There’s no doubt about it: the last few years have ushered in a whole new standard of diversity and inclusivity within the beauty industry. Thanks to Fenty Beauty’s complete disruption, more and more brands—from new indie names and legacy brands alike—have had to rise to the occasion, expanding their product offerings to accommodate women of color, black women in particular.
And while that industry-wide growth is surely noteworthy, it’s also important to recognize that black folks have provided for their communities long before Fenty, and continue to do so to this very day. Now there are more black-owned beauty brands than ever before addressing the specific needs of women of color, along with products suitable for any and everyone, like non-toxic menstrual hygiene products and SPF that won’t leave a trace.
Here, we’ve rounded up 18 of those brands, promising something for everyone to obsess over.
Which is why for the 2019 Glamour Beauty Awards, we’re bringing back our Readers’ Choice Awards. From
foundation to nail polish to fragrance, our editors analyzed the list of the products our readers talk
about again and again and again. Now we’re
asking you to vote on your all-time favorites from the bunch. The polls are open for the next two weeks;
then we’ll tally up your votes and, along with the other best products selected by our
expert panel of judges,
announce our 2019 winners on March 25.
Be sure to check back then for the big reveal. Until then, happy voting.
Cast your vote for the Glamour Beauty Awards Readers’ Choice nominees
It’s still winter. Politics sucks, the weather sucks, and we’re all sick of being inside. Our Winteritis stories are for women who can’t read another think piece, who’ve pushed the outer limits of time it’s possible to spend on social media, and who kind of want to shop online and hibernate until spring is here.
Winter has really not been nice to us this year. Last week much of the country (and the Midwest in particular) was plunged into record-breaking cold that literally made people’s eyelashes freeze. Ah yes, winter: the season during which staying cozied up inside isn’t just nice—it’s vital to keeping your face from freezing.
If you eventually run out of options on Netflix and can’t bear another minute of aimlessly scrolling through social media while you’re cooped up inside, consider turning up the heat with a little snowed-in sex. These eight real-life stories from women who got it on while they were stuck indoors will make you want to huddle together for, you know, “warmth.”
“I’d been chatting with a guy for a couple of weeks, and we decided to meet for drinks on Friday night after work. As we sat down at the bar of a fancy hotel near my office, he asked me if I’d seen the weather report—a big blizzard was apparently on the way. He was super handsome, and our texting had admittedly gotten pretty hot, so I followed my first impulse and said, ‘Why don’t we just…stay?’ We found a room on HotelsTonight, got a few drinks in us, and headed upstairs so turned on we almost didn’t make it to the room. As it turned out, the blizzard was bad, really bad. The hotel sent all but a skeleton crew home for the night, so there was no room service, the bar was closed, and we had absolutely nothing to do except tear it up in the room. We tied each other up with bathrobe belts, took a long, hot shower together, and stayed up all night playing. We eventually fell asleep around dawn and woke up to a bright, sunny day in a great mood.”
“A few years ago, when my first son was only five months old, Tennessee had a rare snow day that kept my husband and me from work. My son had started taking consistent naps around lunchtime, so while he slept, my husband and I spent some (also) rare quality time together. Apparently, the time was too quality because five weeks later I was told that I was five weeks pregnant.”
“My partner and I love snowed-in sex so much that we’ve been hoping she’ll have a snow day from work! When we were in college, there were a few times that we stayed up late having sex because we either already knew we had a snow day the next day or w were pretty certain classes would be canceled. Those were some of my favorite nights—staying up late with friends, watching movies, laughing, playing games, and then falling asleep next to her after having late-night sex that we’d never have if we had 8:00 A.M. classes the next day.”
“During the polar vortex, school was canceled and businesses were closed, so I had a few days where I could work from home and definitely didn’t want to go outside in the frigid arctic tundra. I’ve heard about ‘polar vortex babies’ and that more people having sex during blizzards—why not take advantage of that idea solo? I took a nice hot shower, dressed up in some lingerie, and used my vibrator. It was as good as the real thing with none of the drama.”
When it comes to gender equality at the highest level, the beauty industry comes out on top. In a 2016 report by LedBetter, a research group that measures the gender disparity across big-name companies, it found that beauty outranked every other profession in terms of the highest percentage of women seen on the board and in executive positions (apparel and retail came in second and third). Unfortunately, that number was 29 percent—twenty-nine percent—which paints an incredibly bleak and a very real picture about how far away we are from achieving equal representation at the C-suite.
For a business that largely caters to women, that’s built on the dollars women spend, it’s aggravating to see that, in 2019, it’s still rare for a woman to reach the upper echelons of a major corporation.
