Stars, they’re just like us. Selena Gomez woke up early last weekend for a 6 a.m. flight and took to TikTok to share her (extremely) early morning routine.
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Gomez walked us through the products she prioritizes before boarding, taking extra care to douse her face in moisture. Remember, the air on planes can be extremely drying, so it’s extra important to take good care of your skin before and after a flight—no matter how long the wheels-up-to-wheels-down time is.
If you want to level up your next flight experience, we’ve compiled Gomez’s entire travel routine below. While we may not get the kind of luxe cabin experience that Gomez shared at the end of the TikTok, we can at least have glowing skin.
While Gomez continues her skincare routine, she pops on these patches to de-puff, hydrate, and revive her under-eyes—perfect for faking the look of a full night’s sleep.
Next up, Gomez uses this serum that reacts to your skin’s needs thanks to four actives that respond when triggered. Since traveling can be so unpredictable, this is the perfect pre-travel necessity.
We typically only reach for retinol at night, but when you know you’ll be sleeping (with blinds shut!) on a plane, it’s a smart way to multitask your skin care as long as you make sure your skin is moisturized too. This retinol is formulated with squalane and beta-glucan, which help ensure plenty of moisture.
If we could only pick one thing that we have loved to see in the beauty space over the last several years, it would be the diversification of brands—especially, Black-owned beauty brands. Top retailers like Sephora, Ulta, Target, Nordstrom, and more have diversified their catalogs exponentially to increase the number of Black-owned brands that are carried both in-store and online—and many retailers are even monitoring shelf space to ensure it remains this way.
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Having access to more Black-owned beauty brands is not only an important way to support brands and founders but also to drive change for the entire Black community. It’s easier than ever. And what’s more, so many of these brands are changing the game and challenging industry norms—we’re talking extended shade ranges, and more inclusive skincare and haircare products. And more offerings that were hard (more like practically impossible) to find before.
To celebrate this, we have compiled a list of twelve of our favorite Black-owned beauty brands that offer products across all categories: skincare, haircare, makeup, body care, tools, and more.
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12 Black-Owned Beauty Brands We Love
Topicals
Topicals offer one-step skincare solutions that are backed by science and made for every shade. With an emphasis on skincare products that are suitable for flare-ups, founder Olamide Olowe knows how connected skin health and mental health are, so Topical’s mission is to transform the way you feel about your skin.
Gilded Body
Gilded Body believes that feeling beautiful and achieving wellness is found through self-care. They carry body care products that engage the senses and invite the user to slow down and bask in the luxury of high-quality, botanically driven, dermatologically developed skincare and tools.
Pat McGrath Labs
Nicknamed the “Mother of Makeup,” Pat McGrath is the world’s most influential and in-demand makeup artist. With countless launches selling out in record-breaking times, the hype for this brand is real. And it continues to push the boundaries of the makeup industry.
Range Beauty
Range Beauty offers makeup essentials for ultra-sensitive skin—specifically, for acne and eczema. Alicia Scott, CEO, and Founder suffered from eczema and cystic acne. She was frustrated that she couldn’t find makeup that acknowledged both her skin tone and her skin conditions. Range Beauty was born to ensure that those with any skin type, in any shade, could find products they could trust.
Fenty Beauty
We’d be remiss not to include RiRi’s beauty brands, Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin. After years of struggling to find products that performed across all skin types and tones, Rihanna set out to create Fenty—first starting with makeup and then extending into skincare.
Lys Beauty
The mission of Lys Beauty is to diversify the clean beauty industry. Founded by Tisha Thompson, Lys Beauty was the first Black-owned Sephora Clean Makeup brand! Their products have universal shade offerings, provide high-performance results, and the best part: they are all under $30
Oui the People
Oui the People aims to build efficacious products, designed thoughtfully, that help you feel great in the skin you’re already in rather than pursuing flawlessness. Crafted without sulfates, parabens, synthetic fragrances, and phthalates, their products range from shaving necessities like razors and exfoliators to hydrating body balms and glosses.
Pattern
Powerhouse Tracee Ellis Ross founded Pattern with the promise of meeting your hair where it is and empowering your curl pattern. To keep hair healthy, hydrated, juicy, and joyful, Pattern offers a range of products for washing, treating, and styling.
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Briogeo
Briogeo is on a mission to empower every person to succeed on their hair health journey. They know that everyone’s journey is different, so they have multiple lines of products that are suitable for damaged hair, thin hair, frizzy hair, dry scalps, and beyond. This way, each individual can confidently embrace their unique hair, texture, color, and everything else that makes them or exactly who they are.
