Inclusive beauty has always been and always will be important. With so many makeup brands these days, we don’t know everything about them and what their brand stands for.

Diversity and inclusion involves many things, so I’ve compiled a list of my favorite makeup brands that carry a diverse shade range and are LGBTQIA+ friendly!

MILK Makeup

As a cruelty-free and vegan cosmetic company, Milk strives for inclusion of all sizes, genders, races, and sexual-orientations. They offer over 30 shades in their foundations and I love that they feature a different model with the correct skin tone to show what the makeup looks like. My favorite product of theirs is their Holographic Stick highlighter. I’ve never used a cream highlighter that went on better than this one!

They also feature male models in their makeup ads and make it their mission to encourage everyone of all genders, ages, sexual-orientations, and skin tone to use their makeup to express themselves. They also offer free samples so you can experiment with how you want to express yourself which is amazing!

Honest Beauty

Created by businesswoman and actress, Jessica Alba, Honest Beauty is a cruelty-free and sustainable company with a variety of different shades of makeup. With a mission to keep the planet green and build an inclusive and diverse company, Honest is definitely one of my favorites.

They have so many different products that look natural on your skin, from SPF 30 tinted moisturizer to a lash tint serum. Their products are great for moisturizing and protecting your skin as well as giving it a little glow for everyday wear. I honestly love them!

Covergirl

Covergirl is one of my favorite drugstore brands. Not only are they inclusive of skin tones and LGBTQIA+, they are inclusive of all ages, religions, and skin conditions AND they’re cruelty-free with some vegan options!

One of their newer models, Amy Deanna, has Vitligo, a skin condition that affects skin pigmentation. Her campaign was all about loving yourself and being confident in your own skin. Instead of covering up her condition, she uses a light shade for light pigmented skin and a dark shade for her dark pigmented skin. I thought this was such an empowering message and I love Covergirl for that.

Speaking of shade range, their TruBlend Matte Made Liquid Foundation has 40 different shades ranging from fair porcelain to espresso if you want a full coverage look while their lighter wear Clean Fresh Hydrating Concealer offers 14 shades ranging from porcelain to dark with mixtures in between each.

Fenty

Award-winning performer, Rihanna, completely changed the makeup industry. As if you need another reason to idolize her, she saw a problem with the generic Black girl with big hair stereotype that hundreds of makeup brands used to give off a sense of inclusion. She created a line of 50 different shades to match even more individuals’ skin tones. This caused countless other makeup brands to follow suit. In addition, she challenged the “only women wear makeup” stereotype by including individuals of all genders in all Fenty launches!

Her cruelty-free makeup includes a lot of lightwear options like the Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation or Powder Foundation. I love that nothing feels heavy on your face or looks cakey. Honestly, there is no reason not to love this brand.

Make Up For Ever

Before Fenty, there was Make Up For Ever. They paved the way for diversity and inclusion within the makeup industry with their original 40 shades of foundation (now over 50 different shades). 

Their inclusivity doesn’t stop there. They also regularly feature male models in their online store and ads to promote and representation for all.

One of my favorite products of Make Up For Ever is also one of their most famous. The Ultra HD Foundation lays beautifully on the skin. Not only does it look natural, it looks like I stepped out of a makeup studio with an airbrush finish. It’s amazing!

These are just some of the beautiful, empowering, inclusive makeup brands that make up my shelf. There is always room for improvement and I’m excited to see what these brands come out with next!