How To Start a Makeup Line in 13 Steps (2025)

There are well over 150 makeup lines represented by beauty giant Sephora. Any one of those brands may sell three different types of mascaras, promising every feature from lengthening to curling to water resistance. Customers are faced with a good problem: too much choice.

But for would-be entrepreneurs pursuing small business ideas in the beauty space—such as looking into how to start a makeup line—this product saturation presents a real challenge.

Is there really room for another BB cream? Another matte lipstick? How do you, a budding makeup brand founder, get your products to stand out in a crowded market? How does a new mascara get visibility among the literal thousands?

Surprisingly, there are still opportunities for you. In an industry once dominated by legacy brands, new trends and niche markets spring up almost daily, ready for the taking. The global cosmetics market reached $114.69 billion in revenue in 2025 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.96% through 2030.

Ahead, learn how to start a makeup line from scratch, with expert advice and real examples from successful beauty brands.

Ready to start your business? Create your website today or learn more about Shopify’s tools for selling online and in person.

Types of makeup businesses

• Homemade
• White label
• Unique formulations
• Curating and reselling

Starting a cosmetics line can range in difficulty from simple (reselling or making basic lip balms from your kitchen) to complex (developing formulations in partnership with a manufacturer). How you produce or procure products for your store will depend on your time, skill level, and funding, as well as the complexity of your product’s formulation.

We’ll explain four ways to produce—or procure—products for your makeup brand:

Homemade

Some beauty products, like tinted lip balm, are so simple to make that you can start a makeup line from home. If you do, carefully test and document your process so your formula remains consistent as you grow or move to a commercial facility.

Even though your “manufacturing facility” may be your kitchen at first, be sure you’re still following local regulations. To manufacture cosmetics in the US, for example, the FDA sets guidelines for ventilation, sanitation, and surfaces.

This is a great starting point if you have a product you can make yourself. Factories often have high minimums that are difficult to meet. After trial and error, you may graduate to a more formal manufacturing process or realize you need help to carry out your vision.

“I had no idea how to make lipstick,” founder Melissa Butler says about building The Lip Bar. Melissa learned the ropes through research and connecting with cosmetic chemists. She made early formulations from her apartment but eventually hit a wall. “I realized there’s no way that I should keep doing something that I wasn’t an expert at,” she says. “For us to effectively sell, I needed to be able to produce en masse.” Delegating production like this freed up Melissa’s time to focus on her strengths of creativity and storytelling.

Making your own cosmetics might bring you joy, but if your strengths and interests in the business lie elsewhere, know when it’s time to outsource.

White label

White label refers to generically manufactured products that you can sell under your branding. These products have limited customizations, such as color or fragrance. Many brands may use the same formulation made by the same facility, with subtle variations and different packaging.

White label is an ideal option for brands selling a novelty item or unique concept versus a unique product. For example, if you were to launch a unicorn-themed store, maybe you’d sell white label lipsticks and add unicorn packaging and fantasy-inspired names. In this case, the lipstick itself is not as important as the branding or concept.

White labeling is a great way to move quickly from an idea to a finished product, especially if you’re jumping on a hot trend—there’s no need to test and tinker with new formulations over time.

Unique formulations

Brands can make formulations from scratch in a manufacturing facility. Large brands may have their own factories, but many manufacturers create products for multiple brands in the same space. This is a more accessible option for young brands.

When Kate Loveless launched Redhead Revolution, a makeup line for redheads, she was producing items as a home business, selling on online marketplaces. When she introduced mascaras to the line, she contacted chemists to help her get the formulas right before outgrowing her home operation.

Kate eventually settled on a manufacturer but only after she did plenty of research.

“I knew that I was looking for companies that focused a little bit more on higher-quality, more natural ingredients,” Kate says. Finding a local manufacturer was important to her so she could stay close to the process. “I was actually able to go to the factory in person and meet the people and create a relationship with them,” she adds.

There are many online resources to help connect you with manufacturers both in North America and overseas, such as:

• Manta

• Maker’s Row

• Cosmetic Index

Curating and reselling cosmetics

You can also sell makeup online by skipping manufacturing altogether. Buy wholesale from multiple brands, bringing a curated shopping experience to your customers. Think in themes: local-only brands, natural or organic products, products for specific skin types or conditions, or hard-to-find imports.

