Many companies claim that community is at the center of what they do, and for these LGBTQ-owned beauty brands, it’s true. From championing gender expression beyond the binary to partnering with organizations that support marginalized groups within the wider queer community, these brands are fostering a safe, inclusive space for all in the beauty industry, but especially for those who need it.
This Pride Month, don’t fall for the rainbow-covered corporate pinkwashing, and instead try to support independent brands led by the LGBTQ+ community. Ahead, discover 23 LGBTQ-owned beauty brands and hear from a few founders across skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care brands, to support for Pride 2024 and beyond.
Snif
A gender-neutral fragrance brand that makes perfumes, candles and laundry products at an accessible price point, Snif is innovating fine fragrance with its trial kits that allow you to test the products before committing to a scent. “At Snif, we’re removing gendered words from the fragrance conversation, making scents that are loved by everyone,” says Phil Riportella, Snif co-founder and co-CEO. “Our LGBTQIA+ community has always been an incredible inspiration for us to keep creating products and a brand that is authentic and inclusive to everyone.”
This tropical scent transports you to the beach with notes of coconut and pineapple, along with decidedly summery elements like a sunscreen accord and surf wax.
Snif’s new line of laundry detergents elevates the chore and leaves your clothes smelling compliment-worthy. The Rain Check scent is crisp and clean with bergamot, geranium, pink pepper and vetiver.
Grab your favorite fragrances or try something new with Snif's discovery bundle. You'll get three 10-mL scents of your choosing — and there are no bad choices.
Malin+Goetz
Founded by life and business partners Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz, Malin+Goetz is focused on the essentials. The brand has offered gender-neutral skin care since 2004, adding in coveted fragrance, body care and hair care products along the way. Its uncomplicated approach with a touch of luxury has made the brand a lasting favorite for New York City folks and beyond.
This mineral sunscreen keeps skin protected from UVA and UVB rays, while niacinamide and vitamin E keeps skin looking fresh.
Take all the essentials with you when you travel with this convenient kit that has everything from face wash and moisturizer to shampoo and conditioner.
Sweet and spiced, this rum-scented hand and body wash smells amazing.
Madison Reed
Now carried in Target and Ulta, what started as brick-and-mortar Color Bars in San Francsico and New York City has grown into a hair color company that anyone can access at home. With online tools and virtual consultations to help you find your perfect shade, Madison Reed is all about confidence-boosting hair transformations.
“Madison Reed’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is rooted in our belief of representing diverse and unique perspectives, identities and lived experiences across all team members, including the LGBTQIA+ community,” says founder and CEO Amy Erret. This year, Madison Reed is partnering with GLAAD, an organization that promotes positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community in entertainment and media.
This 2-in-1 product is a no-fuss option for at-home hair coloring. The expert-recommended compact helps hide grown-out roots and fills in eyebrows.
Add depth and dimension to your ’do with Madison Reed’s semipermanent pigmented hair gloss — or simply add extra shine with the clear Glassa.
Keep your color at its best with Madison Reed’s Limitless Pro and Limitless Pro+ memberships for in-salon treatments. It also offers membership options for at-home coloring too.
Boy Smells
Through its fine fragrance perfumes and candles, Boy Smells opens up a portal to self-discovery. “As a brand, Boy Smells is on a journey to liberate gender and identity through a new world of personal products we define as ‘genderful,’” founder Matthew Herman says. “Genderful reflects the evolving thinking around gender, where neither binary gender codes nor terms like genderless or unisex feel relevant. It is permission to try all the things that you have been told are off-limits. By being called Boy Smells but coming packaged in pink, we say identity is not an either/or, it’s a yes/and.”
Inspired by queer club culture, this travel spray boasts euphoric notes of pomelo, black pepper and musks.
Notes of fig, coconut and jasmine mix with sandalwood, cedarwood and musk for a woody and warm unisex scent.
A bestseller since it launched, this smoky and spicy candle made in collaboration with country star Kacey Musgraves is perfect for setting the mood.
JVN
From “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness, JVN is all about empowering through amazing hair. With products like the bestselling Air Dry Cream and Instant Recovery Serum, the line enhances your natural locks with clean hemisqualane to strengthen and smooth.
For Pride Month, the brand has curated limited-edition sets with 30% savings on the brand’s favorite products.
This limited-edition five-piece set includes highlights for all hair types, like the Pre-Wash Scalp Oil and the Embody Volumizing Foam.
From air dry styles to frizz control, this fan-favorite styling cream gives light hold for your-hair-but-better looks.
Available in three targeted systems — Hydrating, Volumizing and Strengthening — there's a JVN shampoo and conditioner for each hair type and need. They are all sold separately, and they all smell amazing.
