The 21Ninety Beauty Awards are just days away. On June 15, our list of the ultimate must-haves for your makeup, hair and body glow up will be announced. The 21Ninety Beauty Awards list will include more than 80 winners in 21 categories, each selected by your 21Ninety team.
The products recognized on the winner’s list delivers quality, convenience, and even some luxuriousness in the following categories: Makeup Motivation, Crowning Moments, and The Skin We’re In.
Along with producing top notch products, several of our winners have made a real commitment to impacting their communities. Whether environmentally or socially attuned, these brands are dedicated to making a change where it counts. You can also stay in the know with the winners and all things 21Ninety by subscribing to the newsletter.
Impactful Brands
Beauty Bakerie
Beauty Bakerie is a Black woman-founded brand that offers cheeky, food themed products that pack a serious punch. Along with producing cruelty-free cosmetics, the company has also made a serious commitment to giving back to the community. In fact, Beauty Bakerie has been dubbed, ‘activists in makeup’ for being vocal about injustices that span a variety of issues including disparities within the beauty space, The Black Lives Matter Movement, The Dream Act and missing children.
Beauty Bakerie is especially committed to its Sugar Homes initiative. Founded in 2016, the outreach program supports the needs of orphaned children worldwide. The first home was established in Kasese, Uganda. It supports the needs of 24 children and has done so for the past 2 years. The brand recently identified another opportunity to have an impact on the lives of 200 children in a small village in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Aveeno
Aveeno established its BIPOC Advisory Council in 2020. The employee group advises the brand on ways in which it can expand Aveeno’s skin care inclusivity and equity efforts. All of the current efforts surround one main goal – educating medical professionals and consumers on eczema awareness in people of color.
On the consumer front, Aveeno launched a quiz that can help the everyday person recognize the general symptoms of eczema. Those include images of Black eczema-prone skin. As for medical professionals, the beauty brand broadened its partnership with the American Academy of Dermatology and Skin of Color. Though this partnership the brand will educate dermatologists on properly diagnosing and treating eczema in patients with deeper skin tones.
Dove
Over the years Dove has been vocal in several areas of social justice. One of the brand’s current efforts has been to pass The CROWN Act nationwide. CROWN is an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
The Crown Act is “a law that prohibits racial discrimination based on natural textures and protective hairstyles,” per the Dove website. As a co-founder of the CROWN Coalition (the organization that’s backing the legislation) Dove has currently helped pass The Crown Act in over 19 states. The brand promises to continue to advocate for The Crown Act until it is a nationwide law.
Additionally, Dove provides templates for Tweets and emails to government officials as well as a toolkit named “my hair, my crown.” The 38-page PDF is available for free download. The toolkit is a resource for educators, parents, and mentors to guide them through encouraging and uplifting conversations around natural hair as well as protective styles.
e.l.f. Beauty
With a commitment to sustainability, e.l.f. cosmetics offers vegan, cruelty-fee products that are never tested on animals. The brand claims to be the first beauty company to utilize a Fair Trade Certified factory. A Fair Trade factory must pass an audit that includes compliance in four areas: social responsibility, environmental responsibility, empowerment, economic development. e.l.f. Beauty also says it pays a premium on every product’s cost of goods. That money goes directly to factory workers for improving their communities.
It’s not just factories that e.l.f. has made a commitment to. The brand is also actively working to improve packaging to make it more sustainable and more environmentally friendly. The companies, “Project Unicorn” was started in 2019. Since then, it has eliminated 1 million pounds of excess waste. And e.l.f. has removed the faux metal finish and matte varnish on its primer packaging. The company says this effort helps reduce waste and establish a more sustainable process.
MAC
“Since M·A·C was founded, we have stood for something simple: All Ages, All Races, All Genders,” are the first words that grace the MAC Cares portion of the cosmetic brand’s website. One of the most outward-facing advocacy efforts of MAC has been its VIVA GLAM campaign.
Since 1994, the brand has sold VIVA GLAM lipsticks. One-hundred percent of the lipstick’s selling price is donated to organizations and programs that champion equal rights. More specifically, programs that uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and assist those living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
Additional MAC’s advocacy efforts include promoting racial equity and improving on using sustainable packaging.
Follow 21Ninety on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest so you can see all of the 2023 21Ninety Beauty Award winners announced on June 15.