This article was originally published in Cosmetics Business’ Beauty Hotspots Trend Report. Receive your copy here
Kohl smokey eyes, thick eyebrows, hair extensions and perfume rituals with signature scents such as oud – the Middle Eastern beauty aesthetic has become a mainstream and aspirational beauty ideal globally. But Arab beauty – or ‘A-beauty’ – is just getting started.
As a beauty hotspot, A-beauty’s influence is increasingly extending beyond aesthetics to ingredients, textures, product performance and storytelling, and experts are betting on the region becoming the next global powerhouse – following in the footsteps of K-beauty.
“The impact of Arab Beauty was already visible ten years ago with the success of Huda Beauty, founded by the make-up artist and influencer Huda Kattan,” explains Mai Nguyen, Creative Director, and Marie Duvivier, Head of Consumer Intelligence at trend forecasting agency Peclers Paris. Dubai-based Huda Beauty has continued to rank as the world’s most popular beauty brand in Cosmetify’s Q3 2025 Beauty Index – for the third quarter in a row.
“Today, we can see the influence of Kayali (by Mona Kattan, Huda’s sister) on the fragrance world,” add Nguyen and Duvivier, “with sweet gourmand olfactive notes, the scent layering trend and the same for oud scents, an olfactive territory that we can see now in every fragrance brand and appreciated by international consumers.”
The current explosion of local brands, often influencer-led, is remarkable - Mehr Shafiei, Consultant, Euromonitor International
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