Where to Buy Makeup in LA

If you’re a beauty junkie that’s planning a trip to Los Angeles you might be wondering where to buy makeup in LA. I’m not a makeup artist or really “in the biz” so all of these places are also open to the public. I’ll start off by saying that Los Angeles is a large city and even though 2 locations may seem close distance-wise, it can take forever to get between them especially if you are going during rush hour. I’ll start with a few of the big ones you may have heard of that are unique to LA. These are all located in the Valley. I’ve made a Google Map of the best makeup shopping in LA. If you’re coming in from out of town you may arrive at the LAX airport and the Valley is going to be the furthest possible place from the airport so I would not recommend making these your first stops, but here they are:

Naimie’s Beauty Center

12640 Riverside Dr, Valley Village, CA 91607 (818) 655-9933

Located in North Hollywood, Naimie’s is a glorious 2 story mega store for both beauty professionals and beauty enthusiasts alike. There’s even a parking lot (these can be rare in LA)! When you walk into Naimie’s it can be a bit confusing and slightly intimidating, although I’ve had nothing but friendly interactions with the staff. When you walk in there’s a lobby in the center, a wig store, then straight ahead there’s what looks to be a warehouse. I originally was nervous I might not be allowed in there, but rest assured it is open to pros and non-pros and you’re going to want to go in there because that’s where all the lashes are! There’s a huge wall filled with bins of Red Cherry and Ardell lashes and they’re great quality at a great price so I recommend stocking up. In this warehouse room there’s also hair care including lots of salon brands and some of the professional Makeup Forever line as well as special effects makeup. You can start filling up your basket here and bring it upstairs to the other part of the store (I was nervous about this when I went for the first time, but it’s totally cool!). Upstairs you’ll find tons of high end lines including: MAC, Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown, Stila, LORAC, Makeup Forever, Cover FX, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Jane Iredale, NYX, and Smashbox. They also have lines you’ve heard of, but don’t typically see in stores: Lime Crime, Dose of Colors, Scandinavia, Elcie, Bdellium, Girlactic, LA Girl, Gleam by Melanie Mills, Eyeko, Flutter Lashes, Lilly Lashes, Z Palette, Temptu, Scott Barnes, and Million Dollar Tan. They also carry what I consider more “pro” makeup brands: Kryolan, RCMA, Cinema Secrets, Graftobian, Eve Pearl, and Ben Nye, among others. At Naimie’s you can buy skin care: Dermologica, Embryolisse, Rodial, Peter Thomas Roth, Mario Badescu, Caudalie, GlamGlow etc. and they even sell Voluspa here. For haircare and hair tools you can get: It’s a 10!, Oribe, Pureology, Macadamia Oil, BaByliss, Enzo Milano, GHD, Cloud 9, Mason Pearson, Klorane, and Batiste.

Naimie’s is open 7 days a week and you can check out their hours on their website. You can also order some of the things Naimie’s has to offer from their website directly, but the items available on the website are only a small fraction of what they have in store. If you’re not in LA you can also order off of their website. You can apply for their pro discount program online and it takes about 3 days to process, or you can apply in store. You’re going to want to get in this program the discount is up to 40% off of most brands. They have workshops which they mostly list on their Facebook page. If you’re going to go to 1 store in LA to shop for makeup I highly recommend Naimie’s because it’s a very unique and fun experience.

Frends Beauty

5244 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607 (818) 769-3834

Frends Beauty is another magical place that isn’t quite as overwhelming as Naimie’s, but has TONS of great stuff. Some of the brands they carry (online, but not complete list of what they have in their retail store here): Ben Nye, Jouer, The Balm, Loving Tan, Koh Gen Do, Kelley Baker Brows, Sigma Brushes, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Kevin Aucoin, Violet Voss, BECCA, House of Lashes, Morphe Brushes, Makeup Forever, Z Palette, Amazing Cosmetics, Blinking Beaute, Viseart, Mehron, NuMe, RCMA, NCLA, NYX, LORAC, DinAir, Flutter Lashes, Gorgeous Cosmetics, Zuka, Face Atelier, Gleam by Melanie Mills, Glam Glow, Living Proof, RCK, Model in a Bottle, Makeup Eraser, Mason Pearson, CosmoCube, Stillazi, and more. Frends has lots of makeup, hair care, and pro makeup and haircare.