For example, founder Charlotte Cho started makeup and skin care store Soko Glam to bring Korean beauty products to the US. By providing educational resources, like Soko Glam’s blog, The Klog, Charlotte positioned herself as a leader in the beauty space and eventually started a skin care line, Then I Met You.

Shopify makes it simple to sell makeup from other brands. You can join Shopify Collective and connect to makeup brands that you can feature on your Shopify storefront. Once a customer places an order, the wholesaler will handle fulfillment. Dropshipping is another option for starting a makeup brand with minimal upfront investment. The dropshipping supplier handles inventory and shipping, and you pay for items only after your customer places an order.

If you’re looking to curate and resell, consider:

• Compatibility of brands. Is there any competition?

• Availability in your market. If you’re shipping to Canada, for example, who else is shipping that particular brand in this market?

• Importing fees. Factor in any after-the-fact fees you may incur when pricing your products. You can set up an account with a shipping carrier rather than rely on wholesale vendors to ship their own products.

How to start a makeup line

1. Find a trend or niche
2. Legally establish your business
3. Write a business plan
4. Fund your makeup line
5. Choose ingredients
6. Source and develop packaging
7. Price your products
8. Understand labeling requirements
9. Manage inventory
10. Create an online store
11. Devise a return policy
12. Market your makeup line
13. Explore in-person selling

1. Find a trend or niche

What’s hot in makeup right now? Will you capitalize on a trend or put a fresh spin on a classic or favorite? Decide if your brand aims to fill a product gap in the market or serve an underrepresented audience. Whatever you choose, be sure there is market demand.

One of the best ways to validate a product idea or find a business opportunity is to research trends. You can do that in a number of ways:

• Follow influencers, YouTubers, brands, and beauty journalists on social media.

• Subscribe to beauty newsletters to stay on top of emerging trends.

• Check Google Trends or conduct keyword research to see if there’s growing interest in your idea.

• Use social listening tools to learn what your target audience is saying about your business idea.

• Refer to industry reports to see the potential growth of your niche.

To find a niche, hone in on specific beauty needs. For example, Vive Cosmetics focused on an underrepresented group. “After doing market research, it confirmed that our idea of a cultural beauty brand was going to work because Latinas are top consumers across beauty categories,” Leslie says.

Some other examples to inspire you:

• Studio10 targets an older customer, addressing issues specific to mature skin.

• Rapidly growing awareness around animal welfare and interest in chemical-free formulations has contributed to the success of vegan, cruelty-free, and organic brands like 100% Pure.

• Trixie Mattel used her influence to develop a line of cosmetics made for (and by) drag queens—and anyone who wants to “feel like a legend, icon, and star.”

• Workout-proof makeup is a thing, and Hustle Beauty is targeting athletes.

• Petite ’n Pretty found its niche in the tween and teen market, offering subtle colors and gentle formulations for young skin.

• Black Opal is an industry leader, representing a wide spectrum of shades designed for women of color.

• Sugarpill’s hyper-pigmented colors and extreme looks appeal to cosplayers.

As you narrow down your makeup line niche, a good exercise is to ask yourself the following questions:

• How is your idea different from what’s already on the market?

• Can you identify a target audience for your products?

• Is that target customer underrepresented by current brands?

• Have you identified an emerging trend within your niche?

• Is your differentiator something other than the product itself? For example, maybe your product formulation is common or indistinguishable from other similar products, but you stand out with experience, branding, ethos, or mission.

“Do your research,” Melissa of The Lip Bar says. “It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many people get into business without really understanding their value proposition in comparison to the competitive landscape.”

2. Legally establish your business

There are a few things you should do to legally establish your business:

Choose a business name

What you sell, who your audience is, and even your interests can influence what you name your business. If you need help coming up with a name, try Shopify’s AI Business Name Generator. Include details like location or specifics about your offerings and the tool will generate options to inspire your brand name.

Determine your business structure

Decide whether you want to run a sole proprietorship, which requires less paperwork but offers fewer protections, or a limited liability company (LLC), which can protect your personal assets. Check with your state for specific rules for registering your business, obtaining a business license, collecting and remitting sales tax, and reporting business information.

Set up a business bank account

A separate bank account can help keep your personal and business finances separate, simplifying accounting and tax filing.

