Image may contain Halsey Human Person Sunglasses Accessories Accessory Premiere and FashionGetty Images | Channing Smith 

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Pride Month has us drowning in a sea of corporate queer-washing every year. Once June 1 rolls around, companies and government entities jump at any opportunity to put on a performance of allyship with the LGBTQIA community. Their method of choice? Slapping rainbows onto anything with surface space. Toothpaste, shoes, potato chips, and (most ironically), police cars all get the ROYGBIV treatment. And when it's not rainbows, it's an explosion of sparkly glitters. But how many of those products actually help the LGBTQIA community.

Limited-edition drops from entities that don't typically center the queer experience, only tokenize it for timely capital. It's 2022 — let's instead give our money to brands that are actually run by queer folks, hire queer folks, and give queer people equity in their futures. And trust, with a community as varied and diverse as this one, there are plenty.

We rounded up a few of our favorite beauty brands run by members of the LGBTQIA community, so you can support them during Pride Month and beyond. 

1. Good Light

Developed by David Yi, Good Light Is all about creating personal-care products for all people, regardless of gender identity. Yi prides himself in knowing that all of the products in Good Light are formulated to be clean and cruelty-free. The brand features ingredients like snow mushroom, hyaluronic acid, and more hydrating, skin-nourishing goodies. 

Good Light Cosmic Dew Water Cleanser light pink tube with white cap on white background

Good Light Cosmic Dew Water Cleanser

$18 at Good Light$18 at Ulta Beauty

Star Product: The Good Light Cosmic Dew Water Cleanser is made with only the good stuff. This face wash features a list of skin-nourishing ingredients like hydrating glycerin and plumping laminaria japonica, so skin stays fresh, clean, and healthy all the time.

2. Common Heir

Chief product officer, Angela Ubias, who's lesbian, and her cofounderCary Lin, founded Common Heir together to bring plastic-free, effective products to the market. Both Vitamin C and Retinol Serums is are loaded into a biodegradable capsule for easy use and the perfect amount of product every time.

Common Heir is also partners with 1% for the Planet and Ocean Blue Project to donate $1 from every email signup, equivalent to removing one pound of micro-plastics from the ocean.

Common Heir Retinol Serum blue floral-patterned cylinder container of retinol serum on white background

Common Heir Retinol Serum

$88 at Common Heir$88 at Credo Beauty

Star Product: Common Heir Retinol Serum comes with 60 biodegradable vegan capsules that are each packed with skin-loving ingredients. The list includes retinyl linoleate, to shed dead skin, squalane to hydrate, and algae oil to moisturize.

3. Andrew Fitzsimons

For years, Andrew Fitzsimons has been the go-to hairstylist for the Kardashian-Jenner crew. But, most recently, he spread his wings by creating his own namesake brand that's available at Ulta Beauty. The entire brand features 23 products under five collections: Virgin Repair for damaged hair, Fantasy Curls for textures 3A-4C, Body Volume for thin and fine hair, Prism Shine to get the coveted glass hair look, and Styling, which covers an array of styling needs. 

Andrew Fitzsimons Prism Shine Invisible Shine Hair Spray pink aerosol bottle with pink cap on white background

Andrew Fitzsimons Prism Shine Invisible Shine Hair Spray

$14 at Ulta Beauty

Star Product: Want glass hair like a Kardashian? Well, look no further than their hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons line. The Prism Shine Invisible Shine Hair Spray is infused with avocado oil so hair gleams in the light with a lightweight finish that's never greasy.

4. Madison Reed

Amy Erret, who identifies as queer, founded Madison Reed to create and provide the most luxurious hair color products with ingredients that won't make you feel nervous about damaging your hair. We stand by that Erret did just that which is why awarded the brand's color Color Reviving Gloss a Best of Beauty award. 

PS: If you're wondering where she got the name Madison Reed from, she named her company after her daughter — so precious. 

Madison Reed Detangling Brush wine purple brush with black bristles on white background

Madison Reed Detangling Brush

$15 at Madison Reed

Star Product: The Madison Reed Detangling Brush has soft bristles that glide through tangles without any pain. This brush can be used on wet or dry hair but we love using it in the shower with conditioner, this helps ensure hair treatments get evenly distributed evenly to our strands.

