For decades, the beauty industry treated Black women as an afterthought, serving up foundation shades that left us looking ashy, gray or just plain nonexistent. If you were a deeper shade in the ‘90s, your choices were slim—either mix a few drugstore foundations and hope for the best or spend money on department store brands that still didn’t quite get it right.
But where mainstream beauty failed them, Black women stepped up and changed the game. From legacy brands that broke barriers to the new generation of founders shaking up the industry, Black-owned and founded beauty brands haven’t just made space for us—they’ve redefined what beauty even looks like.
Before Fenty Beauty made 40+ shades the norm, Fashion Fair was doing the work in the ‘70s, creating prestige makeup specifically for Black women when the industry refused to cater to them. Eunice Johnson saw the struggle firsthand—Black models were mixing their own shades backstage—and decided to fix the problem herself. Then came Iman Cosmetics, founded by supermodel Iman in 1994, proving that luxury and inclusivity weren’t mutually exclusive.
Around the same time, BLK/OPL (formerly Black Opal) was making high-quality, affordable beauty accessible for Black women, giving them complexion products that actually matched and formulas that worked for melanin-rich skin. These brands weren’t just about makeup—they were about representation, ensuring that Black women saw themselves reflected in beauty.
By the 2010s, the beauty industry was still dragging its feet when it came to shade inclusivity, and finding the perfect nude lip or undertone-friendly foundation was still a struggle. That’s when brands like Mented Cosmetics stepped in, founded in 2017 by KJ Miller and Amanda E. Johnson, to make nude lipsticks for deep skin tones the standard, not an afterthought. The Lip Bar, created by Melissa Butler, disrupted the industry with highly pigmented, vegan formulas sold in Target long before indie brands were making big retail moves.
Now in 2025, the evolution of Black beauty is in full effect, and the glow-up is real. Pat McGrath Labs and Danessa Myricks Beauty are pushing artistry and complexion innovation forward with high-performance formulas that melt into melanin instead of sitting on top of it. Uoma Beauty is giving us bold colors and shade-inclusive complexion products with an unapologetic attitude. Ami Colé, founded by Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye, is perfecting the “no-makeup makeup” look for deeper skin tones, while LYS Beauty, created by Tisha Thompson, is proving that clean beauty can be truly inclusive. Now, the new wave is here with WYN Beauty by Serena Williams, which makes waves with its high-performance, skin-loving formulas designed for active, on-the-go beauty lovers.
The days of ashy foundations and brands acting like we’re an afterthought are long gone. Black women aren’t just changing the beauty industry—they are the beauty industry. Thanks to the pioneers and the new generation of founders who refused to accept less, makeup now enhances their skin, celebrates our features and reflects their power. And best believe, they’re only getting started.
