As a black woman, one of my biggest challenges (and sources of frustration), is shopping for products that I can actually wear. When I walk into Sephora, my initial feeling of excitement to try all the new products I saw online is quickly drowned out by the voice in my head asking millions of questions. Will there be enough shades for me? Will the shades that looked dark online actually be dark in person? What about the undertones? What was supposed to be fun can quickly become depressing.
In spite of the struggle that comes with finding the right beauty products, playing with makeup can still be fun. Even for deep skinned women. The opportunities that are finally there for us to experiment with all types of cosmetics, are in no small part due to many pioneers in the beauty industry and community. These individuals and brands put their wallets on the line, and took the risk to create products for all skin tones when the rest of the beauty world was saying that brown skinned people don’t buy makeup. And now we have a number of influencers who have put their reputations with huge companies on the line to speak out in behalf of the women whose shades were unrepresented in most foundation lines.
Thanks to these developments, more and more black-owned beauty brands are rising up and flourishing. These brands are showing everyone how it should be done, by creating exciting new releases that everyone, from the deepest, darkest mahogany to the lightest, palest white can try and enjoy. Let’s take a look a few of these brands owned by creators of color, and are grabbing everyone’s attention. Some of these you may have heard of and tried, others you may be less familiar with, but now you have a nice list of places to give your coin to for quality product. Let us know below if you’ve tried any of these and who your favorite B.O.M.B.s are!
KA’OIR COSMETICS
Keyshia Ka’oir, best known for her business savvy – but also her wicked sense of style and stunning beauty – recently relaunched her makeup line Ka’oir cosmetics with an exciting set of neutral eyeshadows. The palette in which these shadows came, made a lot of noise as soon as it hit the internet, because it was shaped like a letter K. For some this was off-putting, but for most, the beautifully pigments swatches of reds, browns and glittery gold served as a selling point. I know I still have this palette on my wishlist! This release, as well as her previous release of glitter lip kits in every color, is very on brand for Keyshia, and shows us what we can expect in the future from her. Keyshia’s style is polarizing and attention grabbing – and Ka’Oir cosmetics has proven to be the same.
****Insert picture from Kaoir Cosmetics Instagram
JUVIA’S PLACE
Juvia’s Place can now, in my opinion, be called a sort of veteran among black owned makeup brands, while still being newbies. They’ve been through so much. When I first heard of and visited the Juvia’s website, I was immediately taken aback by the low prices. Everyone on Youtube seemed be raving about the pigmentation and quality of their shadows, and how large the sizes were. The packaging was beautiful and proudly displayed artwork of Queen Neffertiti and names unique to the African continent. It sounded too good to be true. Yet, here we are, four years and a myriad of other beauty products later. Somehow, the Chichi Eburu, the creator has found a way to keep things going! The prices are still low, and the products are still good. I personally swear by the Juvia’s Place blush palettes. And just this month they released a collection of foundations and concealers for every shade of brown.
UOMA BEAUTY
A baby among the pack, Uoma Beauty is a spanking brand new contender in the beauty space. In the case of this brand, however, age is really just a number. Just out the gate, owner Sharon Chuter (described on her about page as a “Nigerian born, LA & London based former beauty executive”) has given beauty lovers everything they need to fall in love with Uoma. A foundation range of over 50 shades, an array of concealers and double ended concealer sticks makeup the complexion products. Their starting lineup also includes three eyeshadow palettes, liquid eyeliner, metallic and matte lipsticks and glosses. That’s just a few months in. If this is any indicator of the kind of effort and passion we can expect from the brand in the future, I am impatiently on the edge of my seat, while my wallet bursts into tears.
BEAUTY BAKERIE
Just the name Beauty Bakerie gives me a warm feeling inside. Maybe its my love for alliterations or just the fact that it brings to mind the smell of baked goods. One of the most creative brands among all brands, Beauty Bakerie’s tasty sounding products are more than just products making up a cool theme. The concept draws you in, but this is no gimmick. The brand quietly has created a collection of unique beauty products that stand a part from anyone on the market. Upon releasing their foundation and concealer range last year, Cashmere Nicole – the mastermind behind it all – received lots of praise for creating a range numbered from dark to light, with a focal point on really nailing the nuanced shades and tones of brown women. In addition, the formulas of all her complexion products, as well as her infamous lippies, are made to be truly long lasting. They aren’t going anywhere until you wipe them off. There are so many cool things about this brand that I can only tell you to check them out for yourself and see what I mean.