Mielle Organics
Monique Rodriguez is an RN turned Founder and CEO who has taken the haircare market by storm through Mielle Organics. Created with nature and science, Mielle Organics is a haircare and beauty brand that believes healthier ingredients encourage healthier hair and skin.
Luv Scrub
Mesh exfoliators have been used in West Africa for generations. But it wasn’t until 2011 when Caroline, Founder of LUV SCRUB, realized it could become a cult-favorite product outside of Ghana. It immediately pushed boundaries in the body care space. And now, this magical mesh can be found in some of the largest retailers including Nordstrom, Ulta, and Bloomingdales.
Black Girl Sunscreen
Shontay Lundy created Black Girl Sunscreen after being frustrated with the lack of sunscreen options formulated for women of color. Made with melanated skin in mind, Black Girl Sunscreen has filled a large gap in the market and has continued to grow exponentially since its inception.
A badass founder with a powerful mission is enough to make us fans of a brand, but when the products perform, have a broad shade range, are vegan and cruelty-free, and are affordable, you’ll be hard-pressed to get us to stop talking about them. Since its launch, Selena Gomez’s makeup brand, Rare Beauty, has had its fair share of waitlisted products, and for a good reason—everyone (including all of TikTok and our editors) is obsessed with them.
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We try a lot of products around here, so when the Founder Crystal Lee, calls a product “God-tier,” you know we mean business. From the bronzing stick that melts into the skin, our Founder is sharing her favorite Rare Beauty products so you know which ones you need to get your hands on ASAP:
If you scroll on TikTok for a mere five minutes, there’s a pretty high chance you’ll come across this blush more than once. And while I hate to be preaching to the choir, this stuff is popular for a reason. When I say that a little bit of this formula goes a long way, I mean it. It takes one singular dot of this blush on each cheek to warm up my entire face, it blends so seamlessly and will last a long time. For me, that makes it worth every penny.
I have dabbled with bronzing and contour sticks in the past but, earlier this summer, I wanted to find one that blended easily and warmed up my face. A lot of sticks I’ve used in the past were tough to blend (eating up way too much time of my morning routine) and, at times, would leave me feeling like I just smeared dirt on my face. I picked up this Rare Beauty bronzing stick and let me tell you—this stuff puts in work. It’s super creamy without feeling too liquid-like and melts into my skin like butter. When it comes to warming up my face fast, this formula gets the job done and is one of my favorite parts of my makeup routine.
My lips are extremely sensitive, with most lip products I use causing reactions (plump lips are in, swollen ones? Not so much). The Rare Beauty Kind Words lipliner is truly a godsend. It glides on so smoothly and leaves my lips feeling nourished rather than dry. I use a shade close to my natural lip color for everyday wear and I couldn’t recommend it more.
The second Rare Beauty launched I knew I’d need to get my hands on this highlighter, and it has not disappointed me. It gives a beautiful glow without being in your face about it. On days I want to wear a little less makeup, I mix a drop of this with my blush and blend the two. It’s a holy grail kind of combo.
Everyone always talks about Rare Beauty’s liquid blushes (which for the record, I love) but nobody ever talks about how incredible their cream blushes are. If you’re someone who loves a natural flush, you’re going to adore these. They blend out to give the prettiest, flushed cheek, and unlike the liquid blushes, they’re hard to overdo. I have two different shades that I love for day-to-day wear.
As a tinted moisturizer fanatic, this is one of my favorites of all time. Unlike many tinted moisturizers, this one gives me a bit of coverage and leaves me with a blurred, poreless, healthy-looking complexion. I love this for daily wear, but it’s also significant enough that I wear it to the office all the time, too.
This mascara has some mixed reviews on Sephora, but it still has a 4-star rating. Its eye-hugging brush is meant to lift, lengthen, curl, and volumize the lashes, and reviewers say that it does—as long as you wipe excess product off of the brush first to prevent clumping.
Liquid eyeshadows are a God-send because they make applying eyeshadow seamless and quick. This one in particular is a weightless, liquid-to-powder formula that remains creaseless and because of that, reviewers are loving it.
This 4-in-1 primer hydrates, primes, sets, and refreshes skin with ingredients like niacinamide to improve the appearance of skin and lotus, gardenia, and white waterlily to soothe and nourish. While oily-skin gals say it makes them look like a “grease ball,” dry-skin gals are loving the glow.
