Feature Photo: Spraise.com
In 2020, we saw a surge in support of Black-owned beauty brands. Following the racial unrest in June 2020, everyone had a list of black brands to support. Well, 2020 has come and gone (thankfully) however; we want to keep the momentum going for Black-owned skincare brands and continue to show our love.
Here are 44 Black-owned skincare brands to support in 2022 and beyond with a few favorites from COCOTIQUE’s founder Dana Hill-Robinson. Lucky for you, if you are a subscriber, you might have already tried out a few amazing skincare brands in our past beauty boxes. And if you are new around here, feel free to learn more about COCOTIQUE.
Want to get the best in beauty for women of color delivered to your doorstep each month? Subscribe to COCOTIQUE today and use code COCO10 for 10% off your first subscription! Each month you’ll get 5-8 products curated with WOC in mind delivered right to your mailbox - from hair care to skincare to makeup and more to pamper you from head to toe!
Black-Owned Skincare Brands
Founded by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Rose Ingleton, each product in this clean skincare line is infused with a Jamaican SuperFruit blend of natural fruit extracts from her beloved island home of Jamaica. She believes the key to good skincare is simplicity and feeding your skin with natural nutrient-rich ingredients. Her new SuperFruit Brightening Cleanser paired with the Complexion Brightening Booster and Signature Moisturizer will give your skin a luminous glow that will have everyone asking what products you’re using.
Inspired by her love of ancient skincare rituals, Alicia Keys created this skincare line to nourish your soul and your skin. She partnered with a board-certified dermatologist to create this clean and highly effective collection. The ethos of the brand is to spread her mission of self-care and self-love by incorporating nurturing rituals into your daily routine. A great way to start is with the Skin + Soul Starter Set.
3. Eadem
This science-backed skincare line was developed by women of color chemists. Using a first of its kind and proprietary Smart Melanin™ Beauty technology, you can feel confident your skin will be pampered with your specific melanin needs in mind. Their hero product, Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum, is a must-have to add to your hyperpigmentation fighting beauty arsenal.
4. Unsun
Sunscreen is an absolute must for your melanin rich skin year-round. This clean non-residue collection founded by Katonya Breaux in 2016 has options to protect your face and your body. Looking to add a glow and protect your skin at the same time? Look no further – their Bronze Goddess Face and Body Highlighter with SPF 15 is divine!
5. Pholk Beauty
Pholk Beauty sources ingredients from Black farmers and producers in the Southern US, Africa and the Caribbean. Inspired by folk remedies from the African Diaspora, Niambi Cacchioli’s affordable clean, natural skincare line is all about balancing your skin. Her nourishing skinfood incorporates Africa’s beauty secrets to infuse your skin with nature’s botanicals. In 2021 she partnered with Black Soil KY to support and amplify Black-owned farms. Their Perk Up EyeNectar features collards and hemp seed oil sourced from a Black-owned farm in her home state of Kentucky.
6. Hyper Skin
Rooted in multiculturalism, Hyper Skin is committed to treating dark spots and discoloration on all skin tones, and enhancing glow. Their Hyper Clear Brightening Clearing Vitamin C Serum is made with a blend of clean and natural ingredients that brightens skin, smooths texture and dramatically reduces the appearance of scars and dark marks.
7. Taylor Beauty
Taylor Beauty is a family owned brand all about family, fun and living a flavorful lifestyle. Co-founders teen daughter Madison Taylor and dad Bryan Taylor came up with the concept themselves. Encouraging their daughter to go after their dreams, Madison’s parents continue to guide her as Chief Experience Officer while dad uses his sales background to help as well. Their signature product is their line of super moisturizing lotions.
8. Urban Hydration
Psyche & Vontoba Terry founded Urban Hydration in 2010 with a goal to share naturally inspired products that achieve beautiful results that are gentle enough for the whole family, and a purpose to create and offer clean beauty that is affordable. If you’re looking for an assortment of plant-based skincare products from a brand that are not only natural, but also affordable then look no further. You will fall in love with their Micellar Cleansing Water, Nourish and Rehydrate Castor & Shea Face Wash and Lotion, and their natural Cleansing Oils that were all included in the Urban Hydration x COCOTIQUE Takeover Box. You can count on Urban Hydration to make your beauty routine a more natural and healthier experience!
9. Eve Milan
“Wear make up because you want to not because you have to” is the phrase founder Eden Gilliam lives by and is the foundation of Eve Milan | New York. An esthetician with almost 10 years experience in the skin care industry, Eden Gilliam created the brand after she saw countless clients masking their skin insecurities with makeup while feeling hopeless of achieving their skincare goals. The Gentle Cleansing Gel No.103 is one of their best sellers.
