May is AAPI Month â aka Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!
AAPI Month is a special time dedicated to celebrating the beauty, culture, and people of Asia and the Pacific Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
All in all, 75 countries fit into the AAPI category, including Fiji, Hawaii, and New Zealand!
To celebrate AAPI Month this year, Schedulicity put together a list of eighteen AAPI-owned hair and beauty brands from around the world!
Check out the history of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month to learn more about how this special celebration got started!
19 AAPI-Owned Businesses in Hair & Beauty
EM Cosmetics
Founded by Michelle Phan, a Vietnamese-American beauty YouTuber, EM Cosmetics believes makeup is a powerful tool for self-expression. Whether youâre new to the beauty world, or youâre a seasoned pro, Michelle and EM encourage folks to share their art and ârethink beauty.â
Recommended Product: Their Magic Hour and Venetian Rose Lip Cushions are divine.
The Petite Club
The Petite Club brand is the brainchild of Tina Yong, a Chinese beauty YouTuber living in Australia. Using 100% animal cruelty free material, The Petite Club offers false eyelashes for individuals with âhooded or smaller eye shapes.â
Recommended Product: With so many lashes to choose from, fan favorites include Cotton Cloud Lashes, Daydream Lashes, and Vibinâ Lashes.
Abel Odor
New Zealand-based beauty brand Abel Odor offers complete ingredient transparency for its line of perfumes.
Their delicious products are made from 100% plant-based ingredients with no synthetics or chemicals. Itâs vegan-certified and uses recycled packaging.
Recommended Product: Their best-selling Black Anise 100% Natural Eau de Parfum is âa sophisticated and genderless scent that is warm, smoky and sultry amber.â
Honua Hawaiian Skincare
Founded by Kapua Browning in 2015, Honuaâs skincare products combine traditional Hawaiian botanicals and methods with modern skincare technology. Honua is not just one of the best AAPI beauty brands out there â it’s one of the best.
Recommended Product: Do we have to pick just one?!
Check out The Honua Ritual, which comes with four full-size products: Pa’akai Cleansing Cream, Hawaiian Beauty Water toner, Aloha Youth Serum, and ‘Ĺlena Oil.
B.READY
One of Koreaâs top selling makeup brands, B.Ready is a menâs total-styling brand of makeup for men who âfeel free to express their own vibes.â
Recommended Product: Letâs go with the B.Ready Airy Hair Spray, a light hairspray for 24-hour hold without stiffness or caking.
Patrick Ta Beauty
Born in San Diego, CA, into a large Vietnamese family, Patrick Ta is one of Hollywoodâs premier makeup artists. His full line of makeup is dedicated to making women feel beautiful and comfortable in their own skin.
Recommended Product: Again⌠itâs hard to choose just one product, so letâs bundle! The Major Tools Set is just that: major.
It includes a Contour Brush, Complexion Brush, Body Brush, Eyeshadow Brush, Lip Brush, and Major Brow Dual-Ended Brow Brush.
MAHALO Skin Care
MAHALO Skin Care is an artisan-crafted line of facial beauty care products. Founder and Chief Skin Chef, Maryna Grace, uses Hawaiian-based botanicals to create products that target skin inflammation, aging concerns, and support healthy complexions.
Recommended Product: Weâre a sucker for a Polynesian brand, so how could we pass up the opportunity for âHawaiâi bottledâ in bamboo jars?
Get 12 demi-sized products with the PARADISE Collection:
- UNVEIL cleanser melt concentrate
- PETAL hydrating mask
- HAWAIIAN HYDRATION cellular repair concentrate
- BEAN antioxidant mask
- VITALITY ELIXIR active antioxidant rejuvenating serum
- RARE INDIGO beauty balm
- MAHALO BALM moisturizing treatment
- HAWAIIAN NIGHTS phyto-retinoic restoring night serum
- Vegan treatment brush
- Special sample of a limited-edition treat
SOKO GLAM and Then I Met You
Both brands were founded by Charlotte Cho, an esthetician and author with the goal of giving the world a Korean perspective on beauty and skin and how we treat it.
Recommended Product: The Then I Met You Soothing Tea Cleansing Gel is a bestseller for a reason, beauty friends.
KraveBeauty
Founded by Liah Yoo, KraveBeauty is an AAPI skincare brand that focuses on clean, effective, and sustainable skincare. Her aim? To simplify the beauty game and take the stress out of skincare.
Recommended Product: KraveBeautyâs Beet The Sun SPF 40 PA+++ is a barely-there chemical sunscreen thatâs lightweight and has no white/blue cast.
ONE/SIZE Beauty
The ONE/SIZE brand is the vision of Filipino beauty sensation Patrick Starrr â a makeup artist and social media influencer. Focusing on the voices of the unheard, ONE/SIZE brings meaningful connection, storytelling, and artistry to the makeup industry.