****Insert picture from beauty bakerie Instagram
PAT MACGRATH
It only makes sense that renowned, global makeup artist, Pat MacGrath have a fashion line. Time Magazine even named her as one of this year’s most influential people. The truth is, though, that she has been influencing and impacting the fashion industry far longer than this year. Having worked as an artist for 25 years, Pat has the experience of working with women of all skin tones, including her own for years. She also has the experience of life even prior to her professional career, where she learned from her mother what shade of makeup they needed – even if it meant using cocoa powder. Pat Macgrath Labs combines all that experience with the cutting edge and avant garde spirit of the fashion industry, the luxury of having access to and using the best ingredients to create her products, and the artistic concepts of a visionary, and brings them to life.
COLOURED RAINE
Founded by Lorraine Dowdy in 2013, Coloured Raine is a brand with a trusted name outside of being black-owned. Initially, the brand started out with having one of the widest array of stunningly shaded matte liquid lipsticks on the market. The formula was known as one of the best – both comfortable but also vivid and bright. Thereafter, their first palette release – The Queen of Hearts – was snatched out of stockjust as quickly as it launched. ANd rightfully so, as it was one of the few innovative and pigmented neutral palettes suitable for deep skin at the time. The quality was also unmatched. Since then, the brand has continued to give us back-t0-back releases that are just as exciting.. One of my favorite things about Coloured Raine are the beautiful color stories told by each of their palettes and eyeshadow collections. The most recent, Safari Raine palette, is screaming my name as I type.
******Insert Picture from Coloured Raine’s instagram
MENTED COSMETICS
In a world full of nude lipsticks, and other makeup and fashion products that are an interesting shade of pale pink, Mented Cosmetics has come to the rescue. For those of us who’s nude is a wide array of other colors, Mented has launched a line of lipsticks, liners, glosses, nail polishes and now shadows that are truly nude. Of course, it’s fun to play with colors from time to time when doing our makeup. But everyone has those moments where we need – or want – to look beautiful but without it being too noticeable. Or for those of us who love a good smokey eye, an actual nude lip that matches our skin is necessary. I love that Mented rose to this challenge on behalf of all women of color. The nude lipstick trend is no longer a makeup trend that we have to feel left out of.
DANESSA MYRICKS
Another shaker and mover among black makeup artists in the beauty industry is Danessa Myricks. An obvious lover of art, Myricks fell into her work as a makeup artist and never looked back. Now with over 20 years of experience under her belt, and having worked on the faces of many A-list celebrities of color, she has brought us some of the keys to her success. Many stylists and artists in the hair and beauty space will tell you that in order to work with black hair and skin, they’ve often had to create their own products and formulas, and Danessa admits to doing the same. By means of her line of “multifunctional” and “customizable” products, we too can attempt to achieve looks similar to the otherworldly ones she creates.
B’ELLAGANT COSMETICS
If B.O.M.Bs could be likened to siblings, B’ellegant would be the experimental, rock-n-roll loving one in the family. Founded in year 2016, from the start this brand’s aim was to “appeal to all skin tones and all types of people,” according to the brands second post on Instagram before it’s official lost in February of that year. Since then, the brand has created EVERYTHING you can think of, everything the bigger brands might not have the funds to try and push out into stores. Rainbow highlighter, glitters, liquid lipsticks of all shades, seasonal eyeshadow palettes, and even neon pigment powders – the sky is the limit for B’ellegant. Being independent works to this black owned makeup brand’s favor, because although it probably takes twice as much work, the product has twice as much appeal to me as many other brands.
AJ CRIMSON BEAUTY
Last, but certainly not least is a beauty brand by yet another trusted black makeup artist- AJ Crimson. For some reason, if a professional artist who has been in the game for as long as AJ refers a product to me, or tells me he uses it- I’m buying it. How much more so if it’s something he actually created to use on his clients. AJ still works as a global makeup artist, and has touched the faces of some of our favorite beauties like Lauren London, Naturi Naughton, Letoya Luckett, and Brandy. His products have gone even further than his hands, as his foundation kits are used by many celebrity makeup artists worldwide.