But a handful of schools are determined to change that. New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology boasts two beauty-centric programs: a bachelor’s in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing that packages the business, science, and marketing aspects of the industry into a two-year curriculum, and a master’s that’s loaded with management courses for future execs. As the longest running programs of their kind in the country (30 years for the bachelor’s, 20 years for the master’s), both groom their graduates with the tools to succeed in the beauty industry.
“We’ve been around for a long time, so we can see the results and track the students’ success stories: All of the students who graduate go into the beauty industry and many them have been extraordinarily successful in moving up the corporate ladder,” says Virginia Bonofiglio, associate chairperson of FIT’s Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing department, naming the president of Nars, one of the founders of Milk, and senior VPs at Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Shisheido as alumni of the program. “The key is finding people who, at a very early stage, know this is what they want to do.”
“In larger public companies, the position of CEO is governed not only by the company, but by the shareholders, and their interest is always in the finance side, so a lot of CEOs—who are men—are brought in because of their financial successes,” says Bonofiglio, calling out Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO of Estée Lauder, who was previously the president of Procter & Gamble’s snack division, as one such example.
And the fact that Freda comes from the food sector isn’t even a surprising one—there’s always been a link between big food brands, like General Mills and Kraft, and beauty. Bonofiglio reasons that it’s because “there’s always been a close relationship between food and beauty—what happens in food first will happen in beauty second. I think it’s because we think with our stomachs first.” (The natural food trend and then the clean beauty movement is the first to spring to mind.)
But at the end of the day, they are still two completely different industries, and in beauty, men simply aren’t the targeted demographic.
A look at a fragrance textbook for one of SCAD’s courses.
Hadley Stambaugh
“I can’t say that a woman or a man will be better as a CEO, because it depends on the individual, but I will say that women will have a much stronger point of view when it comes to formulas or packaging because we’re the consumers,” says Linda Treska, founder of her two-year-old beauty brand Pinch of Colour. “It ultimately comes down to the consumers—what they experience and how they’ll respond—so women do have an advantage; we use these products every day.”
A 2003 graduate of the FIT program, Treska says she always knew she’d wind up in beauty. She kicked off her career as a makeup artist, but it wasn’t enough. She had an insatiable curiosity to learn about the business side of the industry. She enrolled in the undergraduate program (an associate’s degree is required in order to be eligible) and drank in the knowledge of sourcing ingredients, developing products, understanding the competition, and navigating the landscape. Eighteen years later, she worked her way up, with stints at Vincent Longo, Estée Lauder, Laura Mercier, and Laura Geller, before she finally decided she was ready to strike out on her own.
“When I was starting out, the business was very different from what it is today—there were definitely more men in key positions and the market was dominated by very big companies with deep pockets and a long history,” Treska says. “But with the Internet and social media, the landscape has changed for everyone in the past five years. Now, there are so many young women CEOs with their own successful brands.”
“It’s important that companies and leadership reflect the diversity and genders of their consumers.” —Meloney Moore, SCAD Business of Beauty and Fragrance professor
Not only is she the CEO of her own brand, but she’s also referring to the influx of women-led labels, like Emily Weiss’ millennial-favorite Glossier, Kylie Jenner’s namesake line of cosmetics, Rihanna’s inclusive Fenty Beauty, Katia Beauchamp’s beauty-subscription service Birchbox, the genderless beauty brand Milk Makeup founded by husband-and-wife duo Mazdack Rassi and Zanna Roberts Rassi, and so many more. (Change is also happening at major corporations as well—Revlon named Debra Perelman as CEO last year, the first female to helm the company in its 86-year-long history.)
“The beauty business is booming; every category in beauty is growing,” says Bonofiglio. “Everybody cries about retail, but beauty retail is flourishing, both digital and brick-and-mortar. Beauty is thriving, and more and more people are into it.”
It’s an indicator of just how much has changed. Delphine Horvath, one of two full-time professors employed to teach FIT’s cosmetics and fragrance marketing and an industry veteran of 15 years with roles at Coty, Revlon, and P&G, says when she got her start in the late ’90s, a program of this kind didn’t exist in her native country France, despite it being a significant business. Even now, she says beauty is still considered to be a shallow or superficial career path, and at FIT, one of the biggest misconceptions is that it’s a course that teaches makeup application.
“Empowering our students and changing that mentality is something we try to do,” Horvath says. “And now, with the rise of successful entrepreneurs who have created a platform for women to express themselves, who are driving the growth in the beauty market and creating opportunities for women to take leading roles in the industry, it’s changed the whole game.”
