Remember when the only drugstore makeup for medium to dark complexions was the Queen Latifah collaboration with CoverGirl? Things are finally starting to change. Not only are black-owned beauty brands (BOBB, for short) highly celebrated in the beauty community, but shade ranges are now regularly scrutinized based on their inclusivity. As a result, beauty departments across the country are on-boarding dozens of new brands, many of which are run by women of color and/or focused on providing products for the widest range of skin tones possible.
Target is ready to jump into this turbulent and exciting beauty mixer, and they’re making a major play for patrons by adding eight rising-star beauty brands to their roster as a result of a new department strategy that started in 2017. In an effort to grasp a bit more of the market, Target is overhauling it’s in-store beauty experience. They’ll be redoing every store’s beauty department to include a more open floor plan, illuminated shelves, and a consultation station for their on-site Beauty Concierge.
This week, they’ve added a ton of new products to their website from eight brand-new brands in the Target Beauty family: Makeup Geek, Coloured Raine, Reina Rebelde, Hue Noir, Haley’s, EveryHueBeauty, The Lip Bar, and Violet Voss.
Many of these new products and brands are available online now, but you will be able to catch them in-store on May 20, 2018. In case none of these brands sound familiar to you, let’s go through and introduce ourselves.
Coloured Raine
If you’re into beauty at all, you have ever seen more than 5 videos from beauty YouTubers, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Coloured Raine. Their liquid lipsticks are continuously lauded as having one of the best, most comfortable formulas among their competitors, and they’ve been a leader among BOBBs, offering an incredibly popular liquid lipstick, eyeshadow pigments, eye palettes, and more. The goal was to create a beauty brand that embraced people of color, and the result was a brand that took the beauty community by storm.
There are only two Coloured Raine products available at Target. Think about that. If an indie brand can get picked up by one of the biggest retailers on the planet and they have only two products, those products must be bangin’. I mean, if Rihanna chose to rock a Colored Raine lipstick with each one of her outfits at the 2016 VMAs, I think it’s safe to assume that these lippies are every bit the performer that she is.
Coloured Raine has over 50 shades of its famous Matte Lip Paint ($16.99), but only 10 shades are available at Target. The other product offered is the Coloured Raine Glowlighter ($19.99), a finely milled face highlight that comes in four shades.
See Coloured Raine on Target.com
Visit Coloured Raine’s website
Reina Rebelde
The name of this brand is Spanish for “Rebel Queen,” and this Latinx-owned brand embodies the modern Latinx with an Americana edge. The result is a beautiful collection of eye, lip, brow, and face products. The packaging, which deserves special mention, sets it apart from literally every other brand with its Sailor Jerry-style aesthetics. As a bonus and compliment to Reina Rebelde’s tattoo look, the brand’s name is just as cool to display as the artwork beside it. Who wouldn’t love to be a reina rebelde?!
Reina Rebelde’s products favor medium skin tones, but are easily useful to all skin tones. Many of their products have Spanish names, and the Target is stepping up to the plate by maintaining those names on their website. For example, you can pick up this adorable Reina Rebelde Bolsa ($17.99), and just like that, you explored another culture and learned a new Spanish word! Makeup makes the world go ’round, folks.
Target picked up everything you need to put yourself together, from the Rebel Eye Definer Liquid Eyeliner ($13.99) to Lip Color Stick Crayons ($13.99) to Blush, Contour, & Highlight ($18) compact.
See Reina Rebelde on Target.com
Visit the Reina Rebelde website
Hue Noir
When asked why the formula for the extremely popular Hue Noir True Hues Flawless Finish Foundation ($19.99) is so different from other brands, CEO Paula Hayes explains that it was “developed specifically for women with nuanced or deeper skin tones.” Hayes pulled from her history in product development chemistry to devise a beauty brand that focuses on the needs and characteristics of the skin tones that are underappreciated by mainstream beauty brands.
Target has picked up Hue Noir for their impressive range of foundation shades, which comes in 20 shades! It’s hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic and dries down to a soft, matte finish. Nothing warms my heart more than a science-based beauty brands, and Target is genius for snapping up this rising star before the rest of the world becomes obsessed with them. Hopefully we’ll see Hue Noir’s velvet eyeshadow pigments and lipstick line hit the shelves in the future!
Paula Hayes is one to be watched – she was even appointed to the state of Oregon’s Economic Development Commission by the Governor! There are a surprising number of indie beauty brands hiding up here in the Pacific Northwest, and I’m excited to see this one getting some national recognition.
See Hue Noir on Target.com
Visit the Hue Noir website
HALEYS Beauty
Specializing in complexion-focused makeup, HALEYS Beauty has over 30 foundation shades in their RE:SET Foundation line ($19.99). Haley’s Beauty is passionate about two – maybe three things: skincare, ending animal cruelty, and… well, makeup! Combining these passions resulted in an extremely popular and inclusive foundation that’s packed with antioxidants.
The fact that HALEYS made it into the Target beauty section based on this one product speaks pretty highly of its performance. Makeup can put a lot of stress on your skin, and knowing that this formula was created specifically with your skin’s health and safety in mind definitely sets RE:SET apart from other foundations. No matter your skin tone, if you struggle to find your perfect shade, you can now get it at Target!