5. JVN

Jonathan Van Ness introduced JVN last year, a haircare line where every product is silicone-free, and the star ingredient of the line — which you will find in every formula — is hemisqualane from sugar cane. Which, according to cosmetic chemist Ginger King, adds shine and has a smoothing effect. 

JVN Pride Air Dry Cream pale yellow beige tube with black cap on white background

JVN Pride Air Dry Cream

$24 at JVN Hair$24 at Sephora

Star Product: The JVN Pride Air Dry Cream comes in rainbow packaging, but that's only part of why we love it. The other part is because of what it does for our hair. This styling cream has hemisqualane in it that protects and smoothes and moringa seed oil that leaves hair shiny without any crunchiness or flakes.

6. About-Face

When Halsey dropped About-Face, we knew it wasn't just any ordinary celebrity beauty brand. They created this brand with the slogan "makeup without rules," which we love. About-Face is made with high-pigment, long-wearing formulas that look good on all skin tones. 

About-Face Matte Fluid Eye Paint teal, mauve, yellow, and lime green tubes of eye paint on white background

About-Face Matte Fluid Eye Paint

$16 at About-Face

Star Product: The About-Face Matte Fluid Eye Paints are a bunch of lightweight, watery pigments that can be applied directly onto your eyelids with the flat, doe-foot applicators and, as such, pack an intense wash of color that you can easily blend out with your fingers or finesse into a cat-eye shape. No wonder they won a Best of Beauty Award for best liquid eye shadow in 2021.

7. Noto Botanics

Noto is a gender-fluid, multi-use beauty line that is vegan and cruelty-free. Among the array of skin- and body-care products infused with hydrating ingredients (like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera juice, and rose water, to name a few), there are also buildable makeup pigments, (available in stick or pot form), in orange, red, and plum shades that can be used on the lips, eyes, or cheeks for a pretty wash of color. 

Run by makeup artist Gloria Noto, every sale of the brand's Agender Oil goes to non-profits such as Planned Parenthood, LGBT Youth Center LA, the Okra Project, Woman's Center DTLA, and more. So far, the brand has raised more than $25,000 in donations. "It's important for me to connect with my community through my work, as a business owner and as a queer woman. This felt like a conduit to pursuing and cultivating that connection and care in an authentic and honest way that feels very personal and close to me," explains Noto.

Noto Deep Serum Face and Neck transparent bottle of orange serum with white label and black dropper bottle on white background

Noto Deep Serum Face and Neck

$56 at Noto Botanics$56 at Free People

Star Product: Is your skin craving moisture? The Noto Deep Serum has you covered. Add a few drops of this oil-based formula to your skin and let the aroma and benefits of grapeseed, marula, and rosehip oils brighten, soothe, and heal.

8. Fluide 

Fluide, which launched in 2018, is the brainchild of queer cofounder Isabella Giancarlo and CEO Laura Kraber. Like many other brands on this list, it is also cruelty-free and specifically gears itself towards all gender expressions and skin tones. Fluide's range of products — liquid lipstick, nail polish, eye shadow, glitter — are named after queer parties and venues, like Brooklyn lesbian bar Ginger's and London's drag brunch-hosting Dalston Superstore.

In June 2021, the brand launched its first eye shadow palette with the Otherworldly Pride Collection. The full collection sells as a bundle for $50, with the eight-pan Otherworldly Palette ($18), a printed graphic t-shirt, multipurpose face gloss, and face gems in silver, pink, and green shades. 

Fluide Aura Glitter transparent jar of gold rainbow loose glitter with black lid ajar and glitter spread out on white background

Fluide Aura Glitter

$12 at Fluide

Star Product: The Fluide Aura Glitter Collection features four shades of glitter in the hues: Silver, Moondust, Eclipse, and Galactic. These versatile pigments can be used wherever and whenever you desire a little more sparkle.

9. Volition Beauty

Volition Beauty is not only one of the first — and most successful — fully crowdsourced beauty brands, it is also co-owned by a queer person. Founders Brandy Hoffman and Patricia Santos came together in 2016 to launch Volition after working together at skin-care brand Algenist. 

All its products are crowdsourced from ideas submitted by fans. The brand reviews the ideas and selects a few that to be fleshed out with the creator. From there, the larger Volition community votes on the ideas they like, and if the product receives enough votes, it will be put into production and sold.

The brand tapped LGBTQ writer (and former Autostraddle contributor) Aja Aguirre to help create the Volition Prismatic Luminizing Shield SPF ($35), a lovely, fast-absorbing face sunscreen that lends a glowy, blurring effect.

