There might be a surge in inclusive beauty and beauty without gender barriers, but women have historically been directly associated with the concept of beauty because they are the major consumers of the industry’s products and services. A challenge is evident though — while more women are the majority at the tail of the supply chain as consumers, only a handful of women are in the top-tier leadership of the plethora of beauty brands in the industry.
The fact that male CEOs continue to control a substantial portion of the beauty business is a harsh reality and this makes it really challenging for female-owned beauty brands to secure shelf space in major stores across boards. Most of the time, this problem is exacerbated by external investment, which favors male-owned enterprises, further perpetuating the gender gap that is ravaging the industry.
Despite these challenges, the few female-owned beauty brands that exist have continued to thrive and made major contributions to the industry. They have created innovative and inclusive products, championed social causes, and inspired a new generation of women entrepreneurs. Ahead are 32 female-owned beauty brands that you can patronize season after season. By supporting these brands, you can help to create a more equitable and empowering future for women in the beauty business.
1. Clossier
In 2014, Emily Weiss launched the well-known beauty brand, Glossier. The brand’s philosophy is centered on the idea of celebrating real beauty, and its products are designed to enhance a person’s natural features rather than mask them. One of Glossier’s signature products is the Boy Brow, which is a tinted brow gel that helps to fill and shape brows for a more polished look. The brand also offers a range of other makeup products, including skin tint, concealer, and lip balm. In addition to makeup, Glossier also offers a range of skincare products, such as its Milky Jelly Cleanser and its popular Balm Dotcom, a multipurpose skin salve.
Glossier is known for its minimalist packaging and its inclusive approach to beauty, with a focus on providing products that work well for a range of skin types and tones. The brand has garnered a large following on social media, particularly among millennial and Gen Z consumers who are drawn to its fresh, modern aesthetic.
2. Rare Beauty
The beauty brand, which the singer and actress, Selena Gomez started in 2020, aims to spread self-acceptance, mental health, and inclusivity through cosmetics. “My hope with Rare Beauty is that we have open conversations around beauty and mental health and can change the industry by breaking down unrealistic standards of beauty together,” Gomez told Glamour during the launch of the brand.
Rare Beauty is committed to developing cosmetics that accentuate one’s inherent beauty while simultaneously treating problems with skin tone, texture, and redness. Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation, which comes in 48 hues and is designed to provide full coverage without feeling heavy or cakey on the skin, is one of the standout components of Rare Beauty’s product line. Also, they sell a variety of additional cosmetics, such as concealer, blush, bronzer, eyeshadow, and lip products.
3. Huda Beauty
With a commitment to inclusive beauty and diversity, Huda Beauty founded by Huda Kattan, a makeup artist and beauty blogger, in 2013, is known for its high-quality and innovative makeup products, including its bestselling liquid lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes. Huda Beauty’s product range includes a wide variety of makeup products such as foundations, concealers, powders, highlighters, and bronzers, as well as a range of false eyelashes.
The beauty brand is also known for its highly pigmented and long-lasting eyeshadow palettes, which come in a variety of color schemes. One of Huda Beauty’s most popular products is the Faux Filter Foundation, which provides full coverage and a smooth, flawless finish. The brand also offers a range of lip products, including its Liquid Matte Lipsticks, which are known for their long-wearing formula and vibrant colors.
4. The Lip Bar
Melissa Butler established the ‘The Lip Bar’ beauty brand in 2012 with the aim to provide an offering of high-quality, vegan, and cruelty-free cosmetics that are suitable for all skin tones. Its range of liquid matte lipsticks comes in a variety of shades, formulas, and finishes that are designed to suit a range of skin tones.
The Lip Bar also offers a range of makeup products such as foundation, concealer, and eyeshadow to shop from.
5. Fenty Beauty
With the aim to make beauty products more accessible to every woman regardless of skin tone, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017. She concentrated on a wide range of typically difficult-to-match skin tones, designed formulations that work for all skin types, and identified common hues.