See HALEYS Beauty on Target.com
Visit the HALEYS Beauty website
EveryHue Beauty
The complexion specialists have entered the building! EveryHue Beauty continues the Target Beauty trend of face makeup with wide shade ranges for deeper skin tones, but also bring bronzer, contour, concealer, and setting spray to the table. Plus, if you’re not a heavy makeup person but still love to play, EveryHue Beauty has created a Glow Perfect Tinted Moisturizer ($18.99) in 10 melanin-loving shades.
The Corrector Concealer ($10.99) is a dual-ended wand that can easily be used for concealing (duh) and also bronzing, contouring, and highlighting. Plus, the concealer formula is full coverage, so you can get that perfect balance of tinted-moisturizer-natural skin with high coverage over only the areas you want. The setting powder also offers medium coverage, so there are tons of ways to get exactly the finish you want from the EveryHue products.
Wondering who is behind this brand? Prepared to be inspired. A marketing professional, a makeup artist, a Real Housewife, and an entrepreneur came together to create a brand that was as high performing as it was inclusive. They even have their own hashtag: #FourWomenforWomen, but the website is sure to add “(and men)!” In addition to Target’s inventory, they also offer blush trio compacts and paddle-style makeup brushes on their website.
See EveryHue Beauty on Target.com
Visit the EveryHue website
The Lip Bar
We’ve concluded the complexion-loving brands, and now it’s time to move back into some color! The Lip Bar is here to get you out of your lipstick doldrums. This brand gets me excited. From the products they make to the marketing they use to the ingredients and packaging – we’re dealing with some rebels here, and nothing gets me more excited that rebellion! They know how influential they can be in the beauty sphere, and The Lip Bar is out to reset beauty standards and prove that “beauty isn’t linear.”
In addition to beautiful imagery and smart marketing (smarketing?), their lip products are as edgy as they are bountiful. The Lip Bar’s most popular product is their matte liquid lipstick, most notably in the deep oxblood shade, Savage ($13). They also have a gorgeous lip gloss line, my favorite of which is the gold, glittery gloss called Goddess ($14). For oldschool lipstick lovers, The Lip Bar also has a line of cream lipsticks, some of which are actually metallic and two-toned ($12)!
See The Lip Bar on Target.com
Visit The Lip Bar’s website
Makeup Geek
This brand might be the most well-known of this list due to the founder of Makeup Geek, Marlena Stell, having been a leading lady amongst beauty YouTubers, and subsequently had a pre-existing, massive following when she launched Makeup Geek in 2011. Her goal was to create a brand that would make her money – and it definitely has. Makeup Geek became a YouTube and Instagram sensation thanks to their incredible range of colors and their low price points – $6 for a full-sized pan of eyeshadow!
In fact, it all started with eyeshadow, so Target was smart to pick up two of Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Quads ($21.99) which include some of their best-selling shadows and duochromes. Eyeshadows carried Makeup Geek (or MUG if you’re a loyal Geek already) for several years and eventually allowed Stell to branch out into new beauty products. In 2016, Makeup Geek began to introduce lipstick collections to a happy and hungry audience. They now have five lipstick formulas, and Target has picked up two of them: the Showstopper Creme Lip Stain ($11.99) and one of Makeup Geek’s OG lip products, the Plush Lip Creme ($13.99).
But who could forget the immense splash that Makeup Geek made when they released their highlighters? Thanks to collaborative efforts alongside fellow “beau-tuber,” KathleenLights, the highlighters were an epic success. Target has snatched up the three highlighters that were featured in the collaboration: Nightlight, Starlight, and Sunlight Highlighter Single Compacts ($19.99).
See Makeup Geek on Target.com
Visit the Makeup Geek website
Violet Voss
People who are serious about their falsies are probably scrolling straight to the bottom of this post. Violet Voss makes beauty-cult-favorite synthetic, faux mink lashes, and three of their top sellers are now available at Target.com. Are you ready to take your lash game to the next level? Try these the triple-stacked Just Slayin’ Lashes ($9.99), seen above. It’s impossible not to feel like a celebrity with this much lash!
In addition to the lashes, Target has also picked up 10 shades of Violet Voss Matte Liquid Lipstick ($11.99). Now, I might be wrong, but the shades that are available at Target are not available on the Violet Voss website which makes me think that these might be Target-exclusive. Like I said, I might be wrong, but I swear I would have remembered seeing the metallic, pink, glimmering shade “Fizzy Pop” before, and it’s nowhere to be found outside of Target’s beauty section…
See Violet Voss on Target.com
Visit the Violet Voss website
As a reminder, these brands are already available on the Target.com website, and will be available in stores on May 20, 2018.
Which new beauty brands are you most excited to see at Target?
Personally, I can’t wait to have easy access to Coloured Raine and The Lip Bar, but I’m mostly excited to explore the new-to-me brand, Reina Rebelde! After learning about the amazing people behind these companies (mostly women, let’s be real), it’s all I can do to stop myself from buying a little something from every brand!