Volition Getaway Glow Gradual Tan Firming Body Moisturizer white tube with pale pink diagonal stripe on white background

Volition Getaway Glow Gradual Tan Firming Body Moisturizer

$42 at Volition Beauty$42 at Ulta Beauty

Star Product: This isn't your typical self-tanner. Volition's Getaway Glow Gradual Tan Firming Body Moisturizer is never sticky, never orange, and doesn't have that tan-like smell we all dread. It's made with vegan squalane that delivers long-lasting moisture while the dihydroxyacetone tints the skin gradually.

10. Malin + Goetz

In 2013, GQ dubbed Matthew Malin and And the "first couple" of grooming, complete with an adorable dog and impeccable taste. The duo launched their brand Malin & Goetz almost ten years prior in 2004 with a selection of products designed for sensitive skin in a New York City-based brick-and-mortar store.

The brand also offers a selection of products across the hair, body, personal, and home fragrance categories. Beauty editors have long fought over samples of the company's rum candles and eucalyptus body wash, and believe us — both products live up to the hype.

Malin + Goetz Peppermint Shampoo white bottle with brown bloc of text on white background

Malin + Goetz Peppermint Shampoo

$22 at Malin + Goetz$22 at Nordstrom

Star Product: The Malin + Goetz Peppermint Shampoo will keep your head minty fresh during and after your wash days. This foamy shampoo is loaded with amino acids that purify and balance the scalp without types without drying, stripping, or leaving buildup.

11. Bioglitz

Writer Arabelle Sicardi first came across Bioglitz in a stereotypically queer New York moment: Dancing with a hot girl during a rave at a plant nursery/bar. Bioglitz was stocked in the bar vending machine.

After a chance meeting at a New York City vintage shop in 2015, Rebecca Richards and Saba Grey began a friendship and business partnership nurtured by their interest in sustainable fashion and love of glitter. Thus, Bioglitz was born. 

The brand exclusively sells glitter in many beautiful colors and sizes, but these shiny specks are derived from the pulp fibers of eucalyptus trees. A scroll through the brand's Instagram transports you to a colorful world of glittery masterpieces, where shimmer and sparkles live on any and every part of the body. 

BioGlitz Treasure Chest pile of gold glitter with corked transparent vial of gold glitter in the middle

BioGlitz Treasure Chest

$10 at BioGlitz

Star Product: The BioGlitz glitters are great because they are biodegradable and give out-of-this-world sparkle and shine. This hue Treasure Chest is a mixture of gold and silver chunks that go with every look.

12. Flower Beauty

Founded by Drew Barrymore (who identifies as bisexual), Flower Beauty is an affordable line of cosmetics and hair tools that has won several Allure Best of Beauty awards. Try out both the Flower Pots Powder Blush ($10) and the Wanderlust Eye Shadow Palette ($11). Buy 'em together and you still won't spend as much money as you would simply breathing the air in any department store.

Flower Beauty Warrior Princess Mascara black and pink tube of mascara with eye design on white background

Flower Beauty Warrior Princess Mascara

$10 at Flower Beauty$10 at Ulta Beauty

Star Product: For a feathery, fanned-out look, look no further than Flower Beauty's Warrior Princess Mascara. The buildable formula simply refuses to clump, instead of creating a silky, soft finish with an incredibly dark pigment.

13. Tanaïs

Tanaïs launched in May 2021, created by scent wizard and storyteller Tanaïs, a novelist and creator of the perfume podcast MALA. This isn't their first time to the beauty rodeo. In fact, Tanaïs is a rebrand of Hi Wildflower, which offered fragrances and cosmetics.

So far, the brand has launched a collaboration with Ipsy, which includes three lip oils in shimmery pink, red, and gold shades, as well as a selection of jewelry. As it expands, Tanaïs will also add lipsticks, fragrances, and other beauty products to its offerings.

Tanaïs Plumeria Petal Lip Oil transparent rectangular tube of fuchsia lip oil with white square cap and swatch on white background

Tanaïs Plumeria Petal Lip Oil

$15 at Tanaïs

Star Product: The Tanaïs Plumeria Petal Lip Oil is an ultra-shiny lip tint is infused with coconut oil and pomegranate seed oil to keep the lips soft and plump with use. Not to mention, you'll never have to worry about that sticky feeling, this oil is soft to the touch.