Rihanna spent years perfecting her signature makeup look, trying it out backstage, on stage, and in everyday situations. Now that she has her own line of beauty products that have been expertly created to function together, she shares the real-life technique for her steady radiance.
Fenty Beauty offers a variety of makeup products, including foundations, concealers, powders, highlighters, blushes, and bronzers but the beauty brand’s biggest photo filter in foundation form, Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation was created in 50 inclusive colors.
6. Pat McGrath Labs
Known and popularised for its highly-pigmented, long-lasting, and luxurious makeup products, Pat McGrath Labs founded by the renowned British makeup artist, Pat McGrath in 2015 has developed beauty products that are often highly sought after, with limited edition releases selling out quickly. The beauty brand offers a range of high-end makeup products, including lipsticks, eyeshadows, foundations, and highlighters.
7. JLo Beauty
Created by the popular singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, JLo Beauty was built with the tagline that “Beauty has no expiration date.” This is because as the singer herself puts it puts, “Ageless isn’t just a mindset — you can feel youthful at any age and feel great, not just great for 50.”
JLo Beauty offers women high-end but accessible beauty and skincare products you can afford to use daily and beyond. With over 100 rounds of product development to ensure the failsafe formulas, you can be sure to indulge your skin in the beauty brand’s “That Overnight Hustle” product or “That Star Filter and That Blockbuster Hydrating Cream” to bring you the right glow in other to embody the superstar.
8. Pattern Haircare
Tracee Ellis Ross loves her curly hair and no wonder the actress and singer spent years developing haircare products that empower the curl pattern of the black woman’s hair. One of the promises of the beauty and haircare brand is to keep the hair of a black woman “healthy & hydrated, juicy & joyful,” and this is evident in its Pattern Curl Gel, Cleansing Shampoo, and Leave-in Conditioner — all formulated with natural ingredients. This means that with Pattern, you nourish your curly kinky hair to perfection.
9. Drunk Elephant
Founded in 2012 by Tiffany Masterson and based in Houston, Texas, Drunk Elephant is known for its clean, non-toxic formulations that are designed to be effective for all skin types.
Drunk Elephant is one of the few beauty brands that emphasize the importance of maintaining the skin’s natural pH balance. The brand’s products are formulated with a pH that is close to the skin’s natural pH, which helps to support the skin’s acid mantle and overall health.
Drunk Elephant takes a holistic approach to skincare, emphasizing the importance of taking care of the skin from the inside out. The brand’s philosophy is based on the belief that healthy skin is the result of a balanced lifestyle, which includes proper nutrition, exercise, and stress management. The products may be considered expensive but given the research, quality of ingredients, and concentration of actives in each product, their pricing point kinda justified.
10. Beauty Bakerie
The California-based beauty brand has its founding principal as Chamere Nicole and since 2011, is renowned for its playful approach to beauty and dedication to inclusivity and diversity. To accommodate various skin tones, Beauty Bakerie offers a wide variety of shades. The brand’s foundation range, for example, includes 30 shades, and the brand regularly features models of different skin tones and ethnicities in its marketing campaigns.
Products from this brand are renowned for their premium compositions, which are created to be durable and smudge-proof. Many beauty influencers and makeup artists have commended their lipsticks in particular for their staying power.
The bakery-themed branding of Beauty Bakerie serves as an inspiration for whimsical packaging. Lipsticks, for example, come in a cupcake-shaped container, while eye shadow palettes come in a dessert-themed box.
11. Ouai
Developed methodically over the years since 2016 with a strong eye on branding and aesthetics, Ouai is the brainchild of celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin. The beauty brand, known for its chic and minimalist packaging focuses on offering premium hair care products including; shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and supplements that are simple to use and efficient in treating a variety of hair issues.
The brand’s use of natural ingredients and dedication to avoiding harsh chemicals and sulfates in its products are two of its main selling factors. Customers who value ethical and sustainable beauty are drawn to Ouai Beauty’s products because they are vegan and cruelty-free.
