In recent years, the beauty industry has undergone some long overdue changes when it comes to increasing inclusivity and visibility for marginalized groups. Though there is still a long way to go, we’ve come a long way in acknowledging the practice of beauty as something that is not confined to the constructs of gender. For anyone looking to explore their own gender expression or simply support companies making strides to open up the beauty world, here’s a list of beauty brands that are actively fighting to make beauty gender neutral.
Gender Neutral Beauty Brands to Expand Your Collection
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I first discovered goodlight after their iconic Heartstopper collab last year, and was pleased to find out that the brand is not just a huge fan of the show like I am, but is also rooted in inclusion. As the brand explains, their mission is “beauty beyond the binary,” focussing primarily on “moving culture forward by promoting a more inclusive definition of beauty through product and purpose,” by creating products that “reflect the diversity and fluidity of the world we live in today.”
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You’ve almost definitely seen Boy Smells products on shelves or online, with products like their Slow Burn and Cowboy Kush candle going viral and their more recent celebrity collaboration with Kacey Musgraves. But, not only is Boy Smells a great fragrance destination, they are also an inherently gender neutral company, stating in their mission that Boy Smells products are “packaged in pink and conceived beyond the gender binary,” and are aimed at “making loving your identity a daily ritual.”
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What started as another celebrity beauty brand and has now grown into one of the most popular skin and makeup empires in the industry, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty prides itself on being a company providing “beauty for all.” With skin-care, makeup and fragrance products, Fenty Beauty broke barriers in the industry with their extensive shade range, and as Rihanna herself put it, “what began as a concept, a desire, really, for every person to feel truly represented and not only included, but celebrated, has now become bigger than I ever imagined.”
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Founded by queer, Danish dermatologist Ole Henriksen, the iconic namesake brand was born out of Henriksen’s own struggle with cystic acne and has always been committed to helping users love themselves by loving their skin, making them a great option for anyone looking to get into skin care and foster a better relationship with themselves in the process.
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Not only does Youth to the People offer a range of sustainable, clean, vegan, effective skin-care products (their Superfood Cleanser is my holy grail), the brand is also deeply committed to making beauty and skin care accessible to everyone, with dozens of outreach initiatives like their involvement in the Every Body Campaign. Plus, you can even go to the “Impact” page on their site and find tons of useful articles about inclusivity in beauty, social justice and activism opportunities and more.
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Founded by drag icon Trixie Mattel, Trixie Cosmetics was created to make makeup fun and accessible to everyone—from professional drag queens to the everyday makeup lover. Not only is Trixie Cosmetics made for everyone, it is also aimed at creating joy through makeup. “Trixie Cosmetics is all about providing pro-level cosmetic products in the vibrant, fun packaging of your favorite childhood toys,” the brand explains. “For drag queens and normals alike, Trixie Cosmetics is committed to providing makeup that will make everyone feel like a legend, icon, and star.”
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JVN Hair
Founded by queer, non-binary star of Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness, JVN Hair is a professional-grade hair-care brand made for everybody and every hair type that encourages users to “come as you are.” As Van Ness explains, “JVN allows everyone that uses it to find their best hair self, feel beautiful, and show the world that they can look better than ever, while being confident in their choice to bring clean beauty to their hair.”
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Freck Beauty
While you may know Freck Beauty as the creators of the OG faux freckle product, the brand offers a wide array of clean, efficacious beauty products, all of which were created with their commitment to being gender neutral and experimental in mind. As the brand puts it, “as the new face of unconventional bold beauty, Freck stands for those who care about ingredients, respect the process and seek self-expression without rules.”
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Though many people know the brand for their signature fragrances, Byredo’s expansion into the beauty world is one that has emphasized the concept of gender neutrality from the start. “When I launched Byredo, it didn’t make sense in my mind to have separate fragrances for men and women, which was the industry norm back then, and I think with color and makeup, this also applies,” says founder Ben Gorham.
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Clean, non-toxic beauty brand, TooD Beauty–short for attitude–was founded by Shari Siadat in hopes of reclaiming her own beauty journey having been bullied for years on account of her unibrow. Centered around the ideas of self expression and imagine, TooD products are “made to use wherever your imagination takes you: on your unibrow or edges, as eyeshadow or lipgloss. It’s for Every Body Everywhere.”
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Jecca Blac
Created by UK-based makeup artist Jessica Blac as a way of creating a safe space for trans women to experiment with makeup, Jecca Blac is a vegan, cruelty-free, genderless makeup brand that celebrates beauty regardless of gender, identity, ability, sexuality or ethnicity.
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Created in 2004 by business and life partners Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz, Malin + Goetz is a skin-care brand that not only prides itself on high-quality, honest ingredients, but also on celebrating diversity, inclusivity, and the “energy of city living.”
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New York born and bred and celebrity-loved, Milk Makeup prides itself on creating easy-to-use, clean makeup products that center around self expression for all. Plus, 1 percent of all proceeds from milkmakeup.com are consistently donated to The Center—an LGBTQIA+ safe space and community center in NYC.
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What started with colorful nail polishes and expanded into a full-fledged beauty brand, Harry Styles’ Pleasing is all about not being perfect, but rather finding your pleasing and being yourself regardless of age, gender, sexuality and more.
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Inspired by the life of iconic makeup artist Patrick Starr, One/Size is a beauty brand that is exactly what it sounds like: a makeup line that is one size fits all. The brand focusses on giving voice to the voiceless and making “space for everyone to belong in our movement for radical expression.”
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The debut skin-care line of singer Pharrell Williams, Humanrace aims to help users foster a deeper understanding of themselves and their own wellness while remaining accessible, inclusive and effective.
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Free from the harsh chemicals often present in nail polishes, Machine Gun Kelly’s nail line, UN/DN LAQR, offers users a wide range of colors and styles to help make “every stroke an act of self-expression.”
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We know Lady Gaga would only give us the best, and her beauty line Haus Labs prides itself on the combination of science and nature to create expressive, high-quality products that all represent the same goal: “kindness and inclusivity, forever.”
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From their incredible Gender Fluid Beauty products and Beyond Binary skin care to their charitable donations of proceeds to equality nonprofits, ADVEKET operates wholly under the foundation of being “a cosmetics line created to showcase the strength, beauty and diversity of the gender spectrum.”
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When it comes to any sort of stereotypes, gender included, Morphe is “not interested.” Famous for creating celeb-quality products that don’t break the bank, Morphe encourages its users to “dare to create” and show of their “true, vivid, exploding colors.”
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A clean beauty and skin-care line infused with natural botanicals throughout, Noto Botanics labels itself as an explicitly gender fluid, multi-use, radical skin-care brand.
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What initially began as “an idea to transform the shopping experience into something with zero gender boundaries,” non-gender specific became a trend-setting, global beauty brand that utilizes a “less is more” approach to skin care.