10. Beneath Your Mask
One of the purest non-toxic beauty brands on the market, Beneath Your Mask will for sure nourish and bring your skin back to life. Carried by some of the top retailers like Neiman Marcus and Blue Mercury, Beneath Your Mask has a ton of fan favorites.
Their first product and top seller, Heal Whipped Skin Souffle, contains anti-bacterial, anti-aging and antioxidant properties and has been formulated to hydrate and strengthen skin, combat the effects of aging, reduce the appearance of stretch marks, and maintain skin’s elasticity.
Beneath Your Mask is packaged in a dark violet Miron glass that energetically activates their botanical formulas. They do NOT package in plastic, and never will according to their website.
11. Nyakio
Nyakio is a black owned skin-care brand infused with globally sourced ingredients inspired by beauty traditions. Their formulas proudly incorporate Fair Trade Shea Butter and include a range of cold pressed oils in their BAOBAB Youth-Infused Daily Defense Crème.
12. KNC Beauty
Have you ever used a lip mask to get super soft, kissable lips? If not, KNC Beauty has you covered. Inspired by lip masks in Tokyo, founder Kristen Noel Crawly discovered there were no natural lip masks on the market. So of course, she took matters into her own hands launching KNC Beauty. The brand also offers eye and face masks.
13. Elements of Aliel
Formulated to treat dull skin with a simple 3-step routine, Elements of Aliel focuses on clean plant based ingredients. Cleanse and exfoliate with their signature Beetroot Cleansing Polish, followed by their Glow Essence and ACE Nourishing Skin Oil.
14. Kaike
Everyone loves to celebrate and your skin should be no exception. Founded in 2015 by Keli Smith, KAIKE (pronounced ‘cake’), is a fun, plant-based skincare brand with a belief in celebrating your skin. Their best sellers are the Sugar Scrub All Over Exfoliator, Frosting Hair & Body Butter and the Melt Oil Cleanser.
15. Epara
Focusing specifically on hydration and hyperpigmentation, Epara is a luxury natural skin care brand for women of color. Scientific formulations drive healing, antioxidant and nurturing properties of African botanicals to give you an overall healthy and radiant skin.
You can also arrange a free 1-1 skincare consultation with one of their experts. Now who doesn’t love that?
16. SPRAISE
SPRAISE (short for skin praise) provides premium skincare products with a passion for effective beauty that is healthy, luxury, and sensible. But their products speak for themselves. In short, founder Dominique created SPRAISE to reimagine what it means to care for skin after her battle with dry skin and eczema.
Get your start by trying the Almond Praise set that includes their Almond Body Wash, Body Scrub and Moisturizing Body Souffle.
17. Undefined Beauty
Founder Dorian Morris is here to give you wellness and conscious capitalism all in one and we love it! Their mission is to “un-define” and democratize beauty and destigmatize plant-based solutions through an unapologetic, uncompromising, unfiltered approach.
18. AcARRE
Founded and led by Chief Chemist Tracy, AcARRE is said to be a new natural for the beauty minimalist. Nature based skincare is the foundation for the brand as they believe feeding your skin the highest grade organic ingredients will yield the best results. Their use of bioactive beauty products helps to re-balance the microbiome, bringing balance to the skin and scalp.
19. 54 Thrones
Listed as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things in 2020, 54 Thrones is sustainable clean skincare that celebrates African beauty rituals. Sourced firsthand from cooperatives and artisans throughout Africa, 54 Thrones believes clean beauty originated there, where African rituals were initially created with intent to heal or celebrate.
The name 54 Thrones distinctively represents Africa's 54 countries. The African Beauty Butter Collection Deluxe Tin includes 5 flavors of their thick, creamy ultra-moisturizing butters used to nourish, replenish and hydrate your skin. Their products are also Paraben-Free, Cruelty-Free, GMO-free, Sulfate-Free and Toxin Free.
20. Shani Darden Skin Care
Shani Darden is considered the secret behind some of Hollywood’s most glowing faces. Prime example, Kelly Rowland who we all know and love! After training under a lead dermatologist, Shani set out to create her own products and her Retinol Reform® serum gained a large celebrity following.
Also if you are near Beverly Hills, definitely check out her physical location, the Shani Darden Studio or book a virtual consultation.
21. Hanahana Beauty
Hanahana Beauty is a consciously clean skincare + wellness brand whose mission is to disrupt the global beauty industry. Their products are made with shea butter directly from the Katariga Women's Shea Cooperative in Ghana combined with natural oils. brand prides themselves on fair sourcing. In addition, their social impact pledge and benefits are top tier.
Hanahana Beauty includes a line of Shea butters, exfoliating cleansers and body bar and lip balm. Dry skin does not stand a chance with this brand.