12. Briogeo
There are several reasons why you might want to consider patronizing Briogeo. Firstly, this beauty brand uses high-quality, natural ingredients that are gentle on your hair and scalp, making them ideal for people with sensitive skin or allergies. Founded by Nancy Twine, Briogeo’s texture-specific products offer something for everyone’s hair type – from repair to volume, to curl care. With Briogeo’s streamlined styling patterns, you may select a personalized routine to volumize, repair, defrizz, or nourish without having to juggle several products.
13. Emma Hardie
The Emma Hardie formulae were created to complement Amazing Face, a multifunctional skincare collection of everyday essentials. These formulas instantly lift and smooth weary, stressed faces, exposing a healthy glow. Since the modernization of skincare, Emma Hardie, the brand’s originator and a professional facialist with over 20 years of expertise, has been setting the standard for skin renewal. The beauty brand’s Holy Grail, the award-winning Moringa Cleansing Balm is a cult favorite among beauty lovers. Emma Hardie, based on a capsule collection of multipurpose products, along with Emma’s recommended use, can help skin regain its original vigor, brightness, and luster.
14. Tata Harper Skincare
When you think luxury skincare from the rawest and ethically-sourced plant extracts, essential oils, and botanicals, think Tata Harpers skincare. Founded in 2010 by Tata Harper herself, the beauty brand’s products are formulated for those who expect the best and want the most results from their skincare.
There are designed to target various skin concerns, including hydration, brightening, and anti-aging. The Resurfacing Mask, a mild exfoliating mask that aids in brightening and smoothing the skin, and the Regenerating Cleanser, a daily exfoliating cleanser that aids in removing impurities and fostering cell turnover are two of Tata Harper’s most popular products.
15. Kjaer Weis
A vast array of high-end cosmetics, including foundation, blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, and more, are available from Kjaer Weis. Founded by Kirsten Kjaer Weis, a Danish beauty artist in 2010, the brand’s products are made for all skin types and are intended to be nourishing and long-lasting. Kjaer Weis is renowned for its opulent, premium packaging and dedication to sustainability and all-natural ingredients.
Kjaer Weis’s beauty products are packaged and sold in refillable metal compacts, which are designed to be both aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly.
16. Milk Makeup
The collective efforts of Mazdack Rassi, Zanna Roberts Rassi, Georgie Greville, and Dianna Ruth resulted in the 2014 launch of the beauty line Milk Makeup in New York City. The beauty brand provides a full spectrum of cosmetics, skincare, and perfumes in cutting-edge packaging with many of their many of its products featuring convenient, travel-friendly formats like stick applicators and roll-on bottles. Innovation, color, and cleanliness are hallmarks of Milk Makeup.
One of Milk Makeup’s catchphrases is “Clean, cool beauty that works,” and among its best-selling items are the Kush High Volume Mascara, the Hydro Grip Primer, the Lip + Cheek multi-use stick, and the Cooling Water under-eye gel.
17. Flora & Curl
‘Flora and Curl’ is one of the unique black women-owned beauty brands that specialize in producing hair care products like shampoos, conditioners, hair oils, and styling products for curly and textured hair. Rose Ovensehi, who struggled to find effective, all-natural hair care products for her own curly hair, founded the brand with a conviction that curls, coils, and waves can be nourished and strengthened with the help of a variety of plant-powered products.
18. ILIA Beauty
In the beauty world, certain brands debut and quickly become classics. One such beauty brand includes Ilia, which has excelled since its founding in 2011 in its special formulations and recipes that don’t compromise quality or vibrancy. From its independent beginnings to its recent acquisition by Clarins’ parent company, Ilia’s success may be attributed to its ability to focus on what it does best: protecting and reviving the skin, according to its founder, Sasha Plavsic.
ILIA Beauty offers a selection of cosmetics like foundation, concealer, lipstick, eyeshadow, and skincare items like moisturizers, serums, and facial oils that can be purchased across their website and a few other retail stores online.
