If you need one specific NYX cosmetics shade this week, start at Ulta Beauty, because its NYX Professional Makeup page listed 135 products when we checked it on October 14, 2026, the largest NYX count among the retailer pages we could load. NYX Professional Makeup is an affordable color cosmetics brand founded in Los Angeles in 1999 by Toni Ko and owned by L’Oreal since 2014. Target and the pharmacy chains carry narrower slices of the range, the brand’s own site carries all of it, and marketplace resellers carry the old-stock risk the authorized sellers do not.
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Who Owns NYX Cosmetics Now, and Where the Stores Went
L’Oreal, the French cosmetics group that also owns Maybelline and Lancome, owns the label. It signed the deal to acquire NYX Cosmetics in June 2014, according to L’Oreal’s own press release, and placed it in its Consumer Products Division. At the time NYX reported 2013 net sales of 72 million US dollars and stayed headquartered in Los Angeles.
Today the brand sells as NYX Professional Makeup under the tagline “Proud Artistry for All,” and L’Oreal says it is available in more than 70 countries. The pitch is pro makeup artistry at accessible prices. The name change is why older bookmarks and shop signs still say NYX Cosmetics while new packaging does not.
The company-run shops are the part that did end. A notice on the brand’s US site states that all US NYX Professional Makeup stores are closed, and the brand also shut its Canadian stores in 2020 to focus on retail partners and e-commerce. So a store locator for branded NYX shops is a dead end. The question we get most from readers is simply which retailer to try first, and the answer depends on how much of the range you need to see.
In-Store Shelves: How Much of the Range Each Chain Carries
Five national chains stock the brand in physical retail: Ulta Beauty, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Macy’s. Assortment depth, not price, is what separates them. In person is worth the trip for complexion items such as foundation and concealer, where swatching beats guessing from a screen.
| Retailer | What we found online, Oct 14, 2026 | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ulta Beauty | 135 NYX Professional Makeup products | Widest shelf, testers, rewards |
| Walgreens | About 117 NYX items listed online | Quick restock near home |
| Target | Dedicated brand page | Pairing with a regular shopping trip |
| CVS | Butter Gloss stocked in stores (delivery listing) | Single-item restock |
| Macy’s | Brand section on macys.com | Shoppers already at the mall |
Ulta Beauty
Ulta, the US specialty makeup chain, gives the brand a dedicated bay rather than a shared pharmacy endcap, so its shelf assortment is usually the widest of the physical options. Ulta also runs a rewards program and recurring promotions, which is where the real savings on an already low-priced label come from.
Target
Target stocks the line in the makeup aisle next to other mass-market labels. Assortment differs by location, so check your store on the Target site or app first. Order pickup works on items held locally.
CVS and Walgreens
CVS, the pharmacy chain, carries a curated subset in its cosmetics aisle. Treat it as a restock stop, not a place to browse the range.
Walgreens has carried the label since 2017, when it rolled NYX into nearly 2,000 stores. Its online prices landed within a dollar of Ulta’s on the same items when we compared them: The Face Glue Gripping Primer was $9.99 at Walgreens against $9 at Ulta, and Marshmellow Smoothing Primer was $16.99 against $17. Shelf stock still varies by store, so check the site for your area first.
Macy’s lists the brand in its cosmetics department too, though not every location carries it. Call ahead if you need one specific item.
Buying NYX Cosmetics Online Without Getting Old Stock
Four online channels matter: the brand’s own site, Amazon, Walmart.com and eBay. The brand site is the only one that reliably lists the full current catalog, including shades the store assortments skip. The marketplaces are where aged and counterfeit stock shows up, because a widely resold, low-priced brand attracts grey-market listings.
The official brand site
The brand’s official online shop at nyxcosmetics.com lists the complete current range, new launches and online-only shades. If a shade is not turning up anywhere else, look here, and buying direct removes the seller question entirely. It also flags retired items: the HD Photogenic concealer page now says the product is discontinued and points shoppers to a replacement. Free shipping thresholds change, so check the cart at checkout.
Amazon
Amazon #ad carries the label through an official NYX Professional Makeup brand store and through independent sellers. Check the “sold by” line before ordering: the brand store and an unfamiliar marketplace seller are not the same purchase.
Walmart.com
Walmart.com runs a NYX brand page with a broad selection, some fulfilled by Walmart itself and some by marketplace sellers. Same rule as Amazon: read the seller name. Pickup works on locally held items.
eBay
eBay is where retired shades resurface, which is useful if you are chasing something the brand stopped making. It is also where expired inventory and fakes are most likely.
Before ordering from any marketplace seller, work through four checks:
- Read the “sold by” line. Platform-fulfilled and third-party listings look nearly identical until you look for it.
- Compare the price with Ulta’s list price. A price far below the authorized price usually signals aged or fake goods.
- Look for a real packaging photo. Stock images hide the batch code and the period-after-opening symbol, the small open-jar icon with a number of months inside.