14. W3ll People

Lesbian makeup artist Shirley Pinkson combined her expertise with co-founders Renee Synder, a board-certified dermatologist, and James Walker, the "tree-hugging entrepreneur," according to the brand's website, to launch the brand, W3ll People, in 2008. The EWG-certified brand has made its mark in the clean beauty space with its selection of makeup and skin-care products. We even gave its People Expressionist Volumizing Mascara a Best of Beauty Clean award in 2020 for its non-clumping formula that defines each and every lash. 

W3ll People Expressionist Volumizing Mascara on white background

W3ll People Expressionist Volumizing Mascara

This top-rated plant based formula instantly creates extreme volume for lush lashes. Premium natural and organic ingredients deliver pro-grade impact without clumping or smudging. This botanical blend nourishes lashes and the sensitive eye area. The unique hourglass wand precisely separates and lifts the thinnest, shortest, hard-to-reach eyelashes resulting in full, eye catching lashes! Packaging may vary$20 at Allure Shop

Star Product: W3ll People's Expressionist Volumizing Mascara encases lashes with sunflower seed oil to nourish and lengthen simultaneously. No wonder this non-clumping formula has a Best of Beauty Clean Award under its belt already.

15. Jecca Blac

Makeup artist Jessica Blackler first started her career on TV and film sets. When she wasn't on set, she was working with clients, and many trans people came to her looking for a safe space to learn about makeup. Her lessons were so popular that people kept asking when she was creating products, and in 2015, she finally did it with her vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand Jecca Blac. 

Jecca Blac is about providing makeup for everyone and not letting gender (or any other identity) restrict that. Blackler also wants to ensure these products address the makeup concerns that her clients, who were trans women, would come to her for. The brand's first product was the Correct & Conceal palette ($28), designed to cover blemishes and beard shadows. 

In addition, the brand hosts makeovers at the London Transgender Clinic using its own products. A portion of proceeds go to Mermaids UK, which offers family support for gender diverse and transgender children and youth. 

Jecca Blac Glow Drops peachy pink tube with white cap and swatch of champagne liquid highlighter on white background

Jecca Blac Glow Drops

$20 at Jecca Blac

Star Product: Jecca Blac's Glow Drops come in both Rose Gold, a pink pearlescent hue (pictured), and Champagne, a bronze-golden shade. Apply the drops alone to brighten your entire complexion or just as a highlighter, either way — get ready to glow.

16. One/Size

Beauty influencer Patrick Starr officially debuted his makeup brand in July 2020, but the idea for the brand actually came to him in 2016. After a frustrating shopping experience on Feb 17 that year, he tweeted, "Sucks shopping plus size… Good thing makeup is a one size fits all." Four years later, that would form the very ethos of One/Size — makeup that's not exclusive to one specific identity. 

Since its initial launch of two makeup removers, the brand has expanded to eye and base products, fluffy falsies, brow products, and the best-selling Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder. This finely-milled product was created with a long-lasting, blurring formula that won't leave you with any ashy flashback. 

One/Size Turn Up The Base Versatile Powder Foundation open red chrome compact of pressed powder foundation on white background

One/Size Turn Up The Base Versatile Powder Foundation

$33 at Sephora

Star Product: The One/Size by Patrick Starrr Turn Up The Base Versatile Powder Foundation has a texture that is smooth as butter. The buildable formula features a soft-matte finish that doesn't leave a pore or fine line in sight. Plus, there are five color families in this shade range of 32: Fair, Light, Medium, Dark, and Deep.

17. KimChi Chic Beauty

Sang Young-Shin first made his appearance competing on the eighth season of Ru Paul's Drag Race as KimChi, making it all the way to the top three. Three years later in 2019, the drag queen delighted fans and launched her own makeup brand, KimChi Chic Beauty.

Many love the drama, excitement, and creativity that exists in the drag world. KimChi brought that and more with vivid eye shadows, finely-milled setting powders (is it really drag makeup without baking?), and even a full-coverage concealer with 19 shades to chose from. 

The brand initially launched with the limited-edition Ketnipz x KimChi_Chic Rainbow Sharts palette that was mostly comprised of neutrals rather than bright colors. It was a little shocking to some longtime fans of the star, but KimChi says she wanted the palette to serve as an essential before adding more colorful shadows. "I did kind of see it as almost building a wardrobe," she previously told Allure. "You're going to have your few key pieces, and then you're going to start adding in the fun, like the sparkly stuff and the accessories."