22. Mary Louise Cosmetics
From face masks to body butters, soap and hand sanitizer, Mary Louise Cosmetics is natural skincare made easy. Founder and CEO Akilah Mary-Louise Releford was always obsessed with natural beauty products and wanted to make some for others that were easy and fun.
The Mary Louise “Mississippi Mud Facial Mask” will give your skin the natural pampering it deserves with bentonite clay, raw oats, rhassoul clay, marshmallow root and a nice blend of essential oils.
23. Jacq’s
“No Shady Toxins, Just Clean Ingredients”. Jacq’s was founded out of the need to formulate non-toxic solutions to address the constant body changes of Barbara Jaques after her diagnosis of ovarian cancer. With the belief of following nature’s lead, Jacq's is made from locally sourced ingredients in South Florida including fruits, roots and flowers that are infused in all of the skin and body care products.
The Jacq’s Revitalizing Face Toner is a hydrating floral tea for your skin formulated with refreshing Mint, toning and moisturizing Hibiscus petals and healing Burdock Root.
24. SkinBUTTR
SkinBUTTR is all about loving the skin you are in and helping you achieve confidence naturally. Simplify your routine and promote healthy glowing skin sustainably. The brand’s products consist of whipped shea based body butters, scrubs and skincare.
25. BeautyStat
Beauty Stat’s brand mission is to scour the planet for new beauty ingredients and technologies. Cosmetic Chemist Ron Robinson started as a chemist developing products for Clinique and eventually took on other product development roles for Revlon and Avon to name a few.
Ultimately, Ron wanted to cut through the chatter and help consumers understand what type of beauty products are working and not working while making better beauty decisions. Their first product was the BeautyStat Cosmetics Universal C Skin Refiner, which stabilizes vitamin c and was named best vitamin c by Allure and Harper’s Bazaar.
26. Oui the People
Shaving never looked so good...or luxurious! If you have been wanting to upgrade your shaving experience Oui the People is everything you need. They are committed to changing the language of beauty and develop products that make you feel comfortable in your own skin.
Their signature single blade gold razor, which is engineered and manufactured in Germany, was created to be more gentle on the skin than your average safety razor.
27. Angie Watts
Angie created the natural, vegan and cruelty-free skincare collection right out of her kitchen after a long battle with her daughter's eczema issues. After finding a remedy to battle eczema without the use of steroids her skincare line was born. Long after seeing the benefits Angie committed to formulating all of her products with plant based ingredients.
28. Base Butter
If you have seen a list of black-owned skincare brands, chances are you have seen Base Butter! Their mission is to help make skincare easy for oily, combination, and acne skin types.
Base Butter’s signature and best selling product? Radiate Face Jelly, a lightweight aloe vera based moisturizer. Yes it’s worth the hype!
29. Bolden Skin Care
Founded by two black women, Bolden Skin Care is devoted to helping shape the Global conversation about inclusive standards of beauty. Their line ranges from cleansers, masks, moisturizers and serums. Their Glow Hydrating Mask is a customer favorite delivering intense moisture, while calming and providing a youthful glow.
30. BROWN GIRL Jane
Receiving Refinery 29’s Beauty Innovator of the Year award, BROWN GIRL Jane for sure makes our 2022 black-owned skincare list. If you have been wondering if CBD based products live up to the hype, now is your chance to give it a try.
BROWN GIRL Jane CBD is non-intoxicating and is formulated with no binders, fillers, excipients, dyes or unknown substances. No worries on your end, the products are THC free and undergo third party testing.
31. Buttah Skincare
After years of dealing with acne and hyperpigmentation, Buttah Skincare was founded by model and actor Dorian Renaud. Buttah’s goal is to enrich skincare for multicultural skin tones and to give melanin skin the attention it deserves.
Tailor your face routine with their Customizable Skin Kit which includes the Buttah Skin Cleanser, Buttah Skin Vitamin C Serum, and the Cocoshea Revitalizing Cream or Facial Shea Butter (Your choice!)
32. Golde
Golde prides themselves on what they coin Superfood Selfcare. Their products are a celebration of superfoods to effortlessly boost your daily routine, from morning smoothies to skincare. The brand originally started by launching their Tumeric Latte blend and expanded from there.
The Papaya Bright Face Mask also won the Allure Best in Beauty Award in 2020.
33. Shea Radiance
Empowering with beauty, Shea Radiance was founded by Funlayo Alabi to help solve her son’s dry and eczema prone skin conditions. Shea Butter, was the ultimate healing balm.