19. Tower 28 Beauty
Amy Liu created Tower 28 Beauty in 2019, taking its name from a lifeguard tower in Santa Monica, California, where she spent a lot of her childhood. With components like green tea extract, aloe vera, and hyaluronic acid, Tower 28 Beauty products are made to be kind to the skin and nourishing.
The ShineOn Lip Jelly from Tower 28 Beauty, which is available in a variety of shades and has a glossy, non-sticky finish, is one of the brand’s best-selling products. This beauty brand also offers a range of other makeup products, including blushes, bronzers, and highlighters, as well as skincare products such as facial sprays and serums.
20. Herbivore Botanicals
Julia Wills and Alexander Kummerow, a husband and wife duo who founded the beauty brand in 2011, were motivated by the natural beauty of Seattle and the potency of plant-based ingredients. They ethically source the best raw natural ingredients the planet has to offer because they are aware that whatever we put on our skin swiftly seeps into our bodies. As a result, their skincare treatments packages— facial oils, masks, toners, and body scrubs, are blended with critical vitamins, minerals, and botanicals to restore skin to its optimum health and vitality using exotic components including blue tansy, rosehip seed oil, bamboo charcoal, french pink clay, and Brazilian gemstones.
21. Sunday Riley
There is a face cream from Sunday Riley, a beauty brand for every skin type and issue, whether you like a thicker texture or one that is lightweight. The high-performance skincare line, which Sunday Riley herself created in 2009, is well renowned for its products that address a range of skin issues, including aging, acne, and discoloration. Retinoids, AHAs, BHAs, and antioxidants are some of the active chemicals used in Sunday Riley’s oils and serums.
22. Uoma Beauty
Driven by storytelling and cultural representation, the UOMA Beauty brand is one of the most inclusive black-owned beauty brands. Established in 2018, by Nigerian-born, LA & London-based former beauty executive Sharon Chuter, the UOMA Beauty line channels beauty empowerment for everyone in some of the most rebellious, original, and creative ways. The brand is renowned for its extensive foundation shade selection, which offers 51 different options to accommodate a variety of complexion tones. In addition to its custom-made foundation, Uoma Beauty also offers a variety of other makeup products, such as eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, and highlighters.
23. Golde
A variety of plant-based skincare and nutrition products are available from Golde, a beauty brand that focuses on both beauty and wellness. In order to make wellness more accessible and inclusive, Trinity Mouzon Wofford and Issey Kobori created the brand in 2017.
The natural components used in Golde’s products, including turmeric, matcha, and adaptogens, are intended to assist skin health, increase energy, and support general well-being. The Turmeric Latte Mix, the Pure Matcha Green Tea, and the Clean Greens Superfood Face Mask are a few of their best-selling items.
By sharing tips and resources for self-care, mindfulness, and healthy living on their blog and social media platforms, Golde advocates a holistic approach to beauty and well-being in addition to their product line.
24. Hanahana Beauty
Founded by Abena Boamah-Acheampong in 2017, the Hanahana Beauty skincare line is committed to empowering and supporting women in West Africa while producing natural, ethical, and sustainable skincare products. Hanahana Beauty uses fair trade and ethically sourced ingredients from West Africa, such as shea butter, baobab oil, and moringa oil for their body butter, lip balms, and facial oils.
The beauty brand is committed to sustainability and uses eco-friendly packaging, and the ingredients are sourced directly from women-run cooperatives in Ghana. Hanahana Beauty not only creates natural and ethical skincare products, but it also collaborates with local groups in West Africa to empower women in the region.
25. Axiology Beauty
If you’re looking for lip balms and lipsticks to shop, Axiology Beauty could be your starting point. Since 2013, Ericka Rodriguez has been in charge of this plastic-free, vegan beauty business. After discovering that all of her makeup had been subjected to animal testing, she started producing her own vegan lipsticks in her small kitchen using tutorials from YouTube and DIY books she borrowed from the library.
She debuted Axiology on Etsy with six colors of the first 10-ingredient lipstick after two years of testing with ingredients in her kitchen. It was smooth and buttery, and even better, it was vegan, cruelty-free, and clean! Not long after, Axiology vegan lipstick became popular and can be shopped in most retail stores all over the world.
