3 Indie Beauty Brands Marketers Need to Know About

 When you’re checking out at Sephora or Ulta, do you think about who profits from your purchase? 

The beauty market is dominated by just 13 corporate conglomerates, which collectively own hundreds of the brands we’re most familiar with. With the global beauty industry expected to surpass $677 billion in revenue in 2025, consumers and marketers should think critically about the brands they support.

​Today, indie beauty brands, those without a parent company, are more than a small niche. Thanks to social media, engaged audiences, and easier ways to sell directly to customers, these brands are growing faster than the overall beauty market. There are marketing lessons to be learned from these underdog companies that all brands should pay attention to.

What Makes A Beauty Brand Indie?

It’s easy to conflate “small” with “indie.” While many indie beauty brands are also small businesses, size isn’t the only determining factor.

​Simply put, an indie company is privately owned, not part of a corporation or controlled by outside investors. Some are fully self-funded (AKA “bootstrapped”) while others get some help from investors. Typically, the founder(s) keep a majority stake in ownership, invest their own money, and remain in control of product development and marketing.

​Beyond the dollars, indies are often better-positioned for innovation than conglomerates. Founders of indie beauty brands often seek to create something that doesn’t already exist in the market or appeal to an underserved demographic.

Less bureaucracy makes it easier to push products to market quickly, so it’s easier for them to create and follow beauty trends. 

Why Should Marketers Care About The Growth of Indie Beauty?

Legacy beauty companies are still making waves, but greater visibility and scrutiny of brands have led many beauty lovers to seek out products that better represent their values. Transparency, sustainability, representation, or higher ethical standards are just a few reasons why conscious consumers might seek out an alternative.

​As marketers, it’s important to play to your brand’s strengths, highlighting authentic values that consumers care about. 53.9% of Gen Zers report discovering beauty content on social media, so it’s worth considering the brands that use their scrappiness to their advantage, breaking through the noise without multi-million dollar marketing budgets.

​Here are a few indie beauty brands that marketers should take cues from as this market continues to grow.

4AM: The Brand Giving You Permission To Be Lazy About Skincare

Founders of 4AM, Sabrina Sadeghian and Jade Beguelin, are self-described “skinimalists”. As a medical student and Wall Street analyst, respectively, they needed a skincare routine that was as effective as it was efficient, and that’s how 4AM was born.

​4AM is one of the only indie beauty brands on the market that authentically taps into party girl culture. The company launched in 2021 with two products, the RISE and REST serums, which they handed out at a star-studded launch party at a New York City club. The nightlife approach wasn’t a coincidence, 4AM packed each serum with powerful, multi-tasking ingredients, designed for “people who want to live in the real world, not in the bathroom.”

​True to their origins, 4AM still maintains a lean selection of products. It’s a bold approach for a brand that stands to profit from selling its audience on a comprehensive routine. But 4AM is skincare for people who care just enough, they like to indulge in life’s pleasures, but they still want to look like they tried.

This minimalist, anti-clean-girl-aesthetic strategy carries over into 4AM’s packaging and branding, and it’s working for them. They boast over 1,000 five-star reviews and more than 12 million views on TikTok. ​It also earned them a spot in the 2025 Sephora Accelerate program.

Their most recent launch, Clean Sheets, a pack of wallet-size makeup wipes saturated with cleansing and nourishing ingredients, went viral and sold out within two months. Makeup wipes have been demonized by the beauty community for years, but that didn’t erase the need for a quick and easy cleanser, and 4AM isn’t in the business of shaming their audience for being a little lazy about skincare.

Maison Louis Marie: Elevated Sustainability Has Never Smelled Better

Fragrance is one of the fastest-growing categories within beauty, perhaps because of its near-universal appeal, not everyone can commit to a complex self-care routine, but most people care about smelling good. One brand benefiting from this post-pandemic boom in fragrance sales is botanical-focused perfume house Maison Louis Marie. 

As one of the “true” indie beauty brands (spouses Marie Du Petit Thouars and Matthew Berkson have self-funded the brand since 2012), Maison Louis Marie focuses on laidback, luxury marketing and remaining true to their roots. Their fragrances are divided into four scent families, and their website lists an origin story for each one, largely inspired by Marie’s own upbringing and ancestry.

