California Live’s Danielle Nottingham continues our month-long celebration of women with beauty & lifestyle expert Elycia Rubin, who shares female-founded beauty businesses you should know about. From skincare to makeup and even fragrances, these products were all designed for women by women.
Skincare
- Annmarie Borlind, Pioneers of non-toxic skincare
- Average price: $33 - $55
- Managing Director and Co-owner Alicia Lindner
- One of the original players in natural skincare (many years before the emergence of non-toxic beauty brands), the Annmarie Borlind brand is revered for their clean formulations and highly effective skincare such as their Skin Boosters and Vegan Collagen line that are reasonably priced. And Alicia Lindner, the granddaughter of the original founder is leading the way.
- Exponent Beauty, Supercharged Serums
- Average price: $98
- Founder and CEO Liz Whitman
- Liz has disrupted the skincare industry with Exponent. After extensive lab testing, she found almost all skincare products, including top selling luxurious brands, degrade by 40% in just six weeks (talk about a waste of money!), so she created a new advanced system delivering the most supercharged skincare you can find today - and it does not degrade. The serums - Retinol, Vitamin C and Coq10 are in powder form and mixed with hyaluronic activated right in the palm of your hand for the freshest, most potent, cost-effective skincare anywhere.
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Makeup
- Girlactik, Innovative makeup
- Average price: $12 - $38
- Founder and Creative Director Galit Strugano-Wigdor
- Over 20 years ago and with less than $2,000 in savings, Galit created her first hit makeup product beloved by editors and makeup artists around the world... the ultra clever two step sparkle eyeliner designed to keep glitter in place. Today Girlactik is a favorite of women of all ages and Galit has gone on to create a full range of of luxurious makeup in stunning shades and formulations that are super wearable and thoughtful including favorites such as her Jello Gloss Lip Balms, Shimmer Face Powders, Shadow Sticks, Face Oil Serum, Rose Lip Oil, Dual Wand Mascara, and Long Wear Gel Eyeliners and more.
- Iris & Romeo, Skincare-infused makeup
- Average price: $26 - $45
- Founder and CEO - Michele Gough Baril
- After working in the cosmetics industry for many years, Michele took a break and focused on slow living and living with more meaning. She re-emerged with Iris & Romeo - multi-tasking skincare infused makeup that delivers easy breezy, natural looking skin. From featherlight tinted SPF with Vitamin C to their viral all over multi balm sticks and peptide infused lip color, this is low maintenance makeup you can live in.
- Refy Cosmetics, Brow products & more
- Average price: $20 - $30
- Co-founded by Jess Hunt and Jenna Meek (also the CEO)
- Refy’s motto is “simplifying beauty, encouraging you to embrace you.” Jess Hunt is a model (with brows that wow) and influencer who shares swoon-worthy tips with a community of nearly two million followers and Jenna Meek has massive business moxie and spearheads REFY with an entrepreneurial spirit. The line is dapperly designed and the multifunctional, products including their viral lash and brow sculpts are vegan, fragrance free, and Leaping Bunny certified
Hair
- T3 Hair Tools, Elevated technology
- Average price: $112
- Co-founder Julie Chung
- Julie and her husband Kent Yu are responsible for elevating ho-hum, boring beauty tools with their brand T3 - these are sleek, elegant, design-forward hair dryers, flat irons, curling irons and more, that are powerful, professional quality, healthier for the hair, look beautiful on any bathroom counter, and beloved by the top hair stylists in the world.
Home
- Ourside, Handcrafted Fragrances
- Average price: $35 - $79
- Founder and CEO Keta Burke-Williams
- Keta Burke-Williams started working on the idea for Ourside during the first summer of Covid while on break from earning her MBA at Harvard Business School. She developed scents intended for self-care and connection and is inspired by her mother and a recurring story she told of walking in a garden in Tunisia surrounded by night-blooming jasmine. Ourside’s product lineup has three mesmerizing, unisex fragrances: Moon Dust, Nostalgia (another ode to the jasmine that inspired the brand) and Dusk.
