February is Black History Month in Canada, and if you're looking for ways to show your support, one place to start is with your beauty routine.
Sephora Canada is home to so many Black-owned beauty brands with inclusive offerings and products that have gone viral online.
From lines created by renowned makeup artists to brands with high-power ingredients, there are so many items worth adding to your cart.
Here are 13 Black-owned beauty brands at Sephora to shop during Black History Month and all year long.
Keys Soulcare
Details: Keys Soulcare is singer Alicia Keys' first lifestyle brand, which aims to "bring new meaning to beauty by honoring ritual in our daily life and practicing intention in every action."
The brand's collection of products are said to be based on Keys' own skincare experiences and desire for "truly efficacious formulas and soul-nourishing rituals," and include things such as skin serums, body oils and skincare tools.
Fenty Beauty by Rihanna
Details: Fenty Beauty is the singer's line of makeup and skincare products in partnership with LVMH.
The singer created Fenty Beauty "so that people everywhere would be included," with the brand focusing on a wide range of "traditionally hard-to-match skin tones," and developing formulas that work for all skin types.
Notably, the brand is known for its industry-leading shade range. For instance, its Pro Filt'r foundation comes in 51 shades, from very fair to very deep, and with a mix of different undertones.
Several of the brand's iconic products have also gone viral online, such as the Match Stix contour stick, Killawatt highlighter, and the Poutsicle lip stain.
Shani Darden
Details: Celebrity esthetician Shani Darden is considered to be "the secret behind Hollywood's most flawless faces."
Her eponymous skincare line has a huge celebrity following, with the likes of Rosie Huntington Whitely, Shay Mitchell and Kelly Rowland praising its effectiveness.
The brand's focus is on results-oriented products, which target anti-aging, skin texture and clarity.
Topicals
Details: Founded by Olamide Olowe, Topicals is a skincare brand that uses ingredients scientifically proven by third-party, peer-reviewed studies, and formulates their products in partnership with their scientific advisory board, per their website.
The brand focuses on targeted solutions and takes a "less is more" approach to skin care.
One of their most popular products is their Faded Serum for Dark Spots & Discoloration, which has gone viral on TikTok, with many users sharing videos of its acne-scar fading powers.
Pattern by Tracee Ellis Ross
Details: Ross says Pattern came from a want to create a line of products that gave her hair "the support it needed to be its true self."
Pattern is all about embracing your natural texture, "[meeting] your hair where it is," and "[empowering] your curl pattern."
The line features conditioners, shampoos, leave-in treatments, and oils for curly, coiled, and textured hair of all kinds, and takes into consideration the different strength and moisture levels of different curl patterns.
One of the brand's best-selling products is its Detangling Nectar, which is good for curly, coiled, wavy and tight-textured hair and helps to smooth and define curls.
Adwoa beauty
Details: Founder Julian Addo created Adwoa Beauty in 2017 with the mission of shifting the conversation around naturally curly hair and marketing to be more inclusive and "encapsulate 'the modernization of Black people,'" Forbes reports.
Pronounced "ahh-ju-wah," the brand's name comes from Addo's traditional name, which is also Adwoa.
The brand caters to multi-cultural hair textures using concentrated ingredients like baobab oil, Kalahari melon seed oil, and blue tansy flower oil.
One of Adwoa Beauty's bestsellers is its MelonBerry Hair Milk Leave-In Conditioner, which works to smooth, moisturize, detangle and soften straight, wavy, curly and coily hair.
FORVR Mood
Details: Created by YouTuber Jackie Aina, FORVR MOOD is a "love letter from Black women, to Black
women."
The line of candles is meant to show Black women that they "deserve more than perseverance and strength."
"Black women don’t always have to be strong. Black women deserve self-care. Black women deserve luxury. Black women deserve to be spoiled," says the brand's website.
FORVR MOOD's best-selling item is the Sweet Wave candle, which is said to have notes of blueberry, jasmine and vanilla along with coconut for a warm and spicy scent.
Pat McGrath Labs
Details: You've likely heard of celebrity makeup artist Pat McGrath, who has been called the "most influential makeup artist in the world," by Vogue and has made up countless celebrity faces.
However, did you know you can shop a line of products created by the makeup artist?
Pat McGrath Labs is McGrath's line of "must-have, high-performance cosmetics," featuring everything you could need to create a makeup look the artist would approve of.
One of the brand's best-sellers is the MTHRSHP MEGA: Celestial Nirvana eyeshadow palette, which reviewers say contains colourful, buildable shades.
54 Thrones
Details: 54 Thrones founder Christina Tegbe aspires to "spread the message of the African origin of clean beauty."
Growing up experiencing the "true and sacred beauty of Africa" through products sent to her from her Nigerian aunt, Tegbe launched 54 Thrones, a skin-first brand that uses ingredients grown on African soil.
The brand features products meant to nurture skin, like masks, body butter, and black soap.
While their offering on Sephora is currently limited, you can still shop some of their best-selling products, like their African Beauty Butter, an intensive skin treatment that contains shea butter, baobab oil and jojoba oil.
Briogeo
Details: Founded by Nancy Twine, Briogeo is a clean hair care brand meant for all hair types and textures.
The brand operates with a "6-free" promise, meaning that its products don't contain ingredients that could potentially be harmful to hair, namely, harsh sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, artificial dyes, and DEA (diethanolamine).
All Briogeo products are also vegan, cruelty-free and gluten-free.
The brand has many top-rated and raved-about products, but one of their best sellers and possibly most well-known items is the Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask, which claims to strengthen damaged hair and help prevent future damage.
Danessa Myricks
Details: Self-taught makeup artist Daness Myricks' eponymous brand is all about multi-functional products created to work in multiple places and on all faces.
"Danessa Myricks Beauty was founded on the principle that race, gender, age, and personal style should not limit anyone from experimenting with makeup and discovering their signature look," says the brand.
Some of the brand's best-sellers include the Yummy Skin Blurring Balm powder, which has gone viral on TikTok, and the Yummy Skin Glow Serum.
Fashion Fair
Details: Created by fashion pioneer Eunice W. Johnson, Fashion Fair was the first "international prestige cosmetics brand" created for darker skin tones that was sold globally in luxury stores like Neiman Marcus and Printemps.
Today, the beauty line offers vegan makeup and skincare products designed for diverse skin tones, including things like Crème to Power Skin Foundation, setting powder and lipstick.
LYS Beauty
Details: LYS Beauty founder Tisha Thompson created LYS as a brand that is geared toward skin concerns for women of color.
"A lot of clean beauty brands focus on anti-aging. They focus on lines and wrinkles," Thompson told Forbes.
"Our concerns are sensitive skin, dark spots, hyperpigmentation, uneven complexion and skin texture," she said. "So I focus on formulations that target those needs."
The line of skincare and makeup products is the first Black-owned clean beauty brand at Sephora, and notably, every product rings up at under $30.
If you're looking for more places to show your support, Canada has its own online directory of Black-owned businesses from across country, which features over 1,000 companies.
There are also many Black Canadian charities where you can make donations.
