When Beauty Innovation Centers Black Women & the Planet💁🏽‍♀️

January 2026

As we step into a new year, many of us are rethinking not just our routines, but the products we use and the values behind them. For Aubrey Patton, that reflection led to the creation of AKYN Beauty, a brand rooted in sustainability, innovation, and care for Black women and the planet.

AKYN Beauty was born from a simple but deeply familiar problem: makeup stains. For so many women, especially Black women who wear deeper, melanated foundation shades, stains on collars, dresses, and coats happen more easily and are far harder to remove. Over time, this leads to frustration, unexpected costs, and clothing that gets discarded far too soon.

As Black women, we spend an estimated $9.4 billion annually in the beauty industry, yet we are often left without solutions designed with our lived experiences in mind. Deeper foundation shades stain faster, which means more garment damage, more wasted clothing, and fewer protective options that actually work for us. 

This is where beauty and sustainability intersect.

Makeup stains don’t just impact our wardrobes. They contribute to a much larger environmental problem. When stained clothing is thrown away, it adds to the growing crisis of textile waste. According to a recent article in Forbes, the fashion and beauty industries contribute significantly to textile accumulation and global inequity, from overflowing landfills to supply chain waste and garment disposal. These environmental costs are often invisible, but they are connected to everyday beauty routines.

AKYN Beauty addresses this gap through innovation.

The brand is developing the first fabric-safe and skin-safe protectant spray specifically designed to prevent makeup from transferring onto clothing. By protecting both skin and fabric, AKYN Beauty helps extend the lifespan of garments, reduce unnecessary waste, and restore confidence in getting dressed and moving through the world freely.

But AKYN Beauty is about more than a single product. It represents a reimagining of sustainability as something that is not only environmental, but also economic and emotional. At its core, AKYN Beauty creates solutions that honor the realities of Black women’s lives, protecting what we invest in and making everyday routines simpler and more sustainable.

About the Writer✏️:

Aubrey Patton is a Political Science major and Philosophy minor at Spelman College, committed to advancing educational equity through the intersection of law and business. Aubrey founded AKYN Beauty LLC, a beauty brand grounded in intention, innovation, and inclusivity. Her entrepreneurial work reflects her commitment to using business as a tool for social impact and promoting beauty equity among Black women.