3. Write a business plan

A business plan provides a roadmap for how to run your business. It can provide clarity when making business decisions and is a must for securing outside investment for your makeup line.

A few elements of a business plan include:

• Company description. Outline your business goals, business model, business structure, vision, mission, and value proposition.

• Market research. Provide insights into the strength, opportunities, size, and competition of your chosen market.

• Products. Write detailed descriptions of your offerings, including your potential pricing strategy.

• Financial plan. A financial plan includes possible funding sources, projected revenue, and expected operating expenses.

4. Fund your makeup line

The cost of starting any business depends on several factors. In the cosmetics industry, the barrier to entry is low if you opt to start from home, create your own formulations, and bootstrap your growth, but you could require significant upfront capital if you plan to manufacture commercially.

Leslie and Joanna started Vive Cosmetics with a $10,000 small business loan that they secured with a solid business plan. The two were still working full time when they launched, and their salaries also helped fund the business. “Product development is expensive,” Leslie says. “We had to start small, with one lipstick formula and only five shades.”

For Melissa, her forecasting fell short and she ran out of money quickly. “I had saved what I thought was a year’s worth of expenses,” she says. “It lasted six and a half months.” But her drive to build The Lip Bar encouraged her to find creative ways to keep the lights on: She and her roommate shared a bedroom, renting the second room out on Airbnb.

To cut costs in other ways, look for manufacturers or white label companies that can accommodate lower minimums, start with a limited number of products, and find opportunities to barter and team up with other brands to share costs on things like photo shoots and marketing campaigns.

5. Choose ingredients

If you’re working with an experienced manufacturer, you can avoid some of the early pitfalls of DIY formulations, such as incompatible ingredients. White label manufacturers will also likely have proven results and testing from products that have already hit the market.

If you’re developing your own formulations, it’s a bigger learning curve, but it ultimately gives you more freedom to experiment and develop something truly unique.

Here’s what to consider when sourcing ingredients:

• Are the ingredients skin-care-grade and/or approved for use in skin care in your country? For example, coconut oil may be available in both food-grade or skin-care-grade versions.

• Do you care about natural ingredients? How will you ensure that the suppliers’ claims are legitimate?

• What preservatives will you use, if any? How will this affect the shelf life of your products?

• Will your products make organic claims? Be sure that the supplier possesses the appropriate certifications. These will differ from country to country.

• Trace the supply chain. Is the supplier reputable? Can they provide references?

• What are the labelling laws in your country and the countries where you ship?

• Are any ingredients in your products known as common allergens?

To be sure that what you’re claiming on your packaging is what’s actually in the product, research ingredients and suppliers thoroughly. You may choose to employ a third-party firm to perform an audit on any manufacturers or vendors before you do business with them.

6. Source and develop packaging

Packaging is extremely important for makeup products because it serves several purposes:

• Represents your brand. This is another opportunity to inject your brand’s personality, as packaging that integrates with the product (like a lipstick tube) is something customers will see and use even after they recycle the outer box.

• Protects fragile products. Eyeshadows and pressed powders can break during shipping or if accidentally dropped.

• Doubles as an applicator. In the case of mascaras and liquid lipsticks, the packaging is integral to how a customer uses the product.

• Communicates important information. Your packaging gives customers information about ingredients, expiration date, and usage instructions.

• Contributes to the customer experience. Whether through the unboxing process or via unique features (say a mirror built into the lipstick tube), your packaging can be memorable for customers.

When you’re starting out, for simple items like lip balm or gloss, you can source empty premade pots and print labels for them. But as your makeup line grows, you may need to work with a supplier or manufacturer to create custom packaging to fully represent your brand aesthetic and differentiate it from that of your competitors.

Be sure to rigorously stress test not only your products but the packaging, too. Aim to test the two together, especially if you’re producing your formula and the packaging in different facilities.

Keep in mind that your packaging can influence how you ship your products and what materials you need to use. For example, Kate of Redhead Revolution experienced issues with broken products before beefing up her packaging by bubble wrapping fragile items.

