or the past few years, we have seen a huge shift in the beauty industry. Many consumers are more conscious about what ingredients are in their products and are making the decision to find more natural and ethically sourced alternatives to add to their beauty routine. Many mainstream brands have decided to end animal testing and transition to vegan friendly products since it is now in high demand. While there are so many amazing brands that can be added to this list, we are highlighting the top 10 most underrated black owned vegan beauty brands that everyone should be investing in.
This hair and skincare brand was founded by three, first generation black entrepreneurs from South Central LA. Founder Kyra Nicole started making shea butter creams during her time at UCLA, since the surrounding beauty supply stores lacked products for curly hair. From there, she decided to create the beauty line in hopes of creating more natural options for people with curly and coily textures.
Their mission is to empower people to embrace their natural curl patterns and love their skin. Kyra, along with her two co founders John and Michael Moore, strive to inspire, educate, and encourage young entrepreneurs that anything is possible regardless of where you come from.
Their most popular item is the Original Butter Cream which retails at $11.99. The Original Butter Cream can be used not only for hydrating your hair, but skin as well.
While Uoma Beauty has been getting a lot of traction in the mainstream media recently, this women owned brand had to make the list because their products are PHENOMENAL! Nigerian born and LA based Sharon Chuter set the tone in the beauty industry for creating rebellious and innovative beauty products for all skin types and skin tones. Uoma Beauty’s mission is to empower their inclusive tribe by promoting vibrant self expression in the form of beauty.
One of their products that gets so much hype is their ‘Say What?!’ Foundation which currently retails at $39.00. It comes in 51 shades (yes, 51 shades!!!) and the weightless buildable foundation gives you a flawless matte finish.
The vegan friendly and toxin free nail polish collection was created by Ginger Johnson and Liz Pickett back in 2010. They instantly bonded over their love for all things beauty. Being vegetarian and vegan, both Ginger and Liz wanted to create a nail polish line that aligned with their healthy lifestyles. They also wanted to empower and educate people on a safer alternative when it comes to beauty products while still maintaining high quality and pigmentation. All Ginger + Liz products are Hypoallergenic and contain 5 - free formulas.
As of right now, their products are completely sold out (yes, they are high in demand) but be sure to subscribe to their newsletter to get your toxin free nail polish the minute they are available.
This fairly new brand is probably one of the most slept on brands on the list. OG Youtube Beauty Guru Whitney (also known as Naptural) and sister Tafetta White created Melanin Haircare back in 2015. Their focus is not only natural hair care but scalp care as well. Each product contains high quality, natural ingredients along with safe synthetics in order to ensure the products have a stable shelf life and to elevate their performance. As we know, natural hair products can get expensive. However, they strive to provide the best quality at an affordable price.
One of their most popular items is the Multi-Use Softening Leave in Conditioner, which retails at $18.99. This product is lightweight, keeps your hair hydrated, and still defines your curls without the feeling of product buildup.
Beauty Bakerie is another brand that has been getting a lot of media attention within the past year due to the major shout out from the queen Bey herself. Cashmere Nicole established the company back in 2011 as a one woman operation. Cashmere always was ambitious and started working on a business plan at the age of 14. Rather than letting obstacles like having her first child at 16 and being diagnosed with breast cancer be a set back, she used that as motivation to continue to build her brand. Cashmere wanted to build an inclusive brand and community for all beauty enthusiasts to enjoy vegan friendly products that catered to all skin tones.
One of my favorites from the Beauty Bakerie Line is the Proof is in the Pudding Eyeshadow Palette which retails at $39.00. The neutral palette is not only pigmented but has a great variety of matte and metallic colors, making it the perfect palette to transition your look from day to night.
This Palo Alto based brand is here to reimagine beauty for the ambitious woman. Founder Aisha Doize was an investment banker around the globe but found her passion for makeup early on and eventually created Bossy Cosmetics.
The makeup line focuses on liquid lipsticks and other lip care essentials that look amazing on a variety of skin tones. Their most popular items are the Liquid Matte Genius Lipstick, which retails for $16.99.
The Houston based company was founded by Kim Roxie, who found her passion for makeup during college. She worked as a makeup artist which led her to open her brick and mortar in Houston. From there Kim built a community for black and brown women to share their love for makeup. Her mission is to share the love of makeup and do so in kindness.
The name Lamik stands for Love and Makeup in Kindness. One of her most popular items is the Celebrity Brow Kit, which retails for $55.00
The eco friendly haircare line was created by former chemist Obia Ewah. After a health scare in her 3rd year of med school, Obia started becoming more health conscious about the food she ate and eventually what body and hair products she used as well.
She wanted to create a line that was ethically sourced and actually nourished the hair. One of the most popular items from the collection is the Coconut Shea Shampoo Bar, which retails at only $9.99
Honey’s Handmade is a plant based cosmetic line. They have everything from skincare to haircare and all are created with hydrating oils. Even though the company promotes natural products, they have a specific line that is vegan friendly.
One of their most popular items from the vegan collection is the Caribbean Hibiscus Black Tea Conditioning Serum, which retails for only $5.00
This au natural line created by Kayla Phillips is a bath and body / haircare beauty brand. The Austin Texas native created the line after changing to a vegan and sustainable lifestyle at the age of 14.
Kayla wanted to give people more access to vegan and animal cruelty free products at a reasonable price. Her most popular items are her muscle relaxing bath bombs which are currently on sale for $12.00.
I hope you enjoyed the list of underrated vegan beauty brands. Feel free to comment what brands you have tried out along with any brands you think are underrated as well.
Beauty & Fashion Blogger
Insta: @itsreneeangelique
Sources:
FORBES: HOW CEO CASHMERE NICOLE BUILT A $5M BRAND WHILE BATTLING BREAST CANCER. (2017, December 8). Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://www.beautybakerie.com/blogs/beauty-bakerie-in-the-media/forbes-how-ceo-cashmer e-nicole-built-a-5m-brand-while-battling-breast-cancer
Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://kyrashea.com/pages/ourstory Beautiful Uprising. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://uomabeauty.com/
Melanin Haircare Who We Are. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://melaninhaircare.com/pages/about-us
Our Story. (n.d.-b). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://bossybeauty.com/pages/about-us About Lamik Beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from
https://lamikbeauty.com/pages/about
About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://www.obianaturals.com/pages/about-us VEGAN PRODUCTS. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from
https://www.honeyshandmade.com/collections/vegan-products
Foxie Cosmetics. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://foxiecosmetics.com/shop