That explains why since FIT launched its program, there has been a crop of similar ones across the country, like Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising’s Beauty Industry Management major on the west coast and NYU’s one-year Fashion & Luxury MBA that preps students for managerial roles in apparel, beauty, wearable tech, and more. And as of last semester, Savannah College of Art & Design has introduced a new degree: Business of Beauty and Fragrance.
Promotional materials for SCAD’s fragrance marketing and management course
“Marketing has changed a lot over the years—it’s become a two-way conversation with social media and there’s less of an emphasis on TV commercials—and with a growing industry like beauty, it’s the perfect time to have a background that specializes in the business of it,” says Meloney Moore, who after more than seven years in executive roles at Estée Lauder left to help develop SCAD’s beauty program and is now its sole professor. “I think it’s important that companies and leadership reflect the diversity and genders of their consumers. And we want SCAD to become a funnel of great and creative talent for the industry.”
In the semester that the program has been available, Moore has cultivated an interactive, hands-on, professional environment with plenty of simulations and workshops, along with traditional lectures. It was important to her that the structure of the program mirrors real-life experiences, and as the industry changes—the importance of consumer feedback, the demand for more inclusive foundation shades—the curriculum is expected to evolve with it.
“In the past couple of years, I’ve never seen so many new companies and new innovations. And the language is changing—companies are starting to take a stance, have opinions, and engage with consumers,” she says. “It requires a new type of marketer who is more creative and attentive to details. In our classes, we incorporate social media marketing and consumer engagement as much as possible so that students are relevant in their positions when they graduate.”
“I think this program gives women the specialized knowledge and confidence to put themselves out there, to learn to speak up more for themselves, and to realize they are very valuable to the industry.” —Melodie Young, 2018 alumna of FIT
Meredith Walter, a sophomore at SCAD, was originally in fashion marketing and managing but immediately switched when she received an email that alerted her to the new major. She’s already confident that these courses are not only giving her the tools to succeed in the industry (though which field exactly she has yet to determine), but they’re also inspiring her to hold a leadership position in the future.
“I’ve always looked at a marketing campaign as a consumer, so it’s been incredible to learn about the research and everything that goes on behind the scenes,” Walter says. “It’s been inspiring to watch Meloney teach the class, and it makes me excited to build my knowledge and learn her ways so I can be someone like her.”
Because it’s still in its infancy, as Walter says the classes are about half the size of a normal one at SCAD, but “that’s what makes it more intimate and fun.”
Similarly, FIT’s beauty department is the smallest in the school—and yet, interestingly enough, Horvath says it’s one of the very unique programs that can be linked to every other department, including fashion, jewelry design, and packaging. But the beauty of having such a small class (50 juniors and 50 seniors are enrolled every year) is to ensure that each graduate is mentored, properly trained to be a professional, and equipped to find a job at the end of the program.
Melodie Young, a 2018 alumna of the program, landed a job at Fenty as product development coordinator one month after she graduated in May, and she credits the school for readying her to enter the industry.
“I think this program gives women the specialized knowledge and confidence to put themselves out there, to learn to speak up more for themselves, and to realize they are very valuable to the industry—the more diverse a company’s leadership is, the better chance it has to reach a broad audience,” says Young, whose ultimate career goal is to be involved in the creation of an inclusive brand. “I went into product development because I thought making product for people of color like me was the coolest thing. So I’m lucky to have found a job at Fenty, which speaks to that inclusivity.”
In the face of so much promise and potential, perhaps reality won’t look so bleak, after all.
“Programs like these are the keys to success for a lot of individuals, and I feel like if I hadn’t gone to FIT, I wouldn’t have the career I did have,” Treska says. “Students get the opportunity to meet leaders from the industry first hand, and I’ve mentored a lot of these brilliant women. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.”
In January of last year, CVS unveiled a campaign to create new standards for beauty ads in their stores—namely, phasing out airbrushing and other digital alterations. Part of that included the debut of the CVS Beauty Mark, a watermark placed on advertisements confirming to customers that the images weren’t digitally altered or retouched (which CVS defined as “changing or enhancing a person’s shape, size, proportion, skin or eye color, wrinkles or any other individual characteristics”). Additionally, the retailer also asked beauty brands sold there to adhere to these new standards by 2020. They doubled-down on this effort a few months later with their new ad campaign, “Beauty in Real Life,” for which the company cast a diverse group of real women from all over the U.S. for un-retouched print and video imagery.
