Danessa Myricks Beauty

Danessa Myricks Beauty is an American makeup brand founded by the self-taught makeup artist and product developer Danessa Myricks. Most sources, including a Who What Wear career feature, date the launch to 2015 [4]; the trade publication Beauty Independent instead reports a 2016 founding, the year after Myricks stopped consulting for other brands [5]. The brand built its identity on inclusive, multi-use color products aimed at a wide range of skin tones, and it remains active, with continued retail growth and industry recognition through 2025.

The company is self-funded and founder-led. Myricks has described it as "the brand that the community built," and she financed early development by saving income from her own work to pay chemists rather than taking outside investment [5].

Danessa Myricks came to cosmetics through an unusual path. She worked in nursing and then in beauty publishing, joining a hair-and-beauty magazine company before teaching herself makeup artistry after the publication closed. She built a portfolio, taught at trade shows, and sold DVDs of her masterclasses, later moving into product development at KISS and Benefit Cosmetics, where, according to Who What Wear, she helped create brow products [4].

The brand grew directly out of gaps Myricks encountered as a working artist. She has said it was "literally impossible to find diverse shades colors that work on every single skin tone," noting that highlighters applied to deeper skin "would look gray" or "ashy." The company states it was founded on the principle that "race, gender, age, and personal style should not limit anyone from experimenting with makeup and discovering their signature look."

Danessa Myricks Beauty launched in 2015 according to most accounts [4]. For its first years it operated largely as a self-funded direct-to-consumer business; Myricks has said the company ran from her home for a time in order to manage debt and sustain growth. Beauty Independent reported that annual sales had increased by more than 100 percent year over year [5].

A turning point came in February 2021, when the brand launched at Sephora with more than 100 SKUs [5]. By that point its catalogue had grown to over 450 products, and it was already carried by more than 50 retailers across roughly 25 countries. In 2025 the brand marked ten years in business, and WWD reported that sales grew 105 percent in comparable doors that year [8].

The brand positions itself around inclusivity, versatility, and self-expression, under the tagline "Beauty Without Boundaries." Its products are described by the company as multifunctional and "created to work in multiple places and on all faces." Myricks has framed the line as a reimagining of what makeup can be, with an emphasis on education through the brand's tutorials, workshops, and its DMB University platform.

This positioning places the brand within the 2010s wave of inclusive, multi-use makeup. Its stated audience is both professional makeup artists and consumers underserved by mainstream shade ranges, particularly those with deeper skin tones — a gap the brand says it first addressed at launch with a set of loose-powder highlighters made for deeper complexions [5].

The brand's range spans complexion, color, and a multichrome "Chrome" line, alongside tools and a skincare-leaning Yummy Skin collection. Its best known product is Colorfix, a long-wearing liquid pigment that Myricks has called the product she "always dreamed of having as a makeup artist," adding that "it does everything" [5]. Other signature items include the Vision Cream Cover, a foundation-concealer hybrid, the Dew Wet Balm, and the Yummy Skin Serum Skin Tint Foundation.

A recurring theme in the brand's coverage is the idea of products that perform across the face rather than in a single fixed use, an approach editorial outlets have tied to the broader multi-use makeup trend [6]. Coverage has also referred to Myricks by the nickname "Willy Wonka of Beauty."

Danessa Myricks Beauty appeared on WWD's 2024 Most Powerful Beauty Brands list under "The Emergents," a category for brands less than five years old; the entry noted the long line at the brand's booth at the Sephoria event [6]. It returned to the list in 2025 [8]. Brand and editorial summaries credit it with more than 100 accolades overall, including multiple Allure Best of Beauty awards and a place on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list, though most of these are reported in secondary summaries rather than primary citations.

Danessa Myricks Beauty is active and growing. It remains founder-led and self-funded, with no parent company on record, and distributes through Sephora and a network of retailers across multiple regions. WWD's 2025 coverage cited strong comparable-door growth, and Myricks was scheduled to speak at the WWD Beauty CEO Summit in 2026 [8], signalling continued prominence in the industry.