- Check feedback on cosmetics specifically. A high overall rating built on unrelated goods tells you very little.
One more mistake we see often: assuming a shade name means the same color across lines. A name used on a gloss does not describe the same tone on a face formula, so pull up the color chart on the brand’s product page before ordering a complexion item unseen.
Comparing budget makeup labels at the same retailers? Our Milani Cosmetics guide and the Jordana Cosmetics buying guide cover two direct alternatives, and the MAC Makeup guide covers the prestige tier above.
What NYX Professional Makeup Costs at Ulta Right Now
On Ulta’s NYX page on October 14, 2026, most single items listed between $6 and $16, with eyeshadow palettes at $20 and a holiday advent calendar as the outlier at $110. Pencils and gloss sit at the bottom, foundation near the top.
| Category | Example item | Ulta list price |
|---|---|---|
| Lip | Butter Gloss; Slim Lip Pencil | $6 each |
| Lip | Lip Lingerie XXL Liquid Lipstick | $11 |
| Eye | Epic Ink Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner | $10 |
| Face | Wonder Snatch Concealer | $9 |
| Face | Buttermelt Pressed Powder Bronzer | $11 |
| Face | Make ‘EM Wonder 24H Foundation | $16 |
| Eye | Ultimate Color Shadow Palette | $20 |
At these prices, buying two shades instead of one costs almost nothing, so the smarter spend is on getting the finish right. Matte, satin and gloss versions of a shade land differently, and a longwear formula behaves differently again. Read the front of the box.
Timing is the bigger lever. Ulta and Target both run makeup promotions on a regular calendar, and pairing one with a rewards account does more for the final price than choosing between retailers.
Is NYX Cruelty-Free and Vegan?
NYX is cruelty-free by PETA’s standard, and its Canadian site says the brand has held PETA certification since 2010. It is not Leaping Bunny certified, and the brand has told cruelty-free directory Ethical Elephant that it does not sell in retail stores in mainland China, where animal testing could be required.
Vegan status is product by product. Some items carry it in the name, such as the Suede Matte Lip Liner Velvet Soft Vegan Lip Pencil and the Matte Finish Setting Spray Vegan Formula on Ulta, while other formulas use ingredients such as carmine or beeswax. Read the label or the product page instead of assuming the whole line qualifies.
Picks Worth Finding, and One That Is Gone
These are items carried widely across the retailers above, chosen for range coverage rather than any single test. Prices are Ulta list prices from October 14, 2026.
Best overall: NYX Butter Gloss. The brand’s best-known lip gloss, sold in a wide shade range and stocked even at pharmacy counters. $6 at Ulta. Check price on Amazon
Best long-wear lipstick: NYX Lip Lingerie XXL Liquid Lipstick. A long-lasting matte liquid lipstick sold on wear time rather than shine. $11 at Ulta. Check price on Amazon
Best eye liner: NYX Epic Ink Liner. A waterproof liquid eye liner and one of the brand’s most widely carried formats. $10 at Ulta. Check price on Amazon
Discontinued: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand. The brand’s own page now marks it discontinued and suggests the Bare With Me Concealer Serum ($12 at Ulta) instead. Old wand stock still circulates, so check the date code before buying any listing. Check price on Amazon
Best newer line: NYX Buttermelt Bronzer. A pressed powder bronzer with a natural finish, part of the Buttermelt family that now spans blush, highlight and a skin tint. $11 at Ulta. Check price on Amazon
For adjacent aisles, see our OPI Nail Polish guide and the Lush guide for bath and body.
Start on the brand’s own site to pin down the exact shade and confirm it has not been retired. Then check Ulta or Target for that item near you, since in-person swatching is the only real certainty on complexion products. If the shade is gone, eBay is the fallback, with the date-code check above. Buying NYX cosmetics well is less about the lowest sticker price than about a seller whose inventory you can trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to NYX Cosmetics?
The brand is still operating and widely sold. L’Oreal agreed to acquire it in 2014, and it now trades as NYX Professional Makeup rather than under its original name. What ended were the company-run stores: the brand says all its US stores are closed, so Ulta, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Macy’s are the physical channels now.
Is NYX a USA brand?
It was founded in Los Angeles in 1999 by Toni Ko, but its parent company is French. L’Oreal, headquartered in Clichy just outside Paris, has owned it since 2014. If country of manufacture matters to you, check the package of the specific item.
Is NYX drugstore or high end?
It sits in the drugstore tier on price and distribution, with most single items at $6 to $16 at Ulta and wide pharmacy and mass-retail distribution. The word Professional in the name describes the artistry positioning, not the price bracket.
Does Sephora sell NYX Professional Makeup?
No. NYX does not appear on Sephora’s US brand list. Ulta Beauty is the closest substitute if you want testers and shade matching, since it carries the line in a dedicated bay. Target, CVS, Walgreens, Macy’s, Amazon and Walmart round out the US options.
Reviewed by the wheretobuyguides.com editorial team. Retailer listings and Ulta prices checked October 14, 2026.