While 2020 is still months away, brands have responded to CVS’s call—so much so that starting in February, 70 percent of the retailer’s beauty ads will now be unretouched. CVS announced this morning that brands including CoverGirl, Neutrogena, and Revlon will be updating their imagery to replace previous ads with those depicting their spokesmodels in all their un-retouched glory. We’re talking big names, too, like Neutrogena spokesperson Kerry Washington and Revlon spokespeople Ashley Graham and Gal Gadot.
The message is long overdue, according to CVS Chief Marketing Officer Norman de Greve, since Photoshopping is like “saying these beautiful women aren’t beautiful enough.” Plus, it fits seamlessly into CVS’ mission of prioritizing their customers’ health, because flawless, Photoshopped advertisements really do impact women’s health. “Being exposed to media images moves someone to internalize that as ideal,” says psychologist Rachel Rodgers, Ph.D. who studies the influence of media on body image. “Images are created with certain intent. The dangerous thing is that people process images automatically, and comparison is a part of that.” Conversely, realistic images of women, dark circles and freckles included, don’t have that effect on body image, and in fact make women feel more comfortable with themselves.
Still, it’s a tall order to ask the women in question to go in front of the camera without the insurance of Photoshop. “It’s just something I had to dive into and hope I liked the outcome,” chef and CoverGirl spokesperson Ayesha Curry tells Glamour. To complicate matters, she was just four months postpartum after the birth of her third child with husband Steph Curry. “I’m a new mom again,” says Curry, who had their son on set with her. “Having the pregnancy weight on, and my nursing schedule…getting through that was honestly a moment of strength for me.”
But she didn’t get worked too up about it, go on some draconian workout regimen, or cut sugar, dairy, gluten, legumes, meat, and alcohol from her diet. Instead, the night before the shoot, she did what we can probably all identify with: She went out for drinks. “The next morning, I was like ooh, was that the right decision? Can you see the whiskey sours in my eyes?” she recalls. But it’s her ability to do just that that fuels her enthusiasm for CoverGirl. “They don’t expect or need me to be ‘that girl’,” Curry says.
Eschewing digital alterations gives customers an advantage, too, since they can better tell just how much coverage a foundation offers or, say, how sheer a lip stain is. “The campaign mimics everyday life, since they make sure that the way the product looks [in the ad] is what you’re getting,” she says. “In this case, I’m wearing the exact product I have on now. It’s the Outlast All-Day Lip Color.” The color played a big role in the feeling of empowerment on-set for Curry, who’s close with her mom. “I always try to channel her look and style,” she says. “She’s always loved a bold lip and now, as a mom myself, I always reach for that.”
Seeing the advertisements now, Curry’s proud to be a part of CVS’ initiative. “It’s been an honor to pave the way,” Curry says. “You don’t know how powerful something’s going to be until you make the first leap.” And while the company is leading the way for brands, it’s also up to the brands themselves to follow through in the rest of their messaging beyond the beauty ads in the aisle of your local CVS to, say, TV spots and other advertising. (We’ve reached out to brands to confirm if they’ll continue rolling out these spots and will update accordingly. CoverGirl, for one, will only say that “Part of CoverGirl’s DNA is authenticity.”)
Once upon a time, when I was living on an Upper East Side couch for $1,000 a month and ate a steady diet of ramen, I remember thinking that by the time I turned 30, I’d have it all together. I’d be shopping for and cooking real adult meals. I’d have enough discretionary income to not worry about paying rent if I had a health crisis. But mostly, I’d make enough money to actually have a budget—and stick to it.
Seven years later, I have a Casper mattress (on an Ikea bed frame), pillows that aren’t couch cushions, and a savings account that I’m pretty good about not dipping into for the most part. I eat homemade chicken and broccoli…when my boyfriend cooks. But a budget? Eh. It’s not like I’m in debt or shop a ton. (Although, I’m a retail email marketer’s dream—more on that below.) Rather, I love a plan on a whim. Mani date? I’m there. Brunch? We’re splitting a stack of pancakes for the table on top of an egg dish, round of mimosas, and, yeah, give me the latte. I don’t even want to admit how much I spent on Ubers alone in the past month, because I honestly don’t even want to know.
This usually results in a hodgepodge of Venmo and credit card charges that are hard to plan for. The only thing you won’t find? Beauty products. Call it perks of the job.