Their Shea Butter, also called “Women’s Gold” in West Africa”, is sourced directly from women-run cooperatives to help provide economic access that allows women to feed, clothe and educate their children. 16 million African women make a living picking Shea nuts and processing Shea butter.
Their line of skincare products includes an array of African Black Soap collections as well as body butters and creams.
34. Minimo
Do you love ingredients like tumeric, honey and lemon for your skin? If so Minimo’s Glow Tumeric Face Scrub is what you need. Minimo Skin Essentials was founded based on a deep obsession with the power & value of genuine natural ingredients & how they can do wonders for the skin.
35. AbsoluteJOI Skincare
AbsoluteJOI highlights themselves as clean beauty for melanin rich skin and we love to see it! Their products are plant-based, cruelty-free, contain no skin bleach, parabens, sulphates, perfumes or dyes. Formulated by a physician, their skincare line is based on science and is fragrance free for sensitive skin.
Their best seller is the Skin Refining Night Oil with Retinol and Vitamins C+E.
36. Anne’s Apothecary
Anne’s Apothecary is a skincare line handcrafted with herbs and clays to produce skin loving products that are gentle, easy to use and paraben free. Every single product is packaged in clear glass or PET plastic (a safe recyclable material).
Their products are also free of Aluminum, Baking Soda, Sulfates, GMO, Propylene Glycol, BPA, Parabens and Silicones. Sounds like a winning combination in our book!
37. Mother’s Shea
Not all Shea Butters are created equally according to Mother’s Shea and they want you to know they are committed to effective clean beauty. With a max of five ingredients total, Mother's Shea utilizes upwards of 60x the amount of shea butter as competitors.
You can find Mother’s Shea at a Target near you!
38. Shea Yeleen
Handmade in small batches to ensure quality, Shea Yeleen was established in 2005 as a Non Profit dedicated to empowering women in West Africa and the United States through the production, sale and use of shea butter products.
The company now specializes in manufacturing high quality, organic, fair trade skin care products with an assortment of body butters, soaps, body balms, and lip balms.
39. dermHA
dermHA is led by its Founder and President, Mildred Bell. Mildred is a licensed medical esthetician with over 30 years of experience in the skincare and beauty industry. Focusing on skincare for all skin types and tones, all dermHA facial treatments include a consultation and recommendations for dermHA home care.
Some of their featured products include the dermHA Gentle Exfoliating Creme, Lactic Acid Exfoliating Serum, and Lactic Acid Exfoliating Body Gel.
40. ROSEN Skincare
Fed up and quite frankly sick and tired of the acne skin care industry, founder Jamika Martin wanted to completely change the way acne has been treated by legacy brands. After fighting with acne her entire life, she knew there had to be a better way with products not filled with questionable ingredients and repetitive formulas.
Jamika founded ROSEN Skincare by focusing on clean ingredients that treat acne naturally while bringing people confidence. Her top three products are the Rosen Earth Cleanser, Rose Water Face Dew and Breakout which is a super simple paste for bumps and breakouts.
41. Black Girl Sunscreen
Sunscreen is always in season according to Black Girl Sunscreen. Also, contrary to popular belief, yes black people need Sunscreen too! Black Girl Sunscreen has created a sunscreen for everyday use, filled with natural ingredients, that will protect your skin from the sun and doubles as a moisturizing lotion. Even better because it doesn’t leave a white residue.
Black Girl Sunscreen is also Vegan and Cruelty Free. There’s even an option for kids!
42. KLUR
As an independent, self-funded, woman-owned and operated company, founder Lesly Thorton believes skin wellness can be achieved with well-considered, clean products and minimal maintenance. For almost a decade, Lesly has been helping others achieve skin wellness through personalized treatments and a creation of products defined by simplicity.
KLUR is a botanically based collection of high-performance skincare and multi-purpose self-care products.
43. Nuekie
Like many people Cosmetic Chemist Eunice Cofie-Obeng suffered from hyperpigmentation which left her feeling frustrated and insecure about her beauty. After spending 17 years on research and development she formulated a solution for people with skin of color.
44. Kreyol Essence
The creation of Kreyol Essence was fueled by founder Yve-Car’s vision to stimulate economic activity in Haiti as well as her own natural hair journey. Inspired by her mom who would use Haitian Black Castor Oil to fix her many hair catastrophes, Yve-Car took matters into her own hands when she could not find the organic oil available in Philadelphia
As a long time activist of Hatii, Kreyol Essence’s mission from the beginning was about job creation for the people of Haiti so every purchase has a direct and positive impact.
Have you tried any of these black-owned skincare brands? Clearly there are a lot more on the market so we’re excited to bring you this list to get you started.
Do you want to see some of these products in our future monthly COCOTIQUE boxes? Contact the brands and let them know!