Primp Tip: This is for black and brown people aka POC, don’t apply too much because too much product will leave your face sparkly ghostly unless that’s your thing.
Serum-like, weightless, and buildable foundations always sound too good to be true, and reviewers are torn on this one. Some say that it is the “best skin-like foundation on the market” and others are claiming that it is “patchy and cakey with REALLY bad separation.” This is one you’re going to have to test out for yourself to see if this foundation is for you.
This talc-free, loose-setting powder visibly smooths, blurs, and controls shine on all skin types. Five shade options deliver a natural, comfortable finish. One reviewer says “it leaves your skin blurred and smooth, without mattifying,” so you can still get your glow on without looking greasy.
This lightweight, hydrating concealer offers medium-to-full coverage in 49 shades. With 1,500+ reviews on Sephora and a 4-star rating, this has been tested by the masses and the resounding verdict is that it’s a must-have.
This gel primer claims to blur the look of pores and fine lines, boost and extend makeup wear, and help fight shine. As confirmed in the reviews, it is suitable for all skin types and worth a try if you are on the hunt for a new primer.
We admit it: We spend a lot of time on Instagram. Who among us can say they don’t? After all, it’s a one-stop shop for endless beauty and makeup inspo. From colorful cut crease designs to geometric shadow looks, the jaw-dropping creativity on the ‘gram never ceases to amaze us. We decided that the talented beauty experts and makeup artists behind our most-scrolled feeds deserve a shoutout, so we’re rounding up our favorites to follow right here.
Even if you don’t personally have the patience to commit to elaborate eye makeup looks (and we don’t blame you), you’ll still appreciate Aniyah’s colorful, totally out-of-the-box eyeshadow creations. She often incorporates dreamy celestial elements, like stars and galaxy-Esque swirls.
Maha Alselami is one of the best things to happen to our IG feeds. From funky lip art to neon eyeliner, she can truly do it all. Her work ranges from runway and editorial to everyday beats, so there’s inspo for everyone and every occasion. If you haven’t given her a follow yet, what are you waiting for?
If you ask us, Rowi Singh isn’t just a makeup artist, she’s an icon. She’s constantly exploring the boundaries of makeup with her cool, colorful looks that are literal pieces of art. She’s not an influencer to follow for easy-to-create makeup looks, but rather because her creativity and innovation are inspiring.
Not only does Ehlie Luna’s Insta offer top-notch beauty inspo, but it’s also full of informative videos with tips on how to identify your glam type, apply different types of makeup and choose which products are right for you. We’re also obsessed with her “subway series” videos in which she pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of impeccably applying lip liner on a moving train.
Jonet Williamson is our go-to for easy-to-follow trend tutorials, like these fluffy browsvideo or this guide to nailing the siren eyes look. Her beauty ethos is all about fresh, glowy skin and bold eye and lip look.
Celebrity makeup artist Patrick Ta tends towards a classic beauty style — think red lips, defined brows, and winged eyeliner. He’s worth a follow if you want to try to copy some of your favorite stars’ makeup, too.
When it comes to dreaming up runway-ready makeup looks, nobody can beat Pat McGrath. Her work is all about fantasy and sparkle. If you aren’t already a fan of glittery eyeshadow, you will be after following.
Follow Grace Lee, lead makeup artist at Maybelline New York, for her product recs and try-ons. She posts helpful videos like this one comparing different shades of lipstick, so you can decide which one you want to buy.
If there’s anything we love stumbling upon in our IG feeds, it’s creative and highly editorial makeup. Tatiana Rose nails it every single time with her magazine-worthy photos and innovative makeup, hair, and skin look. The best part? No two images look the same. Instead, she’s able to reinvent herself with an entirely different look each time she posts.
Maybe you’re more into minimalist makeup. In that case, check out Shalini Kutti’s profile. She posts tutorials and photos of her looks, but she also shares handy infographics with beauty tips like how to remove mascara without losing eyelashes.
Shayla Mitchell has racked up an impressive three million followers thanks to her full glam makeup tutorials using tons of different products. She also posts “get ready with me” videos that show off her adorable outfits, too.
Nyma Tang’s Insta feed truly has a little bit of everything. There is pretty, shimmy eyeshadow swatches, cute nail art ideas, and fun lippy shades. The South Sudanese influencer is also known for promoting inclusive face makeup ranges, and testing products in darker complexion shades.
Erin Parsons shares her take on vintage makeup, testing out beauty looks, and techniques inspired by different eras such as the 1960s. In between her videos, she posts snapshots of iconic beauty moments from old movies and TV shows.
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