At the height of this summer’s civil unrest –following the death of George Floyd– celebrity makeup artist Renée Loiz released Color May Vary, an online beauty guide that highlights black-owned brands, as a way of giving back to her community.
The beauty guide spotlights the array of black-owned beauty brands in the industry today, with over 800 makeup, body care, hair care, skincare, green beauty products, and wellness brands to select from. Color May Varygives beauty lovers and brands the online resource they need.
For Loiz, the research was eye-opening. Within two days she had compiled a list of 200 companies.
“I was like wow I just can’t believe that there are so many brands out there that aren’t recognized, and they have excellent branding, the products look amazing,” Loiz said. “I hadn’t tried nor heard of most of these brands because they weren’t readily available at Target, Sephora, or out here in LA where there are makeup stores specifically for people in the industry.”
The acknowledgment and struggles of being black-owned in today’s industry is something well-known brands are slowly taking note of. Most recently, Aurora James’ 15 Percent Pledge petition began calling on major retailers to commit a minimum of 15 percent of their shelves to black-owned businesses. Color May Vary hopes to aid in this movement.
“As you can see, people like Sephora and Ulta are very aware that they’re lacking in [the black-owned product] department and that’s kind of why Aurora James started the 15 percent pledge,” Loiz said. “In the fashion industry and in the beauty industry, these companies and big-name corporations need to at least have 15 percent of black-owned brands in their stores, and now with this guide, as far as beauty, there’s really no excuse.”
Color May Vary’s goal is to be a well-known research guide for people to come and support. To assist in that, the website has been designed to make shopping simpler. The search engine lets consumers type in keywords like “glowy”, “extensions”, “wigs”, etc. and related brands will come up.
Loiz also hopes that Color May Vary will help brands get recognized, put in stores, and get the funding they need to make their brands bigger. “Being black in the industry is tough,” Loiz admitted. “You have to work ten times harder to prove yourself and looking back at history, it’s harder for a black-owned business to succeed. We need this [guide] in the industry.”
The online beauty guide has even led Loiz to alter her own makeup kit and product choices.
“I get sent products from major companies all the time that, let’s be real, don’t need me to go online and promote their products,” she said. “What’s needed is for me to use these [black-owned] products, go online, use them on my celebrity clients, and talk about the new products from brands like Danessa Myricks or Uoma. I’m trying to change my kit out so that I could primarily use black, indigenous, or people of color products on my clients so that they can get recognized and people will go out and buy them.”
Loiz noted that just like Fenty and Pat McGrath Makeup, the makeup brands on the list caters to skin tones of all kinds, not just women of color. “They aren’t just for black people,” Loiz said. “I hope people use my guide as a resource they can come to and trust and know that I have everything on there.
In order to ensure users of this guide are only being referred to legitimate companies of quality, Loiz carefully reviews each product before officially adding it. “We look at each submission to make sure it’s a real business where customers can purchase products. We also take into consideration the quality of products, branding, and marketing, as well as the overall presentation of the brand on your website and social media,” reads the Color May Vary website.
“Another thing I’m doing is spotlights on brands. Once I get products, I’ll test them out, then I’ll write about it and add it to the guide. I’ll also do a tutorial and talk with the owner so they can promote their brand.”
Whether you are a black business owner in the beauty industry looking to get more exposure for your brand, or you are a consumer looking for ways to actively support and buy from black-owned businesses, Color May Vary’s beauty guide may be exactly what you need.
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