The month of march is Women’s History Month, and with this we want to take the time to talk about the most successful women in the beauty industry and how they’ve paved the way for the future of the industry. In recent years the growth in inclusivity and diversity within the industry has brought to light new and creative females willing to make a change in the industry. Their hard work for this change has paid off and overall made the industry a more welcoming and inclusive place for all people. This women’s history month we want to celebrate everyone creating and behind the scenes of the beauty industry and show our respect for those wanting to grow and diversify the community.
Sharon Chuter – UOMA Beauty
“A confident woman inspires those around her – empowered women, empower others”
Sharon Chuter
Sharon Chuter, who was born in Nigeria and now lives in London, founded UOMA Beauty to provide completely inclusive, varied beauty, pulling inspiration from her ancestry and experiences. She was also the brains and brawn of the ‘Pull Up For Change’ campaign, which demanded beauty brands explain how diverse their senior staff are during the 2021 Black Lives Matter movement. This not only sparked vital, long-overdue discussions, but it also prompted numerous companies to promise and enact immediate change.
UOMA Beauty values authentic beauty, and this is shown in their diverse range of shades and shows their appreciation for all skin tones and difficulties they may face when it comes to finding their shade.
Uoma Beauty Say What Foundation
Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury MBE is one of the leading beauty and skincare brands of today, dominating the market whilst empowering all at the same time. Her all inclusive beauty range sells a range of astounding products which have shaken the beauty community multiple times. Her products are high quality and offer a wide range of shades for all. This amazing reputation has made Charlotte tilbury a household name and everyone more or less has one of her products in their routine!
As well as her magnificent products, Tilbury has been a long-time supporter of Women for Women International, a charity that assists female war survivors rebuild their lives, and in 2019 she contributed £1 million to fund their programmes, which she continues to do through continuing initiatives and collaborations. A real girl boss!
Emily Weiss – Glossier
While working as an on-set stylist for Vogue, Weiss spent her mornings—from 4 a.m. until 8 a.m.—to writing her blog. Weiss left her job at Vogue after Into the Gloss (ITG) reached a milestone of 10 million monthly page visits. She covers skincare, makeup, hair, and motivational interviews in her writing. Jenna Lyons, a former J.Crew president and fashion designer, was featured in one of her most high-profile beauty-life interviews in 2014. A year later, she did an interview with Kim Kardashian.
She is now the CEO of cult beauty brand Glossier. Glossier is a huge advocate for natural beauty and embracing yourself. Their inclusive shade ranges and minimalistic beauty approach spoke to a new kind of customer, growing the beauty community even more.
Glossier as a brand grew dramatically, $400 million in 4 years. Whether natural makeup is your thing or not, you just have to appreciate the grind from Emily Weiss.
Rihanna – Fenty Beauty
Fenty beauty was launched in September 2017 by Rihanna. The brand is popular for its broad inclusivity across skin tones and gender. Launching their Pro Filt’R foundation in 40 shades, now up to 50. Fenty beauty connected emotionally with makeup wearers who had long been treated as if they had been forgotten. They highlighted the issue of shade ranges and proved to the industry that women of colour have huge spending power and that their is a market for them.
They are now worth over $5 billion and are continuing to grow with every new release. As a brand they have paved the way for many more wanting to strive for inclusivity in the industry and have made it apparent how important it is.
Pat McGrath
Pat McGrath, dubbed “Mother” by industry insiders, is a makeup artistry institution in her own right. McGrath rose to prominence in the early 1990s while working with Edward Enninful, then a fashion editor at i-D Magazine. He is widely recognised as the most influential makeup artist of our time. As they say, the rest is history. Her stunning creations have since been published in international editions of the world’s most prestigious fashion magazines, as well as on the runways of Prada, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, and Givenchy. In 2004, she was hired as the Global Creative-Design Director for Max Factor and Cover Girl by Procter & Gamble.Finally, in 2015, she released Pat McGrath Labs, the first product of her makeup collection, which is available at Sephora, Net-A-Porter, and high-end department shops. Pat McGrath Labs is expected to be worth $1 billion after only three years of operation. In 2019 she was included in Time’s 100 most influential people list. She is the first make-up artist to be made a British dame.
Tisha Thomspon – LYS beauty
Tisha Thompson, a skilled makeup artist turned beauty industry maven, is the Founder and CEO of LYSTM Beauty, with over 15 years of expertise in clean beauty product creation, brand management, marketing, finance, and operations. Tisha designed LYSTM as a landing-place for makeup and skincare solutions that are particularly customised to all skin types, textures, and tones, while addressing common skin concerns including hyperpigmentation, dark spots, and sensitive skin. Tisha is on a mission to dispel the myth that clean beauty, deep shade ranges, and high-performance products can’t coexist. With ingredients as her tool and confidence as her goal, Tisha is on a mission to dispel the myth that clean beauty, deep shade ranges, and high-performance products can’t coexist. Ensuring all her products are vegan and cruelty free Trish Thompson is showing the rest how it’s done!
LYS beauty is exclusively stocked at Sephora at the moment, but we expect to be seeing this brand branch out of America any time soon so keep an eye out!
Kim Roxie – LAMIK beauty
Kim Roxie started out as a makeup artist at her local mall, appalled by what she saw makeup brands putting in their products, she was driven to build her own makeup brand with all clean ingredients.
Founded by Kim Roxie, LAMIK Beauty is a vegan makeup line made with safe, non-toxic ingredients for women with diverse skin tones. Their motto: Beauty is revealed, not applied. They aim to celebrate and support women in all their glory, whilst building an inclusive community. Kim was driven to make the perfect brow product as she struggled with her own brow hair loss in her time, she wanted other women to know they were not alone and there is a solution. Passionate about creating the highest quality products with the purest ingredients, keep a look out for this brand, the future is bright!
Dream in Colour Beauty
Launched in June 2021, Dream in colour celebrates and serves the queer and trans community, whilst raising money for LGBTQ+ charities. Founder of dream in colour is Non Binary / gender fluid makeup artist Viktor Victoria. With over 15 years of makeup artist knowledge they felt a need to create a new kind of makeup brand that celebrated queer and trans beauty. Their goal to grow diversity within the makeup community is in full swing and this is just the beginning. It’s exciting to see a fresh brand on the scene which fills a gap in the market whilst growing the community even wider, and having amazing products to show for it.
It’s important to appreciate and show support to smaller up and coming business, especially ones like Dream in colour. They are essential to growing this community and making it more exciting and diverse. By support them you are a supporting a worthy cause also, starting small makes the biggest impact.
Words By Lily Grimes
Header Image: Sharon Chuter @heysharonc