26. Kosas
Sheena Yaitanes established the Kosas beauty company in 2015 with the intention of developing effective, simple-to-use clean beauty products that accentuate natural beauty. The products are made with high-quality, natural components that are safe for both the skin and the environment.
The beauty brand commits to exclusively using materials that are non-toxic, vegan, and ethically sourced. Some of the most well-known Kosas products are the Tinted Face Oil, which offers lightweight, sheer coverage and hydrates the skin with a blend of plant oils, and the 10-Second Eyeshadow, which has an effortless, cream-gel consistency that is easy to apply. Kosas also offers a range of lipsticks, blushes, and highlighters, as well as skincare products like cleansers and serums.
27. Indeed Labs
With a blend of natural and scientifically validated skincare products, Indeed Labs is a beauty brand that advances high-quality skincare. Dimitra Davison, the President, and COO is a woman at the helm of its leadership. The beauty brand provides a selection of skincare items that address issues like dryness, fine lines and wrinkles, and uneven skin tone.
In order to deliver noticeable effects, the brand incorporates innovative ingredients and technologies into its formulas, including peptides, retinol, and hyaluronic acid. Also, the company has garnered recognition for its products through a number of awards, including the Harper’s Bazaar Beauty Awards for ‘Best Affordable Skincare Brand.’
28. KNC Beauty
KNC Beauty, created by Kristen Noel Crawley in 2015, provides a selection of cosmetics and skincare items, such as lip and eye masks, lip balms, and scrubs made with collagen, rose flower oil, and hyaluronic acid, which are all-natural, nourishing components. Celebrities including Emma Stone, Kim Kardashian, and Priyanka Chopra have been spotted using the company’s lip masks, which have become cult favorites for their moisturizing and plumping properties.
29. RMS Beauty
Rose-Marie Swift, a Pro MUA with over 30 years of experience pioneered and spritzed this beauty brand, which has been a clean cult favorite forever. Her epiphany was in recognizing that better, safer materials might be used to create body care products while still making women more beautiful.
In an effort to clean up the business and raise the bar for beauty, she founded RMS in 2009 and has never wavered in her search for inventive, effective clean ingredients. RMS Beauty offers a variety of products including foundation, concealer, highlighter, lipstick, and eye shadow, all of which are made with premium, organic components. The “Un” Cover-Up, a lightweight, buildable concealer that also functions as a foundation, is the most popularized offering by the brand.
30. Beautycounter
Set out to revolutionize the beauty industry by developing clean, high-performing skincare and cosmetics, Beautycounter is a non-toxic makeup, skincare, and bath/body beauty brand headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Gregg Renfrew launched the beauty brand in 2013, and it focuses on five key pillars: Safety, Packaging, Ethical sourcing, Climate change, and Advocacy. The brand distributes a comprehensive range of skincare, makeup, and personal care products through a network of independent consultants and on its website.
31. Tatcha
Tatcha is a luxury skincare and beauty brand launched in 2009 by Vicky Tsai. The brand’s purpose is to share the beauty secrets of Japanese Geishas with the rest of the world by integrating traditional Japanese ingredients and beauty rituals in their products ranging from cleansers to moisturizers, serums, masks, and eye treatments. By purchasing this beauty brand, you treat your skin with natural Japanese ingredients that target just what it requires to reveal your most beautiful complexion.
32. Salt & Stone
Nima Jalali, a former professional snowboarder, and surfer who got interested in skincare after years of exposure to the sun, wind, and cold, created the Salt & Stone beauty brand in 2017 with the belief that everyday skincare essentials should work to improve one’s health and well-being.
SALT & STONE, with its focus on sustainability, use renewable solar and hydroelectric energy sources in their production and procurement, as well as only the best materials from organic farming. Salt & Stone products including natural deodorant, mineral sunscreen, and facial moisturizers, are all made with a blend of organic and natural ingredients, including botanical extracts, mineral-rich clays, and nourishing oils that work together to protect the skin.