40 Black Beauty Brands to Invest in Right Now (and Always)

Born in Sweden, founder Badria Ahmed didn't have many options when it came to styling her tight coils. After years of chemically straightening it, Ahmed set out to learn more about her hair type and how to care for it, mixing up moisturising creams and gels in her kitchen along the way. The result? Holy Curls, an all-natural hair-care range geared towards wavy, spiral, tight, or kinky curls. The collection is small at the moment, just four products, but their gorgeous formulations and luxurious textures (minus sulphates and cruelty free, of course) are all worth your attention.

Check out: The Holy Curls Discovery Kit (£28)

Stripping away the impurities from its ingredients, Sdot Beauty — created by Stephanie Coker — was formulated after years of her own experience finding the perfect products that would combine superior quality with environmental consciousness. Refusing to formulate with dyes, parabens, mineral oils, phthalates, sulphates, SLS, TEA, alcohol, lanolin, petroleum, PEGs, silicones, or petrolatum, Sdot offers natural remedies with all of the enriching benefits.

Check out: Sdot Beauty Satin Rouge Body Polish (£29)

Vegan and cruelty free, The Lip Bar is on a mission to change the way we all think about beauty. Defying the standard of beauty and creating its own path and rules, the range bursts with inclusive shades that range up to 450 unique tones.

Check out: The Lip Bar Liquid Matte Lipstick (£11)

Frederick Benjamin is a grooming brand created by industry veteran Michael James. Taking into consideration common concerns such as ingrown hairs, razor bumps, and irritation, along with the white space in the men's grooming market, James set out to create clean products ——everything from hair stylers and skin care to an entire shaving range — that make barbershop-quality products accessible and easy to use.

Check out: Frederick Benjamin Sleek Water Pomade (£13)

Created by UK blogger and influencer Jessica Debrah, By Jess D is a cruelty-free makeup line that's all about offering colourful, richly-pigmented products at an affordable price. "I wanted women to be able to afford quality makeup that was also cruelty-free, and I wanted all women to feel beautiful and represented," Debrah told POPSUGAR. And she definitely achieved her goal. Her lipsticks fly off the shelves (her lipstick shade Rum Cake sold out less than two weeks after the website launched), and she's already expanded into eyeshadow palettes.

Check out: By Jess D Liquid Velvet Lipstick in Rum Cake (£14)

Taking root in the diversity and free spirit of New York City, Briogeo is a hair-care brand that seeks individuality, positivity, and transparency at the heart of its products. Cruelty-free ingredients that are 90 to 100 percent naturally derived is indicative of the care and attention they put into making sure our hair is nourished, hydrated, and strengthened from root to tip. A product for everyone, Briogeo sees our texture and raises us high-quality curl care.

Check out: Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Strengthening Treatment Oil (£28)

When developing this perfume line, founder Maya Njie set out to capture scents that would help revive the memories so engrained in her family photo album. From her small Swedish summer house to her grandparents' visits on a Sunday afternoon, these perfumes capture the soul of Njie's Swedish-Gambian heritage, whether that's with hints of leather, bursts of sweet summer fruits, or a unique combination of vanilla and cardamom that's particular to Swedish tradition.

Check out: Maya Njie Les Fleurs Fragrance (£85)

Swapping pharmacy and prescriptions for cosmetics and formulations, MDMFlow's founder, Florence, went from studying pharmacy to learning cosmetic science at London College of Fashion. And at 22, she created her own cosmetics brand, MDM Flow, which is a culmination of all her interests: hip hop, beauty, fashion, and science. Heavily inspired by the late '90s/early aughts, MDM Flow is abundant in nostalgia and the reigning years of hip hop and all its glamour. Bursting with colour, exuberance, and personality, MDM Flow is a brand for those who embrace beauty with their chest.

Check out: MDM Flow Lip Collection (£13-£15)

Nails are so personal to your style and understanding that — as well as understanding the tones and formulations required for polishes to shine on darker complexions — founder Rachel James brought Pear Nova to the table. Inspired by the colours and fabrics she sees on fashion runways, the polishes are 5-free (so no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, toluene, or dibutyl phthalate DBP), with collections like BRWNGRLMGC and Trips to Tulum, that will turn your nail-painting session into an at-home salon-finish treatment you won't forget.

Check out: Pear Nova BRWNGRLMGC Collection (£35)

R & R Luxury basks in the beauty of shea butter. The brand infuses the natural ingredient into all of its products, including soaps, candles, home fragrances, and moisturising balms — transforming the raw, age-old ingredient into truly luxurious and elegant formulations.

Check out: R & R Luxury Black Soap Collection (£6-£12)

Pat McGrath is undeniably the most important makeup artist of our generation. Born in Britain to a mother of Jamaican heritage, McGrath is a trailblazer in every sense of the word, breaking beauty boundaries every chance she could — whether that was for a runway show in Paris or on the cover of some of the world's biggest fashion magazines. Growing up in an era when it was difficult to find makeup shades that suited her complexion, when it came time for McGrath to create her own line there was no question it had to be inclusive. From her vast foundation shade range, to her richly-pigmented eye shadows and lipsticks, McGrath's luxurious makeup products are truly meant to be enjoyed and experimented with by people of all complexions.

Check out: Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Concealer (£26)

"Pure raw wild" is Skin Gourmet's motto, a beauty brand started by Ghanian-born Violet Awo Amoabeng. Everything about the brand is done by hand: the ingredients hand-picked, the formulas hand-mixed and hand-packaged, in jars and bottled that you can return to the brand to be reused. As for the "pure" part? Because the brand uses absolutely no preservatives, stabilisers, parabens, artificial colours, or fragrances these creams and scrubs are truly good enough to eat.

Check out: Skin Gourmet Baobab Sugar Scrub (£37)

Flickerwick Limited is a London-based, vegan brand specialising in high-quality soy wax candles, wax melts, and room and car diffusers. Following a diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome in 2013, founder Frances Gardiner, wanted to create an array of scents that would uplift people's mood, reduce stress, and create a beautiful ambience. As a female Black entrepreneur and PCOS sufferer, Frances has faced many challenges in her career, but despite all of it she's successfully expanded Flickerwick Limited, which is now sold in the UK, the US, Dubai, and Ghana.

Cienna Rose is a natural, cruelty-free, vegan-friendly, and 12-free (polishes that do not contain dibutyl phthalate, TPHP, toluene, xylene, ethyl tosylamide, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, parabens, and tert-butyl hydroperoxide) nail brand founded by Carla Opoku in 2018. While living in Ghana, Opoku found that there was limited access to good nail products, so she created her own. She wanted to provide quality nail products with formulations packed full of nail-loving ingredients. After many formulation experiments, Cienna Rose was born, named after her daughter, Cienna, and her love of flowers.

Opoku is now living in the UK with her husband and two children and has successfully expanded Cienna Rose to offer 30 nail shades and 10 nail care treatment products, with prices starting from just £9.