How AAPI–Owned Beauty Brands Are Making Waves and Garnering Support

AAPI Heritage Month, which falls during May, arrives in the swing of a banner year for representation among members of this community in the United States. In March, the Academy Awards heaped honors—including a best picture statue—upon the genre-bending movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu. The following month, Netflix’s breakthrough hit Beef put Ali Wong and Steven Yeun in the spotlight, as their characters waded through macro- and micro-aggressions. Designer Peter Do has landed at Helmut Lang; Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner is adapting her best-selling memoir, Crying in H Mart, for the screen. And while such high points are certainly not enough to heal the collective trauma inflicted by recent waves of racially based violence, this unprecedented visibility is critical for the AAPI community—all the more reason to champion the AAPI–led beauty brands on the shelves.

Minimalist-minded CLE Cosmetics (short for Creative Lass Esthetic) applies cutting-edge Korean technologies to makeup and skin care essentials, resulting in delightfully cushiony textures and hybrid formulas. CLE Cosmetics founder Lauren Jin rarely goes without the brand’s innovative lip powder, which she also applies to cheeks for a naturalistic flush. Shade extensions for the CCC Cream are newly in stock as well.