Recommended Product: If itâs an Allure Best of Beauty Award winner, you know itâs amazing. Try ONE/SIZEâs Cheek Clapper 3D Blush Trio. Layer each blush for a pigmented color payoff.
Glow Recipe
Christine Chang and Sarah Lee were the only bilingual, bicultural executives in their positions at LâOreal. They were looking to take Korean beauty global when they founded their own brand: Glow Recipe.
Their skincare products pair superfruits with active ingredients to create the clean beauty âglow.â
Recommended Product: Their OG product, the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask, is a must-have for everyone. In fact, one mask is sold every three minutes!
Live Tinted
Founded by South-Asian beauty entrepreneur, Deepica Mutyala, Live Tinted is a clean, vegan, cruelty- and fragrance-free beauty line for darker skin tones.
Recommended Product: We canât live without the Hueglows from Live Tinted. Hueglow in Dusk (Bronze) and Dawn (Rose Gold) blend for the perfect micro-shimmer on your face and body.
Hanalei Company
The Hanalei Company is a cruelty-free Hawaiian skincare and beauty product line inspired by the beauty and richness of Hawaii. Founders Alice and Vira Kim partner with experts to âcreate modern skincare products that blend native Hawaiian botanicals into effective formulas.â
Recommended Product: Do we have to pick just one? Because we have a list: the Lip Treatment, Sugar Body Scrub and Lip Scrub, Kukui Body Lotion, and on… and on…
Forest Essentials
Whatâs Ayurveda?
Itâs the traditional practice of Hindu medicine based on balancing bodily systems with diet, herbal treatment, and yoga.
And this luxury India-based skincare company helps its customers flirt with Ayurveda in a variety of products: body polish, lotion, face wash, perfume and body mist, makeup, and more.
Each product includes homegrown ingredients like black sesame, anise, pomegranate, honey, and vanilla.
Recommended Product: The Light Hydrating Facial Gel Pure Aloe Vera is essential â no pun intended. This cooling blend of aloe vera, cucumber extract, and glycerin soothes your skin to its most moisturized state ever.
AMOREPACIFIC
This luxury Korean skincare brand focuses on products enriched with green tea.
Known as a powerful antibacterial agent for treating acne and unclogging pores, green tea is ⨠the Korean skincare secret â¨
Recommended Product: If you love luxury skincare, this AAPI-owned brand is for you. Their Treatment Cleansing Oil helps remove makeup impurities without stripping your skin of its natural oils.
Unpack all AMOREPACIFIC has to offer, includingâŚ
LANEIGE
Laneige means âfresh snowâ in French, but donât get it twisted.
This AAPI beauty brand was founded in South Korea in the â90s and can now be found all over the world.
Plus, theyâre part of the AMOREPACIFIC skin and hair care family, which also includes AAPI brands: Sulwhasoo, Innisfree, Hanyul, Ryo, and more.
Recommended Product: Focusing on skin hydration, their moisturizing sleeping lip mask is a cult favorite and another Allure Reader’s Choice Award Winner for Lip Balm 2023.
Just Herbs
Just Herbs is a skincare and cosmetics brand out of India. They offer organic, herbal Ayurveda beauty products, like:
- Eyeshadow palettes
- Vitamin C serum
- Tinted lip balms and lipsticks
- Sunscreen gel
- And more!
Recommended Product: We donât talk about organic hair care enough! The 8 in 1 Root Nourishing Amla Neem Shampoo cannot be missed.
It includes hyper-gentle ingredients, like amla, hibiscus, henna, trigonella seed, neem, vetiver, wheatgerm oil, and soy lecithin â for those advanced beauty babes.
Glamnetic
Known for their incredibly cute press-on nails and magnetic eyelashes, Glamnetic launched in 2019 and soared to the top of beauty brands.
Founder Ann McFerran is happy to be a strong voice for AAPI women in the beauty industry, especially for Thai women like herself. She told CNN:
“We are inspiring another generation of female leaders to want to step up and feel like they have an example to look up to.
I get so many messages from fellow AAPI girls out there saying that because they see someone who looks like them succeeding, they feel like they can do it, too.
I come from a very humble background, so this is something thatâs very important for me to convey â that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can succeed in anything you truly put your mind, passions and hard work to.”
Recommended Product: These press-on nails are a personal favorite: Marshmallow Swirl, Goal Digger, and Olive You. Their magnetic lashes were also the first in the beauty industry â and absolutely to die for.
At Schedulicity, our businesses represent the best parts of who we are. Together, we work to create a safe space in order to empower and educate our small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Weâre proud to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with our incredible clients, who show up and show out, every month.