Good Light
One look at founder David Yi’s glowing skin, and you can expect his skin care line to deliver results. Each of the effective formulas from the AAPI-owned brand are made with Good Light’s diverse community in mind, serving all skin types and gender identities. Each year, the brand donates 1% of sales toTrue Colors United, which supports and advocates for young LGBTQ+ people facing homelessness, and other charities that helps the queer community.
A lightweight lotion for summer, this hydrating product packs in ceramides, niacinamide, hydrating snow mushroom and nourishing meadowfoam seed oil.
Gentle enough to use twice a day, the Cosmic Dew Water Cleanser transforms from a gel to a foam to ensure a thorough cleanse.?
This six-piece skin care set has your whole glow-boosting, barrier-supporting routine covered.?
Patrick Ta
Look to the faces of supermodels like Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima and Candice Swanepoel to see Patrick Ta’s sultry glam. The makeup artist is known for sculpted contours and soft matte finishes, which he brings to the masses via his namesake beauty brand. With duo cream and powder complexion palettes, bold blushes and ultra-shiny lip glosses, Ta’s flexible makeup line makes it easy to create your own supermodel glam moment.
Giving you the choice of cream or powder, this compact is sure to give you a rosy glow. The makeup artist designed it so you can even play with layering the two finishes.
Patrick Ta’s contour and bronzer duo makes it easy to add definition to your features with the lighter cream shade adding the illusion of shadows and the deeper powder shade giving a warm finish.
This pearlescent lip gloss comes in three shimmery, sheer shades perfect for layering over lipstick on wearing on their own.
Beekman 1802
Beekman 1802 is a queer-founded skin care company based in Sharon Springs, New York, where the brand’s goat farm cares for 100 goats that supply their milk to the formulas themselves. (You can even check them out for yourselves via livestream.) Because goat milk is rich in lactic acid, fatty acids, prebiotics and more, it has tons of skin benefits that support barrier health and promote hydration. With a full lineup of skin and body care, Beekman 1802’s products have become favorites for their nourishing, gentle formulas.
This festive kit includes the bestselling Bloom Cream Moisturizer accompanied by mini booster serums and a cute rainbow Goatie enamel pin. All the profits of this Pride set will be donated to the Ali Forney Center to support homeless LGBTQ+ youth.??
This expert-approved face mist is light, hydrating and great for sensitive skin.
Ahead of the skin milk trend, Beekman 1802 has been harnessing the power of goat milk since its beginnings. These milk-infused drops deliver hydration with ceramides, squalane and hyaluronic acid.
This expert-approved face mist is light, hydrating and great for sensitive skin.
AKT London
Thespians turned brand founders Ed Currie and Andy Coxon took their experiences sweating it out on the stage as an opportunity to create a deodorant brand. Seeking to make a product that feels elegant, smells sophisticated and gives a standing ovation-worthy performance when it comes to keeping B.O. at bay, they created a line of natural deodorant balms that actually work. Scents include After Thunder (cedar, eucalyptus, orange), Orange Grove (petitgrain, mandarin and neroli), Halcyon Summers (mint, pomelo and tomato vine), The Onsen (vetiver, lavandin, yuzu), Columbia Road (amber, violet, tonka) and an unscented option.
Unlike a typical stick deodorant, this one applies like a lotion and can be used anywhere on the body that’s prone to sweating.
Get a taste (er, smell) for the whole lineup with these petite tubes of the deodorant balm.
In keeping with the brand’s commitment to sustainability (the tubes are 100% recyclable aluminum), grab this reusable tube key to ensure you can squeeze out every last drop.
Common Heir
This queer and WOC-founded brand is committed to making beauty better for the environment with its plastic-free packaging and clean formulas. Developed by chief product officer Angela Ubias and CEO Cary Lin, Common Heir was born two years ago to prove that high-performing skin care can come in biodegradable packaging.
Common Heir’s serums are deposited via biodegradable, vegan capsules that keep each dose of the perfectly measured and potent. The vitamin C serum is a favorite for its brightening effect.
Seaweed and desert botanicals add vitamins and antioxidants to this ceramide-rich serum that smoothes and soothes the skin.
Solawave
Solawave’s innovative LED light therapy wands are an easy way to incorporate an at-home spa treatment into your everyday regimen. In five-minute sessions, the wand’s combination of red light therapy, microcurrent, facial massage and therapeutic warmth targets fine lines, uneven skin tone, blemishes and more, making it a universal tool to benefit all skin types, tones and ages.
“As a queer-funded company, supporting the LGBTQIA+ community is at the forefront of our philanthropic efforts,” says co-founder Andrew Silberstein. Solawave’s fundraising has benefitted Folx Health’s HRT Care fund — which helps transgender, nonbinary, intersex and other gender-expansive people access hormone replacement therapy care — and True Colors United, which is implementing innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ young people. “We’re honored to be able to contribute to these noble causes that help the most marginalized individuals in our community,” Silberstein says. “Being able to use our platform and voice to bring awareness to these foundations and others we’ve worked with is important to us throughout the year — not just in June.”