📚Read more: Product Packaging: Essential Tips for 2025

7. Price your products

Pricing influences everything from your business finances to your product’s positioning in the market. There are a few pricing strategies you can try, such as:

Cost-plus pricing

Cost-plus pricing is one of the most straightforward pricing strategies. Add up all your costs to bring your product to the market and add a profit margin on top of it. For example, if it costs $45 to bring a product to market (including material costs, labor costs, marketing, and overhead) and you want a 35% profit margin, you’d use the following formula to find your selling price:

Cost x [1 + Markup] = Selling price

$45 x [1 +.35] = $60.75

Competitive pricing

With competitive pricing, you use your competitors’ prices as a benchmark. The aim is to price your products strategically to win over customers seeking products similar to yours. While this can attract customers, this pricing strategy can also mean thinner profit margins.

Premium pricing

With a premium pricing strategy, you’ll look at your competition and price products higher. The goal is to appear more luxurious, prestigious, or exclusive. Quality products, excellent customer service, and strong branding can help justify higher prices.

8. Understand labeling requirements

Each country has its own rules governing packaging requirements for beauty products. Within your country, there may be state- or region-specific rules as well. These regulations, in place to protect consumers, cover everything from packaging language, weight/volume labeling, ingredient listings, and safety/allergy warnings.

Consult your local government for more information:

• Cosmetic Labeling Regulations (US)

• Industry Guide for the Labelling of Cosmetics (CA)

• Understanding the Label (EU)

General manufacturing resources:

• FDA Authority Over Cosmetics: How Cosmetics Are Not FDA-Approved, but Are FDA-Regulated (US)

• Good Manufacturing Practices for Cosmetic Products (CA)

• Products Safety Advice for Businesses (UK)

9. Manage inventory

Managing beauty inventory can be a little more finicky than managing inventory for other products. Here are a few things to consider:

Keep an eye on shelf life

Before you have any sales history to help with forecasting, order smaller quantities to avoid waste. This is especially important with natural or organic products that have fewer or no preservatives, which shortens their shelf life—you don’t want your products to expire before you can sell them all.

Fluff founder Erika Geraerts decided to commit to a limited drop model for her line of refillable compacts. The drop model helps generate hype for the product, but “it’s also very much reliant on our stock levels and our negotiations with our manufacturer due to cost of goods and our minimum orders,” Erika says on an episode of Shopify Masters.

Watch temperature and humidity

Be sure to store your products in dark, dry spaces away from heat, sunlight, and moisture, which can melt or damage them.

Stay organized

Keeping your inventory organized is important if you’re not using a fulfillment house and are warehousing the product yourself. Cosmetics products are small, and sometimes labeling between colors isn’t easy to identify. Create a system that allows you to easily access and identify product variants.

Rotate stock

As with food and any other product with a shelf life, be sure that anyone handling your stock understands the importance of rotation.

10. Create an online store

Launch your products on your online store and communicate your grand opening to your early followers via your mailing list and social media. One of the easiest ways to set up a store is to use a drag-and-drop website builder like Shopify.

Customize a website theme with your branding

You can purchase Shopify themes and then customize them to accommodate your brand’s logo, font, colors, and other visual branding elements.

A few Shopify website themes that are ideal for beauty businesses include:

• Primavera ($400)

• Boutique ($340)

• Piano ($150)

• Sense (free)

Whichever theme you choose, customize it to ensure every aspect of your online presence is in line with your brand guidelines and standards.

Develop your product detail pages

Product detail pages (PDPs) are extremely important on your website. They not only help with search engine optimization (SEO); they provide valuable information to help customers make informed purchases and reduce returns. For your makeup line’s PDPs, write product descriptions that describe the texture, finish, application, sensations, and benefits of each product. If you are selling makeup online, customers can’t try your product on their skin, so it’s important to be as detailed as possible.

You can use an app like Easy Tabs to create tabs on your product page to keep it less cluttered while adding full ingredient listings, warnings, allergy notices, and beauty tips. You can also help shoppers visualize your products’ color variations through swatches using SC Product Options.

Here’s how 100% Pure handles product descriptions on each product page, complementing descriptions with swatches to illustrate color options and expandable menus to organize information into categories:

Feature high-quality product photos

Enhance your PDPs with large, clear product photographs. Show the product from various angles on a solid color background. It also helps to feature lifestyle product photography that captures the product in use on a model. It’s best practice to feature your makeup line on several models of varying skin tones to be more inclusive of your potential customers.

