5 New-Ish Indie Beauty Brands You'll Be Obsessing Over

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As we were also an up-and-coming indie beauty brand once upon a time, we know the value of online word of mouth. So we find it extremely important to continue spotlighting and putting a good word out for new and emerging beauty brand names and personas. In the list below, we’re calling all attention to the newest beauty labels on the block who are shaking things up with their ridiculously gorg and diverse visuals, backed with formulations that we know you’ll love.

*Drum roll, please* Introducing beauty’s new class of the 2020s…

1. thread beauty

Class of: 2022
Price: $8.

Black-owned and female-founded, this Detroit-based beauty brand is making waves for their bold, bling-y, and fool-proof approach to cosmetics.

Theyll School You In: Color and face tubes are their specialty, offering multi-use color-and-blend sticks for time-saving base, and the most poppin’ eye looks and lips for “humans of color.”

What to Shop: Their Face It Complexion Stick, $8, with “gag-worthy coverage” does not disappoint — it’s creamy, buildable, and oh so smooth on skin. Use these sticks as base or to conceal, highlight, contour and bronze yourself up. Their versatility and shade range is a 10 out of 10. Definitely future honor roll status.

2. BYOMA

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Class of: 2022
Price: $16 and under (excluding their sets).

Pandemic baby, BYOMA is disrupting the beauty playground with their affordable and accessible skincare solutions that you’ll love all year round.

Theyll School You In: Skin-barrier-restoring formulas backed by science and amplified by skin-loving actives and extracts. Their posse of superstar ingredients includes: their Tri-Ceramide Complex, which is carried throughout their blends with hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, squalene, green tea, and bakuchiol, too.

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What to Shop: Their Moisturizing Gel Cream, $14, is the current ‘it’ girl of the lot. It’s an oil-free daily face cream specifically whipped up for the thirstiest of thirsty skin. It softens, hydrates, and soothes while strengthening your skin’s hydrolipidic film for improved moisture retention and defense from pesky barrier-disrupting aggressors.

3. 19/99 Beauty

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Class of: 2020
Price: $26 and under (excluding their two tools and sets).

Canada’s 19/99 aims to close beauty’s generational gap with “unprescribed beauty essentials” that follow no rules or ages. Whether you’re 19 or 99, say hello to your new fave source for age-inclusive beauty inspo.

Theyll School You In: Minimalist makeup looks and routines with their do-it-all color pencils that *might* make you ditch your makeup brushes for good.

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What to Shop: The color payoff of their Fiore Precision Colour Pencils, $26, is S I C K E N I N G – they’re so good that you can literally use them to build a full beat. Don’t believe us? Just watch:

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4. EspressOh

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Class of: 2019
Price: $28 and under (excluding their sets).

Okay, this is not a ‘20s baby, but it’s a goodie that deserves so much more hype. Born in Italy, EspressOh brings together two of our greatest loves — coffee and makeup. The inspiration behind the brand? A range of items that were bold, straight-forward, but powerful to give your skin and beat a slight new kick like an espresso shot.

Theyll School You In: Bold, minimalist, and fun beauty essentials with a couple brewed with caffeine and coffee arabica seed oil for a shot of antioxidant protection.

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What to Shop: Their Intenso Mascara, $25, will give you the most fluttery and perfectly-lifted peepers. It’s available in two rich shades, Black, and Moka, to switch up in the AM and PM. Caffeine is also infused into this formula to “nourish and energize.”

5. good light cosmetics

Class of: 2021
Price: $24 and under (excluding sets and accessories).

Last year, founder David Yi expanded his dreamy Very Good Light brand from a beauty blog to an equally dreamy beauty line. good light cosmetics is a gender-inclusive range with clean, feel-good, and skin-saving formulations for all.

Theyll School You In: Skincare items for all genders to achieve a common goal of better, happy, and healthier skin. When it comes to skin glow-ups, good light cosmetics gets an A-grade plus multiple gold stars due to their blend of skin-balancing ingredients like niacinamide, panthenol, allantoin, glycerin, meadowfoam seed oil, bakuchiol, and more.

What to Shop: Formulated in Korea, the moon glow milky toning lotion, $22, blends the best hydrating and soothing ingredients to help your distressed skin barrier chill out. Natural AHAs are combined with ceramides, snow mushroom, meadowfoam seed oil, and niacinamide to combat dryness, inflammation, and irritation.

New brands are great, but they’re better when they’re affordable. Shop from these new beauty brands if you’re ballin’ on a budget.

Disclaimer: Every product we review has been independently selected and tested without bias by our editorial team. We never take payment to review products, although some brands allow affiliate links, so we may earn a commission if you purchase a product by clicking on one of our links.