A multiuse beauty tool that targets fine lines, wrinkles, blemishes and more, the 4-in-1 Radiant Renewal wand boosts your skin care routine with microcurrent, red light therapy, therapeutic warmth and facial massage.?
Made to be used along with Solawave’s devices, this calming serum helps the tools glide while delivering hyaluronic acid, aloe vera and cucumber extract to the skin.?
Combined red and blue light therapy treat the skin with different wavelengths to improve active breakouts and promote healing.?
Philip B.
Created by Hollywood hair care specialist Philip B., this namesake brand has been leading botanical-based hair care since 1991. With a focus on scalp-friendly natural ingredients, Philip B.’s line of shampoos, conditioners and styling products delivers restorative nourishment from root to ends. Plus, the products will leave your hair smelling like you just left the salon.
“Being a gay man proudly in touch with my feminine side?helped me to?develop empathy and gain trust so I was able to best serve my clients,” Philip B. says. “People are people all over the world and solution equals resolution. I continue?and always want to develop solutions to help people with real scalp and hair issues. I was able?to break through all barriers with exceptional formulations and?products?to ultimately transcend all forms of bias or discrimination.”
Philip B. is celebrating Pride Month by donating a portion of sales to the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which supports the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles by providing health, social and housing services.
Healthy greens are great for your hair too. In the case of this best-selling shampoo, avocado and peppermint make for a refreshing and clarifying wash day.
This prewash hair treatment contains a blend of olive, sweet almond, jojoba, lavender and other nutrient-rich oils to restore and enrich dull locks.
A super-lightweight leave-in conditioner, this mist adds strength and shine to dehydrated hair.
Well People
Well People offers clean and sustainable makeup and skin care that is EWG verified. The brand’s commitment to no-fuss beauty products that are good for you and the environment is led by its three Latinx co-founders, including Shirley Pinkson, who is also currently the head of education for drugstore-favorite brand e.l.f Beauty. As a member of the queer community, Pinkson prioritized making Well People an inclusive and safe space for all, sharing, “Every day, I work to hold a judgment-free space for myself and those around me. When one realizes what they are truly capable of, a fire builds within that extinguishes fear, doubt, and shame … creating positive change.”
Swipe on a flush of color with this hydrating multi-use stick. It comes in six rosy tones and can be used on the cheeks or lips.
A bestseller from the brand, the Expressionist Pro mascara boasts a vegan, long-wearing formula that defines and holds lashes all day.
This lightweight powder foundation has a soft matte finish that goes on smooth and gives buildable coverage.
Undefined
A plant-based skin care brand, Undefined is at the intersection of wellness and beauty. The brand’s “clean-ical” skin care focuses on effective, accessible products with a mission to democratize beauty. The mushroom-infused R&R line has a full lineup of skin essentials from hydrating serums to botanical-infused SPF.
A cleanser that can double as a face mask, this refreshing gel features aloe, niacinamide, gotu kola and tremella and shiitake mushrooms.
This broad-spectrum SPF 50 mineral sunscreen shields the skin from UVA, UVB and blue light in a serum-like formula that absorbs quickly.
Brightening and skin-evening, this day serum delivers vitamin C, niacinamide, alpha arbutin, tremella mushroom, noni fruit and more.
Dundas Beauty
Fashion designer Peter Dundas has always been about celebrating beauty — formerly with party-ready styles of the early 2000s and now with a cosmetic brand he founded with his husband and business partner, Evangelo Bousis. Enlisting the help of beauty mogul and Anastasia Beverly Hills’ founder Anastasia Soare, Dundas created a five-product collection of makeup basics. The genderless lineup includes skin-enhancing concealers and bronzers, as well as a color-shifting tinted moisturizer, pigmented eyeliner and a plumping lip balm.
Creamy and blendable, this complexion stick is sizable enough to use all over but the convenient format makes it easy to target spots as a concealer too.
Create dimension with this powder bronzer that comes in a convenient compact with a mirror.
Alder New York
Alder New York was founded by Pratt Institute alumni Nina Zilka and David Kraus, and the pair’s design background shows. The brand makes the type of skin care that you want to display on your vanity, and never forget to slather on your face. Highlighting natural ingredients like willow bark and sea kelp, alongside dermatologist-approved hyaluronic acid and bakuchiol, the products support healthy, nourished skin.
Upgrade from your standard bar soap and opt for this gently exfoliating, creamy body bar that has skin-loving ingredients like shea butter, jojoba seed oil and sea kelp.