A gel mani at the L.A. nail spot I’ve been dying to visit: $136 I started December out with a whirlwind trip to L.A. to visit the brilliant Shani Darden for a facial. (I told you being a beauty editor has its perks.) As a celebrity aesthetician and Garnier ambassador, she’s worked on the faces of Emmy Rossum, Kelly Rowland, and so many more. After she worked her magic on my acne-prone skin, using Garnier’s new charcoal peel-off mask, I had eight hours of free time to futz around the city, so I did it the best way I knew how—booking a full day of treatments at all the L.A. hot spots I’d been itching to try, starting with Olive & June.
I’ve been following the nail salon’s Instagram for nearly half a decade. In my opinion, they just do nail art right: subtle, sophisticated, with just the right amount of kitsch. (Check out their Insta and you’ll see what I mean.) Initially I’d signed up only for the $40 Chrissy, a regular gel mani, and figured I’d get my usual moody blue or purple. But once I sat in the chair, I knew exactly what I wanted: a design inspired by Betina Goldstein (my favorite nail artist at the moment; just look at these fingers!) on each of my cuticles. I ended up with a baby pink base and a delicate line of gold shimmer—plus nearly $100 extra added to the total cost. That said, it lasted a full two and a half weeks, so I’d say it was worth it.
A 60-minute massage at the swankiest L.A. massage bar: $96 Another beauty editor who’s really picky about her treatments recommended I book an appointment at The Now, and I’m so glad I did. The concept is similar to Drybar in that you’re not paying for the overhead of a bunch of different services—rather, the only thing they offer are massages. Correction: great massages. The decor inside was very Instagrammy. You could buy palo santo and tarot cards at the shop, and when you walk back to the treatment area, each room was separated by a patterned curtain. I blissfully melted away the stress of traveling while an ocean sound machine echoed crashing waves from above. Note to The Now: Other cities are waiting. We need this.
My J.Crew haul
The J.Crew sale that was too good to pass up: $251.30 I shop at approximately two places—J.Crew and Madewell—on the regular and never fail to click a sale email from either one. I’ve probably funded at least one junior copywriter’s salary at this point. This time J.Crew was having a pre-Christmas sale, and nearly everything was 50 percent off. Obviously I had to act. I came away with an extensive turtleneck haul—one striped ($17.25), one solid gray ($14.75), one emerald green ($39.75), and one ruffled ($22.50)—plus, a sweatshirt that says “Brooklyn” because I couldn’t resist ($24.75). That’s not all. I also bought a bracelet (because it was $6.49 and why not?), an $8.25 velvet hair bow (because I’m a sucker for red-carpet hair trends), and a bird-print maxi ($99) that I was so excited to wear until I realized it was crazy low-cut. I still haven’t decided whether I should return it or wear it with one of my thousand turtlenecks. Knowing me, it’ll probably be neither and instead will sit in my closet until I sell it. Which brings me to…
The Ubers I took to and from selling my old clothes: $69.87 Errands are much better done with friends, mostly because I continue to put them off if I don’t have someone forcing me to do them. So this is why, season after season, I continue to spend almost how much I make in resales so I can join my best friend at her local neighborhood consignment shop. I still got to take home $20 and ended up bingeing 90 Day Fiancé at her place the rest of the day. Not a bad Saturday.
The custom pet socks every fashion editor was getting, so I did too: $15.95 No shame: I’m one of those millennials who talk about my cat like he’s my child. In fact, most people do think he’s my kid because his name is Matthew. (I firmly believe pets are part of the family and deserve names that reflect that. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.) So when every fashion editor was getting sent these very ugly, incredibly fantastic customized socks with their dogs’ faces on them, I obviously had to get a pair. Technically they were a belated Christmas gift for my boyfriend, but they were too small for him so now they’re mine. Matthew remains unimpressed.
The Gap jeans I bought because my favorite pair ripped: $90.93 Another sale email got me, but this time I had a valid reason. The cropped boot-cut jeans I’d been wearing religiously since our fashion team convinced me I could pull them off got a huge hole in the thigh. Tragic. Gap had only a pair six sizes too small left, so I pity-bought two extrapairs on sale in the hopes that they’d be as cute. The jury’s still out.
A spur-of-the-moment mani and brunch date with an old coworker: $83.71 When a former member of the Glam Fam texted me to get together (hi, Maureen!), it was a no-brainer about what we’d do: manis at the delightfully chic Tenoverten, followed by lemon ricotta pancakes and mimosas at Sarabeth’s. After my gels, I was aching to go back to my usual dark shade. I’ve been dying to try Essie’s new Booties on Broadway—the coolest winter navy—but they didn’t have it, so it was Midnight Cami instead, the perfect shade for the ball drop and back to work on the 2nd.
Lindsay Schallon is a senior beauty editor at Glamour.
