-born entrepreneur Ozohu Adoh, who saw a space in the market to bring luxury skincare to women with dark skin tones. Adoh herself suffered with dry, uneven skin after university (at Oxford, darling), and found products geared towards white skin didn’t do enough to help. She went back to basics with organic, African ingredients and the rest, as they say, is black skin-loving history.

Shop Epara Skincare

The Afro Hair & Skin Company

Where sustainability is concerned, few do it better than The Afro Hair & Skin Company. The brand’s all-natural beauty products are made using locally-sourced British ingredients and the results are powerful. Rather than sticking a few oils in a bottle, founder Ibi Meier-Oruitemeka spent five years researching and developing products that could eliminate common toxins but do the job just as well, if not better. The Rebirth Glow Recovery Face Mask has self-care quarantine time written all over it.

Shop The Afro Hair and Skin Company

Briogeo Hair Care

After founder Nancy Twine moved out on her own in her early twenties, she realised store-bough beauty products had nothing on her grandmother’s natural beauty concoctions. Frustrated, she pumped-up her family’s old-school recipes with the help of a rockstar natural chemist team and created Briogeo—a transparent, high-performing, cruelty-free and results-driven hair care line. Not sure where to start? Their Hair Quiz will personalize every product to your needs.

Shop Briogeo Hair Care

Beauty Bakerie

As you might expect, every impossibly cute Beauty Bakerie product is inspired by sweet kitchen treats—we’re talking Brownie Bars (contour, bronzer, highlight), Blending Eggs (beauty sponges), ‘Flour’ setting powder, and more. After a teenage pregnancy, breast cancer battle and more, you could say Beauty Bakerie’s inspirational founder Cashmere Nicole turned lemons into lemonade.

Shop Beauty Bakerie