15 Indie Beauty Brands That Should Be On Your Radar In 2023

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With every passing year, the beauty market gets increasingly concentrated with brand-new brands. From celebrity brands to sister brands, there is always something new on the horizon. But one genre of beauty that tends to often get overshadowed is indie beauty brands. Fortunately, beauty fans have come to realize that these emerging, lesser-known brands are actually worth paying closer attention to. 

Indie beauty brands offer a more intimate and carefully thought-out range of products. For instance, some only enter the market with a couple of products to their name, but once the beauty community catches on to just how impressive that one standout product can be, what was once indie can become a completely viral holy grail product overnight. Of course, with this theme emerging, the indie beauty brand market is now getting over-condensed. It's becoming more and more difficult to discern those hidden gems from products that are understandably lesser known. Thus, we've gathered some of the best indie beauty brands that you need to pay close attention to.

Kulfi Beauty is more under the radar, but the small brand has a lot to offer. Launched by Priyanka Ganjoo in 2021, Kulfi Beauty aims to create products targeting the South Asian community. Named after a popular colorful South Asian ice cream, Kulfi Beauty's goal is to be "a celebration of culture and beauty." This is one of those indie beauty brands that only have a few products to its name, but when the products work as well as these do, it's worth making a big deal over. 

For now, the range consists of some adorable merch products but the stars of the show are the Kajal Eyeliners and its blush tubes, although a concealer has recently been added to the collection. The Allure Best of Beauty Award-Winning Kajal Eyeliners are super creamy liners that are budge-proof and waterproof while being super blendable. The blushes are even reminiscent of Glossier's popular Cloud Paints, providing intense pigmentation and color that seamlessly blends onto your cheeks.

If you spend any time in the online skincare community, you've likely already come across and attempted multiple times to purchase Topicals' products. When Topicals was first launched by Olamide Olowe and Claudia Teng, it consisted of two simple products that the founders hoped would be scientifically-backed products that actually delivered results. 

Once the skincare community caught wind of Faded and Like Butter, the serum and mask were constantly sold out and impossible to purchase. Faded, the brightening and clearing serum, was an immediate hit that shoppers claimed worked miracles on dark spots and hyperpigmentation, a concern that both POC founders sought to treat. 

Now, Topicals provides a vast range of products backed by a scientific advisory board of chemists and dermatologists, including the award-winning High Roller ingrown tonic. Topicals does all of this while giving back. The brand places heavy emphasis on the importance of acknowledging that skin conditions can be linked to depression and anxiety, so Topicals donates a percentage of profits to mental health organizations. Beauty with a conscience!

Lipsticks might be the number one makeup product we work through at an alarming rate. Constantly tossing one out for a new one, PYT Beauty co-founder Mary Schulman decided to do something about providing sustainable, clean, cruelty-free, and recyclable lipsticks. Of course, the brand's range of products now extends to the fan-favorite Upcycle Eyeshadow Palette and even a setting spray.

PYT Beauty is a playful colorful indie makeup brand with the goal of providing cleaner planet-conscious beauty products that work. Made from recycled and pre-degraded plastic as well as sugarcane-based plastic, it doesn't get any cleaner than this. But the focus on sustainability didn't take the spotlight away from how effective the products are. The Sorry Not Sorry Lipsticks are the brand's most popular product, with a creamy blendable formula that is hypoallergenic and gives a soft satin finish. One PYT Beauty reviewer raves about how impressive the lipsticks are, saying, "I am loving this lipstick, the color payoff is so rich, weightless, and the color lasts. Most other lipstick brands dry my lips out but this keeps my lips nourished!!"

When a celebrity or influencer decides to launch their own beauty brand, people are often skeptical — and rightfully so. It generally ends up being a half-attempt that doesn't actually include any good products. But when influencer Jess Hunt launched Refy Beauty, the brand became such a fan favorite that her fame from founding it actually superseded her prior ventures. 

If Hunt was known for anything it was her killer brows that followers always wanted to know the secret behind, so Hunt gave them what they were asking for and launched her brow brand: Refy Beauty. The minimalist and chic brand has produced the viral holy grail Brow Sculpt and Brow Pomade. Together, the products give you that laminated-looking, slick-ed back brow with visibly separated hairs. Refy Beauty has since expanded into body products. After all, that glistening all-over shimmer is the thing Hunt's Instagram feed is full of.

Don't worry, makeup and skincare aren't the only categories where indie beauty brands are thriving this year. Crown Affair is definitely a big indie beauty haircare brand worth investing in. Founder Dianna Cohen put it best when she explained, "I decided to create a new kind of haircare brand — one with clean ingredients, effective formulations, and beautiful handmade tools you'll look forward to using every day." 

Crown Affair has gotten more and more popular recently as the simple and straightforward Ritual haircare collection won fans over. What's so great about the brand is its simplicity; there's no confusion, and the range is designed to be universally suitable for all hair types. It gives your hair the right amount of deep cleaning while leaving it hydrated and repaired. The brand also offers exciting unique products like the Dry Shampoo Powder, which comes in a makeup-like tub with an award-winning formula. 

Taking a turn onto a completely different beauty avenue, there's also room for indie beauty brands to dive into the pool of fragrance. Sure, it's generally the bigger beauty conglomerates that run the perfume game, but more and more we're seeing indie beauty brands offer up such unique approaches to scent that they're practically more popular than the classics. The 7 Virtues is definitely providing unmatched scents, and the brand does it all while remaining completely clean, vegan, and sustainable. 

The beautiful picturesque packaging might be the first thing to draw you to this indie beauty brand, but once you get a whiff of the richly transporting scents, you'll understand the hype. The perfumes are all made with natural, organic, and fair trade essential oils, and The 7 Virtues is committed to making sure each and every bottle tells you exactly where the fragrance oils were sourced from.

Some beauty brands are all about loud, playful, and unique makeup products, while others keep things minimalist, simple, and to the point. Kjaer Weis is definitely the latter. Birthed out of a combination of Scandinavian and New York inspirations, Danish makeup artist and founder Kirsten Kjaer Weis's vision was to combine New York's fierce boldness with Scandinavian minimalism — and she did just that.

Kjaer Weis has become a standout indie beauty brand with its unique trademark silver metal packaging. The Cream Blush is definitely what earned Kjaer Weis a fan base. What stands out is how easy the award-winning cream products are to use, the Cream Foundation included, and how simply using your fingers allows them to melt seamlessly into your skin. But if the suggested finger application doesn't work for you, Kjaer Weis' product range also includes brushes and tools now, so you'll be set up for success from the jump.