‘Fine, I’ll do it myself ‘
We think this sentence best explains the evolution of the beauty industry, especially for women of color. It’s safe to say that the beauty industry has not been inclusive of black women. This caused a lot of frustration for them and led to a generation of young women who set out to create a beauty industry that sees and appreciates their skin color.
In this article, we highlight seven of such beauty companies and their indomitable founders who have revolutionized the beauty industry for black women.
1. Pat McGrath Labs
According to Vogue, Pat McGrath, CEO and Founder of Pat McGrath Labs is the most influential makeup artist in the world. Her career took off in the early 1990s and she has soared since then.
After working with Global brands like Giorgio Armani, i-D magazine and Procter & Gamble and making her mark on the fashion industry with her unconventional make-up artistry on and off the runway, she launched her line of beauty products in 2015 and by 2019, Pat McGrath Labs became a $1 billion company.
Pat McGrath Labs uses innovative technology to create an all-inclusive range of cosmetics products including foundation, lip products, makeup brushes, and kits. Some of the brand’s products have become holy grail products in the beauty community.
2. Topicals
In November 2022, Topicals’ CEO and founder, Olamide Olowe broke a record by becoming the youngest black woman ever to raise $10 million.
Launched in 2020 with her co-founder Claudia Teng, Topicals is a skincare brand focused on treating chronic skin conditions while advocating for mental health. The brand has become popular on Instagram and TikTok among the GenZ generation because of its fun and catchy visuals and mental health message.
3. Juvia’s Place
Juvia’s place is adored globally for its highly pigmented eyeshadows, especially among women of color.
The founder, Chichi Eburu, launched the brand due to the frustration she faced trying to find makeup products that suited her as a dark-complexioned woman. According to the Juvia’s Place website, Chi Chi began to understand that her beauty was just fine, it was the industry that had the problem. And she set out to fix the problem.
Juvia’s place has a colorful identity with rich undeniable African roots.
4. Evita Joseph
Evita Joseph Asare was a Ghanaian mechanical engineer with a fiery passion for makeup and she turned that passion into one of Ghana’s leading makeup companies, Evita Joseph Cosmetics.
Evita Joseph Cosmetics, a 2-time award-winning brand was started in the early 2010s and has since been on a mission to make world-class and authentic makeup products available to Ghanaian and African women.
5. House of Tara
House of Tara is one of the very first cosmetics companies in Nigeria. Starting as a beauty studio in 2004, the indigenous brand pioneered the now flourishing makeup industry in Nigeria. House of Tara forged this industry by establishing a lot of beauty industry firsts in Nigeria. The first beauty studio, beauty school and first makeup conference. These set House of Tara as a pacesetter beauty brand in Nigeria.
The House of Tara brand was founded by Mrs Tara Fela-Durotoye, the poster woman for female entrepreneurship in West Africa. She was on Forbes Top 50 powerful women in Africa in 2020 and has been recognized by many distinguished organizations for her commitment to female empowerment and involvement in industry.
6. Chick Cosmetics
Chick Cosmetics, a South African brand is creating beauty products for the future. They are an innovative and unconventional beauty brand that creates safe and cruelty free products. The brand is known for its high-quality products with beautiful color schemes and stand-out packaging.
Chick cosmetics is the thought child of Nomfundo Njibe, a South African woman whose makeup dream started after a trip to London. She aims to use Chick Cosmetics to create a diversified and inclusive beauty for Africans.
7. Suzie Beauty
Suzie Beauty is the first beauty company in Kenya. It was established in 2009 by founder Suzie Wokabi who wanted to revolutionize the Kenyan beauty retail market by making high quality but affordable products available.
Suzie Wokabi started Suzie Beauty because she realized that the market was filled with fake, unsafe, and expensive makeup products and this created a passion in her to change. Suzie Beauty’s products are created to specifically suite the African woman in terms of complexion and formula.