​Transparency and environmental responsibility also play huge roles in the brand’s appeal. Maison Louis Marie describes themselves as a clean beauty brand, “founded on the principles of composing clean luxury fragrances while doing good for the planet.”

They maintain partnerships with environmental organizations, provide recycling instructions on every product page, and became a certified climate-neutral brand in 2021.

​Their commitment to sustainability and quality product recently led to an organic collaboration with singer-songwriter Clairo.

In the Instagram video announcing the partnership, Clairo applies her signature Maison Louis Marie scent and appears onstage at Coachella with Senator Bernie Sanders, proof that the brand is equally serious about crafting an aspirational, luxury lifestyle as they are about staying true to their progressive values.

Ceremonia: Representation That Runs Deeper Than Imagery

Ceremonia founder Babba Rivera never saw herself in the beauty aisle. Born and raised in Sweden to Chilean parents, she reconnected with her Latinx heritage when she moved to the United States, but still found representation to be lacking. Drawing from her father’s roots as a hairdresser and the richness of Latin culture, she created Ceremonia.

Latinx representation is front and center at Ceremonia, from product development to marketing. They are one of many clean beauty brands, but all their items are made with natural, nutrient-rich ingredients sourced from Latin America, including award-winning products Dry Shampoo Con Arrowroot and Mascarilla De Guava.

​Including Spanish words in Ceremonia’s product copy was also important to Rivera. Even though investors feared it might turn off non-Spanish-speaking consumers, she insisted that the brand was for everyone. That gamble ultimately paid off when Ceremonia became the first Latina-owned haircare brand in Sephora in 2023.  

As the brand has grown, Rivera remains a key fixture in its marketing, but also welcomes new faces. The brand recently made a public casting call on Instagram to participate in a Latin Heritage Month campaign. It came to fruition with the launch of the Iconic Latina kit, created in partnership with MAED Beauty and LA VOÛTE, and featured all three founders and real-life iconic Latinas.

The Iconic Latina campaign is just one facet of Ceremonia’s community-focused strategy. Fans can join the “familia” and earn rewards on the tyb app by engaging with the brand, offering feedback, and shopping for their favorite products.

​By following the purpose-driven branding blueprint, Ceremonia has proven the value of authentic representation while creating products that appeal to the Latinx community and beyond.

What can marketers take away from these brands?

While each of these indie beauty brands serves different segments of the market and has unique approaches to product development and branding, there are overarching marketing strategies that all three share. Brands of all industries can learn from these examples to inform their marketing strategy.

Authentic Branding that Tells Their Story

4AM, Maison Louis Marie, and Ceremonia all lean heavily on origin story in their branding. That raison d’être is more than just a cool idea that sparked a business, it’s clearly evident in all consumer-facing aspects of the brand.

Whether it’s all-black packaging reminiscent of the tumblr era, botanical sketches that harken back to 18th-century France, or campaigns featuring your real-life audience, every touchpoint of your brand should be there for a reason, reminding consumers who you are.

True to Their Values at Every Step

Now more than ever, consumers are savvy enough to tell which brands are true to their values and which are just playing the part. All three use marketing to harken back to their brand values, but it starts at the very beginning with product development and ingredient sourcing. In other words: your marketing can talk the talk, but your products and brand ethos need to walk the walk.

“Brand values” doesn’t only refer to social, ethical, or environmental standards. In this context, brand values refer to the “why”: why does the company exist in the first place? Why did they make these particular products? Why do people need them? By seeking out the company’s purpose and storytelling around it, marketers can authentically tap into brand values.

Invest in Community

Being closer to their audience is one advantage indie beauty brands have over corporate conglomerates, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else is relegated to keeping an arm's length. Social media makes it easier to connect and take cues from your audience, like when Anthropologie staged a fake rock display in the spirit of a viral prank video.

Apps like tyb provide another channel for fans to give input and can make marketing feel more personal.

And although strategies like Ceremonia’s Iconic Latina campaign require more planning, actually showcasing your audience in marketing assets goes a long way toward building a loyal community.

✍️ Written by Olivia Bowman