(On The Pulse)
10 Emerging Women-Founded Beauty Brands That Deserve A Spot In Your Routine
Yours to discover.
While it’s easy to use Women’s History Month as a time to champion wildly successful women-owned businesses, it’s important to give a nod to those emerging brands in the space that might not be there yet. The Davids to the industry’s Goliaths, if you will. As a beauty writer, I spend plenty of time trying new skin, hair, makeup and body products on a monthly basis — a perk of the job that never gets old, and it’s easy to see how many incredible products there are out there that (in my humble opinion) aren’t getting the love and attention they deserve.
Consumers (myself included) are becoming more conscious and that, in turn, has created space for more niche beauty brand owners to take center stage. I’m fully on board with this trend and hope to see it continue well into this year as more up-and-coming lines pop up on our radar. To highlight what I’ve been loving lately, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite products from emerging women-owned brands. This is, of course, a condensed highlight reel. If I were to truly call out every single favorite, we’d be here for a while. But, if you have a few dollars to spare and are looking for some new beauty products to fall in love with, keep scrolling. I’m sharing all my picks ahead.
Body care is a category I always used to skimp on budget-wise. This lotion, along with Iota’s Supercloud Body Serum, shifted my mindset almost instantly. The brand’s founder, Monique Meneses, saw body care as an often overlooked category when it comes to overall skin health. So she decided to create clean, science-backed formulas like the SuperMatcha Body Lotion that support the health of your skin microbiome. This fragrance-free formula energizes, firms, and renews the skin with an array of vitamins, minerals, superfoods, pre- and postbiotics, and adaptogens. The formula fully proved to me that matcha isn’t just for drinking.
I’m a huge fan of Octavia Morgan and her suite of fine fragrances. Not only is each formula clean (a hard thing to achieve in the world of perfumery), the longevity and overall scent profiles of each are completely unmatched. Dark Rose is a standout. It’s a rich, sweet and juicy scent with notes of plum, black rose, cumin, vanilla, and pink peppercorn. Having recently launched in a few major retailers, expect to see even more from the brand in the coming months.
I’m so happy to see that Kulfi is having a moment amongst the TikTok crowd lately. A celebration of South East Asian culture, the brand was founded by Priyanka Ganjoo as a way to cater to darker skin tones often overlooked by the beauty industry. This cream eyeshadow is an absolute favorite of mine. It’s highly pigmented, super buttery for easy blending, and lasts incredibly long.
Clean fragrance brand Belnu was born after founder Darcy Moore was diagnosed with skin cancer. She wanted scents that were high-quality and mood-boosting, but gentle on the skin — the result was Belnu. Rose Steady’s hero notes include frankincense, cashmere woods, rose, sandalwood, and cedarwood. It’s a warm, woody, and uplifting scent I spritz even when I’m working from home.
You may have heard of Sienna Naturals since Issa Rae joined co-founder Hannah Diop on the venture. The brand’s mission is to put textured hair on the map when it comes to clean beauty innovation. It does so by utilizing its “Rooted Technology,” which consists of a plant-based polymer that acts as a natural silicone alternative to add slip and shine to curls, plus ingredients that care for the scalp. This gentle, plant-based mask is perfect for dry, curly, and coily hair types because it contains the perfect balance of protein and moisture to strengthen, hydrate, and add elasticity to curls without weighing them down.
My fellow Brown friends and I never stop talking about how good Lion Pose products are. Developed by a team of Harvard-trained women dermatologists and founded by Madhu Punjabi and Nisha Phatak, the brand addresses the unique needs of skin of color. This formula works wonders for hyperpigmentation, acne scars, and other forms of discoloration on the skin. It’s definitely on the stronger side, but my acne-prone complexion can’t get enough.
Identical twin sisters Felice and Heather Chan (Felice being a doctor and acupuncturist) started Moonbow as a way to go back to their roots. The recently-launched brand uses beloved traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, creating a synergy between eastern herbs and western product innovation. This decadent hydrating cream is fragrance-free and includes chrysanthemum to clear excess heat and inflammation from the skin while pearl powder enhances your natural radiance.
I appreciate that this light- to medium-coverage foundation is designed specifically for sensitive and reactive skin. If you deal with eczema, acne, or rosacea, this formula could definitely be for you. This was super important to the brand’s founder Alicia Scott because she knows those with these skin types can experience flare-ups at any moment and that shouldn’t mean you have to give up your favorite makeup products. The foundation is hydrating, gentle on the skin, and oil-free with buildable coverage.
SIV’s founder Isabel Vitale knows how frustrating it can be dealing with acne and other skin conditions. That’s why she created the Biome Balancing Serum — a revolutionary formula that utilizes bacillus spores to strengthen your skin’s microbiome. The unique thing about SIV is that it adapts to your own personal biology, making your skin more resilient and less inflamed with reduced redness. I’ve been using SIV for only a week and I was surprised at how much better my acne-prone skin looks. I can’t recommend it enough if you have sensitive, reactive skin like I do.
Nuele founders Anne Cheatham and Christine Martey-Ochola both have backgrounds in biochemistry, biological research, and food science. That’s why the brand’s whole philosophy is centered around minimally formulated, clean products that maximize on effectiveness. They also aren’t fans of misleading practices in the beauty industry when it comes to listing ingredients. This is why I picked up this scalp serum from the brand which is designed to soothe, moisturize, and detox the hair using simple organic ingredients. My hair can get extremely dry, and this formula added some much needed softness and hydration without making it feel greasy or heavy.
