The beauty industry is full of companies that all strive to do the same thing: enhance your beauty. If you’re just starting out with makeup, there are so many options to choose from, and that can be overwhelming for a beginner. A huge factor that beginners must think about is the price. Bigger brands like Too Faced and Urban Decay have high-quality makeup but can make your pockets cry for help. These high-quality brands overshadow drugstore and other brands that have the same amount of quality for a lower price.
e.l.f
e.l.f’s vision is to empower and educate women about makeup without sacrificing their budget. Their brand is the ultimate beginner’s company, and their products over the years have become more affordable and high quality. Their products range from skincare, for example, hydrating masks to full-face makeup products like foundations and eyeshadow palettes.
PIXI
PIXI’s mission is to only bring out the natural beauty in in all women. Petra, the creator of PIXI, wants all of her products infused with botanicals and beneficial ingredients to bring out a natural “just had a good night’s sleep” look. As a beginner doing makeup, I recommend buying their PIXI + Maryamnyc Strobe and Sculpt a product that provides a great shade range to pick and choose.
Morphie Cosmetics
Morphie Cosmetics is known for its wide range of brushes and palettes like the 35O, which carries warm colored eyeshadows and the 35P‘s berry-colored eyeshadows. For beginners who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on brushes to dip into their new palettes, Morphie offers affordable brushes that celebrity makeup artist recommends.
NYX Cosmetics
A leader in the massive color cosmetics industry—which involves pops crazy colors like reds, blues, and yellows—NYX Professional Makeup is defined by exceptional quality products with rich pigments and high payoff all while having affordable prices. It is the right destination for makeup junkies around the world and beginners. In my experience, I would suggest their micro brow pencil for that natural eyebrow instead of a super bold brow when you’re just beginning makeup. I also recommend their liquid lingerie lipsticks for a beautiful nude matte lip.
Makeup Geek
Marlena, the Founder of Makeup Geek, considers herself a Makeup Educator, not a makeup artist. Makeup Geek is meant to be a company that individuals can share their passion for makeup. Makeup Geeks offers individual pressed shadows which are easy for beginners to choose from especially if you don’t like distinct colors in full palettes. Marlena’s products are great dupes, in other words duplicates, for high-end brands, and I recommend purchasing her individual pressed eyeshadows in the shades Tuscan Sun, Wild West and Vanilla Bean to create a natural smokey eye.
Colourpop
Colourpop is a makeup brand based out of the city of angels that prides itself on being wallet-friendly and cruelty-free. They understand that trends come and go, and your wallet shouldn’t have to pay for it. Their company collaborates with many YouTubers to create makeup bundles that can have four eyeshadows and some lip products. My favorite collaboration is the Kathleen Lights Where the Light Is lippie sticks in the shades Taurus and Aquarius.
I have tried all of these brands and cannot begin to describe how much cash they save me compared to high-end companies like Mac and Anastasia Beverly Hills. All of these brands are cruelty-free besides Morphie, so if you don’t like testing on animals, your choices are still vast. A huge trend with these companies is that they want to offer beauty products to enhance your natural beauty without having to spend and an arm and a leg. I wouldn’t lead you astray, and these products won’t either. Now, get shopping, collegiettes!