This daily gel cleanser keeps pores clear with 1% glycolic acid, plus sea kelp extract and glycerin to hydrate.
One/Size
Makeup artist and YouTube sensation Patrick Starrr founded his beauty line with the idea that makeup is one size fits all. In other words, all are invited to put their best faces forward with One/Size’s pro-loved formulas and high-performing makeup. From drag queens to teen content creators, One/Size’s community of makeup enthusiasts celebrates individuality and expression through beauty.
Makeup artists love this powder foundation for its blendable, blurring finish and impressive shade range.
Another pro-approved complexion product, One/Size's setting powder is among the best out there. The viral favorite helps makeup last all day while giving a seamless finish.
This setting spray sells out for good reason — reviewers have divulged all kinds of wild nights that the product has helped their makeup last through.
Noto Botanics
Gender-fluid skin care and cosmetics brand Noto was founded by makeup artist Gloria Noto. The multiuse skin, hair and body products feature a mix of vegan botanical ingredients that are great for anyone — and they’re made with everyone, inclusive of all identities, in mind. For Pride Month, visitors can take 15% off sitewide, with the exception of kits, which are always 25% off.
Outside of June, a percentage of the hero product Agender Oil’s profits are donated to organizations including Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, The Center and more.
Vegan, cruelty-free and organic, Noto’s hyaluronic acid moisturizer keeps the face, neck and hands happy and hydrated.
An “anywhere hair” oil, this conditioning blend softens the hair and skin with hemp seed oil, vetiver and lavender for a beautifully scented experience.
Freck Beauty
Gen Z’s favorite faux-freckle brand has expanded beyond its freckle pens and become a full-fledged beauty business. Now with a collection of vegan and cruelty-free skin care and makeup, Freck is all about celebrating individualism.
Freck’s clever formula allows you to make freckles a part of your makeup routine. Reviewers love how easy it is to get the hang of natural-looking faux freckles.
This bronzing stick makes for a quick contour. Swipe on the almond-shaped applicator in seconds and simply blend in with your fingers or makeup brush.
Infused with peptides and panthenol to condition and strengthen lashes, this eyeliner does the job of a lash serum too.
Peace Out
Peace Out is dedicated to helping you manage breakouts — the Acne Dots are a bestseller — and was started based on the founder Enrico Frezza’s own struggles with acne. As a LGBTQ-founded and -led company, the brand has committed a minimum $25,000 donation to The Trevor Project, with $5 from each sale of the limited-edition Pride Acne Dot pimple stickers benefiting the cause. The Trevor Project provides critical resources and mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth, including 24/7 counseling.
Peace Out’s favorite acne dots get a rainbow makeover for Pride Month. The celebratory stickers support the LGBTQ community through the brand’s partnership and pledge to donate to The Trevor Project.
This smoothing and light mousse contains ingredients like niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and mushroom extract to help minimize pores over time.
Targeting signs of aging like lines, wrinkles and uneven texture, this concentrated stick has 3% encapsulated retinol?and bakuchiol for direct and easy application.
Arquiste
Arquiste founder Carlos Huber has his fingers in many pies — beyond his work as an architect and historical preservationist, he is a fragrance developer that works on his own brand alongside scents for brands like Vacation Inc., Trudon and St. Regis Hotels and Resorts. His multifaceted passions are reflected in Arquiste, which puts forth evocative scents and a design-forward approach.
Like a beautifully lingering incense, this award-winning patchouli-based fragrance is woody, earthy and bohemian.
This summery scent evokes sun-kissed skin with creamy, coconut notes like sunscreen paired with the refreshing spray of salt water.
Bring the signature scent of the St. Regis Hotels and Resorts home with this candle duo that will transport you back to your dream vacation.
Barb
Sheena Lister created Barb for folks like herself who were looking for better products geared toward short hair. Specifically made with women, trans and nonbinary people in mind but great for anyone with short hair, the brand’s Soft Clay Pomade is a versatile styling product for all hair types.
Flexible yet strong, Barb’s hero product holds styles all day long without feeling sticky, thanks to its blend of natural waxes and plant proteins.
Equal Love
Just like love is universal and diverse, beauty and personal care products should be, too. That’s why Ana María Hernández’s Equal Love embraces all forms of self expression through its line of genderless personal care and home products. The Puerto Rico-based brand prioritizes inclusive products and eco-friendly production with sustainably and locally sourced ingredients and materials.
A vegan and cruelty-free body lotion made for every body, this silky moisturizer includes coconut oil, shea butter, argan oil and a special blend of essential oils.
Equal Love’s sudsy body wash with virgin coconut oil, vitamin E and the brand’s signature essential oil blend leaves skin silky smooth.
Burn this soy wax candle and melt into relaxation with notes of cedar and citrus.