The store is open Monday through Saturday (closed Sundays). They have a Frends with Benefits program for professionals and students that offers 10-40% off of retail prices. You can use the pro discount both online and in the store.

Morphe

616 S Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA 91502 (818) 557-7707

Morphe aka Morphe Brushes has really blown up over the past 2 years with tons of YouTube and Instagram beauty gurus (who are given affiliate codes and make a percentage off of sales) endorsing this ever-growing and affordable line. The retail store is small and one room and their office where they ship out inventory is right next door. In the store the walls are lined with every style of makeup brush you could ever imagine at very affordable prices. Morphe also has their own eyeshadow, contour, and blush palettes as well as single eyeshadows. They also carry Jeffree Star, LA Girl cosmetics (those super cheap concealers lots of beauty gurus use to highlight and contour with), Z Palettes, Paw Palette, and Vera Mona.

Morphe is open 7 days a week and you can see their hours here. Morphe offers a pro-membership that costs $15 (student) to $25 a year and gets you 20% off Morphe products. I feel like you would have to buy every makeup brush they offer for that $25 investment to pay off. The in person customer service is friendly enough, but they will not take items back that have been opened, even if their sales associate didn’t give you the correct product which you didn’t realize until you opened the dang thing… Despite that I still think this is worth the trip to stock up on some really cheap brushes.

Nigel Beauty Emporium

11252 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601 (818) 760-3902

Nigel’s Beauty Emporium has tons of big brands and lots of brands I’ve never even heard of! They sell makeup, wigs, extensions, special effects makeup and contact lenses, and skin care. Nigel’s carries (full list of brands here) Artis brushes, Inglot, Sugarpill, Youngblood, Viseart, BECCA, Hourglass, Epicuren, Kiehl’s, Le Mieux, bareMinerals, Aesthetica, Vita Liberata, Anastasia Beverly Hills,  Ben Nye, Black Up, Blinc, Brave Soldier, Bloody Marvelous, Cailyn, Cinema Secrets, Derma Blend, Dr. Brandt, Face Atelier, Frownies, Rilastil, Graftobian, IMAN, In Styler, Ilana, Joe Blasco, Kevin Murphy, Kevyn Aucoin, Koh Gen Do, Kryolan, Makeup Forever, Miss Adoro, Naked Cosmetics, Prive, Murad, Palladio, RCMA, RCK, Brushfolio, Red Cherry, RMS Beauty, Scott Barnes, Senna, Skyn Iceland, Temptu, Ket Cosmetics, Stila, Black Up, Dermaflage, AJ Crimson, GlamGlow, and Pout.

Nigel Beauty Emporium is open 7 days a week check out their hours here. Their pro program offers up to 40% off of retail. You can apply here and it can take 7-10 days to process. You can find their events and classes here.

Cinema Secrets

4400 Riverside Dr, Burbank, CA 91505 (818) 846-0579

You may have heard of this company’s famous Makeup Brush Cleaner which is now sold at Sephora, but at this retail store you can find not only the Cinema Secrets cosmetics line (mostly geared towards Pros) they also carry Ben Nye, Kryolan, Dermologica, Piggy Paint, NYX, L’Occitane, Senna, Nebula, LaLicious, Graftobian, Le bouquet de LiLi, Z Palette, Jao, Peter Lamas, Stila, and Mehron. They love Halloween here so if it’s anywhere near October and you’re looking for good costumes or FX makeup definitely stop by Cinema Secrets.

Cinema Secrets is open Monday through Saturday (closed on Sundays) and you can check out their hours on their website. They have a Pro Card Membership for Professionals and Student Makeup Artists/Cosmetologists & Estheticians where yogurt 30% off Cinema Secrets and 15% off non-Cinema Secrets products (apply here).

Happy shopping!