KimChi Chic Beauty Glam Tears All Over Liquid Highlighter transparent bottle of gold liquid highlighter with green and white dropper top and dot of product on white background

KimChi Chic Beauty Glam Tears All Over Liquid Highlighter

$16 at KimChi Chic

Star Product: Available in three iridescent shades: Gold, Silk, and Opal the KimChi Chic Beauty Glam Tears All Over Liquid Highlighter instantly brightens all skin tones and gives it a lit-from-within glow.

18. Trixie Cosmetics 

Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season three Trixie Mattel debuted her playful cosmetics line at RuPaul's DragCon in May 2019. Trixie Cosmetics is full of fun with colorful iridescent glitters, pigmented blush palettes, and cute accessories like the heart-shaped Hand Mirror. Mattel specifically worked with toy manufacturers and developers to create the vibrant packaging, so that all the products can remind you of a toy straight from the '90s.

Trixie Cosmetics Summer of Love Blush Palette three heart shaped blushes and highlighters in heart-patterned palette with mirror on white background

Trixie Cosmetics Summer of Love Blush Palette

$28 at Trixie Cosmetics

Star Product: Leave it to drag superstar Trixie Mattel, to create next-level cosmetics for everyone. The Trixie Cosmetics Summer of Love Blush Palette comes with three pans of color: Side Chick, a bold magenta, Girl on Girl, a baby pink, and Shhhhh!, a soft highlighter to top off your look.

19. Boy Smells

In 2016, Matthew Herman and their partner made their mark in the industry with Boy Smells. The candles' unique scents made them immensely popular, like the best-selling Kush with notes of cannabis, suede, white musk, and amber that combine together beautifully. The brand recently expanded its offerings with five fragrances (a project two years in the making). Each scent was developed to push beyond gender-specific smells, so they are described as "genderful."

Boy Smells Rosalita fuchsia candle on white background

Boy Smells Rosalita

$44 at Boy Smells$44 at Nordstrom

This month, the brand launched five new candles for its Pride Radiance Collection. The campaign for the collection also featured five popular LGBTQ+ members — Ru Paul's Drag Race Season 13 winner Symone, fellow Drag Race contestant GottMik, model Leyna Bloom, actor Tommy Dorfman, and actor Brandon Flynn — who each rep a candle that embodies their identity. With each candle purchase, the brand will donate 10 percent of the sales to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that provides suicide prevention advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth. 

Star Product: In the market for a candle? The Boy Smells candles are all great picks, but we love this one, Rosalita. Picture the garden's first springtime blossom of fresh roses joined with notes of amber and cedarwood, that's what you get when you light this baby up. Its woods meets floral and we love it. 

20. Freck

While it only launched five years ago, Freck Beauty has grown to be way more than its hero product the Freck OG, a freckle pen. Founder Remi Brixton originally created the brand because of her lifelong obsession with freckles and wanting a product to create the most natural-looking ones. 

Freck LashRocket Mascara white tube of mascara on white background

Freck LashRocket Mascara

$26 at Freck Beauty$26 at Sephora

Star Product: As mentioned, Freck OG is a fan favorite but we also love the Freck LashRocket Mascara. It's a lengthening mascara that also has red clover extract in it, so it conditions, and strengthens lashes too. 

20. Beekman 1802

Beekman 1802 was founded by Josh and Dr. Brent after they moved to the Beekman 1802 farm in Sharon Springs, NY. There they saw  100 goats looking for a home, and before you knew it the couple was making goat milk soap at the kitchen table. Fast forward to today, Beekman 1802 is the largest goat milk-based skin care company in the world. 

Beekman 1802 Milk Shake Hyaluronic Acid & Squalane Facial Toner Mist yellow and white bottle with translucent white cap on white background

Beekman 1802 Milk Shake Hyaluronic Acid & Squalane Facial Toner Mist

$34 at Beekman 1802$34 at Ulta Beauty

Star Product: Have you ever used a product with goat's milk? Well, you might be now. The Beekman 1802 Milk Shake Hyaluronic Acid & Squalane Facial Toner Mist contains a formula that blends goat milk and mugwort with squalane and hyaluronic acid to keep sensitive skin toned and hydrated all day. 

Additional reporting from Arabelle Sicardi and Gabi Thorne.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.