Color has always been an issue for Kate, and she’s continually working on new photos and videos for Redhead Revolution to help customers make informed picks. “Sometimes I’ll send them a photo of a swatch that I put on my own skin,” she says. “There’s a little bit more hands-on interaction with customers.”

Optimize your PDPs with app integrations

Consider additional media, too, like video lookbooks and makeup tutorials that can live on product pages or in a blog or gallery on your website. Embedding photo reviews or user-generated content on pages using an app like Foursixty can also provide more context.

Apps can add more functionality to your online store. They can replicate the experience of trying on shades in-store, assist with informed purchases, and add customizable options to your product pages.

Here are some Shopify App Store suggestions for makeup brands:

• Embed shoppable videos in your product pages with EasyVideo.

• Allow customers to virtually apply cosmetics before buying using Auglio cosmetics try‑on.

• Turn variants into color swatches with the Swatches app.

11. Devise a return policy

As cosmetic preferences are very personal and color on screen can look very different in person, expect to deal with some refunds and exchanges. Have a solid returns policy in place and a convenient process to ensure that returns are seamless for customers and painless for you.

Your return policy might allow returns on all orders within a specific time period, limit returns for certain products (like sale items), and explain whether a shopper is eligible for a refund, exchange, or store credit. Vive Cosmetics’ return policy uses bolding, a larger font, and different color to highlight the most important details of its return policy.

An app like Loop can help you initiate and track returns, generate return labels, and notify customers throughout the process.

12. Market your makeup line

To effectively market your makeup products, you need a clear understanding of your brand. Consider how your packaging, branding, voice, and website design can help reflect brand values, tell a story, and create an experience for your customers. Your brand is the feeling you want customers to have when they engage with you and use your products.

Here are a few marketing ideas you can try:

Post tutorials

Giving customers ideas of beauty looks they can replicate with your products might compel them to visit your shop. Here’s an example of a lip liner tutorial from The Lip Bar:

Work with influencers

Makeup is a great candidate for influencer marketing, but it’s important to find beauty creators who align with your brand values. Alicia Scott, founder and CEO of Range Beauty, turned to TikTok to find influencers.

“It’s all about meeting your customers and audience where they are instead of trying to be everywhere at once,” Alicia says in an episode of Shopify Masters. “Instagram was and still is our largest social platform, but we recently discovered TikTok allows for a more casual approach and conversation with our audience.

“We have used TikTok most recently for sourcing out content creators and influencers for gifting and paid partnerships. The ability to grab their attention is much easier than on Instagram. Since TikTok doesn’t require as much ‘perfection’ as Instagram, we’ve seen a quicker turnaround from creators and influencers in posting about us.”

Lean into social proof

Customers’ opinions of your brand can influence how potential shoppers feel. Whether you use traditional reviews (try an app like Yotpo) or customer-generated social buzz, you can incentivize your customers for referrals and reviews by offering discounts on future purchases, or send product samples to encourage sharing.

Partner with other brands

Partnering with other brands can inspire new collections. For example, Bésame Cosmetics is a vintage-inspired makeup brand that teamed up with Disney to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Snow White. The collection featured seven mini lipsticks, an eyeshadow palette, and a purse, which resonated with fans of the movie and 1930s-style makeup looks. According to the Bésame website, the brand still gets requests to “Bring back Snow White” years later.

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Highlight user-generated content

UGC (user-generated content) can be an effective tool to help find new customers. Jordana Ticia Cosmetics highlights UGC, particularly written and video reviews, on its Instagram account. For example, to promote its Bronzer Duo, the brand shared a video of several users trying on the product.

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13. Explore in-person selling

There’s incredible value in IRL brand experiences. You can reward your loyal customers, allow them to interact with the product in person, and access new customers. In September 2024, Vive Cosmetics cohosted the Contigo Wellness Lounge at Chingona Fest in Austin. The experience offered visitors massages, makeovers, and a moment to reflect.

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Makeup brands can benefit from these in-person ideas:

• Run a pop-up shop, complete with free mini makeovers.

• Sponsor a fashion show or event using your products on models and/or contributing to swag bags.

• Rent temporary space within a retailer who sells products that complement yours to increase exposure to your ideal audience.

In the meantime, you may be able to wholesale or consign your products to existing retailers. While you’re still in the design phase of your product, think about how the product and package might be displayed in a physical setting.

Feature illustration by Pete Ryan