According to Amna Abbas, senior consultant at Euromonitor International, there’s “Recession Glam,” a commitment to self-care and personal rituals even in uncertain times as beauty is about vitality as much as vanity. Then there is the rise of “Clinical Confidence,” which reflects a demand for products that combine natural ingredients with proven efficacy. Of course, wellness weighs into the consumer mindset with the “Healthspan Plan” trend, signaling a shift toward wellness-focused routines that support long, productive, and healthy lives. Alongside these trends, brands are facing new expectations: authenticity and transparency are no longer optional. The “Loyalty Immersion” and “Eco Evaluation” trends, Abbas said, show that consumers want genuine engagement, ethical sourcing, and sustainability built into the very DNA of a brand.
This transformation is further fueled by the region’s younger consumers — Gen Z and Millennials — who are redefining beauty on their own terms. Celebrating Arab heritage and embracing local craftsmanship, they drive demand for products that honor authenticity, from skin and hair textures to culturally rooted formulations. Regional ingredients, Abbas said, “such as camel milk, frankincense, and Taif rose are meeting modern science to create Arab Beauty — a category that now commands global attention alongside international phenomena like K-Beauty and Ayurveda.” Digital tools, from AI personalization to influencer-led storytelling, amplify these brands, yet in the Middle East, human connection remains at the heart of the experience.
The rising influence of the region is evident at leading retail players such as Faces Beauty Middle East and Ulta Beauty. Faces, a premier beauty omni-retailer in the region, is leaning into private label, exclusive category partnerships, and local brands, while also introducing AI-powered personalization through its recent Layla AI, offering hyper-personalized recommendations across skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care.
“Middle Eastern consumers are young, digitally savvy, and highly brand-aware,” said Pooja Rawat, Head of Buying and Commercial Beauty at Faces. “Their preferences are evolving toward trendy, niche, and discovery-led brands, with a strong appetite for individuality and self-expression — particularly through fragrance and skincare. Exclusivity and personalization continue to define consumer choices. Growth in fragrance layering — combining multiple scents to create a unique signature — has been phenomenal, and it’s now a dedicated in-store service at Faces.”
Regional and homegrown brands also remain central to Faces’ long-term strategy. The retailer features leading Middle Eastern names such as Noha Nabil, Ghawali, and Hind Al Oud, alongside emerging local creators in color cosmetics and niche perfumery.
“There’s a clear focus on strengthening the presence of regional brands that celebrate Middle Eastern craftsmanship and creativity,” Rawat added. “This is very much aligned with Faces’ heritage — a brand born in the region and built for the region.”
Ulta Beauty’s recent debut in Kuwait, soon followed by openings in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, demonstrates the Middle East’s pull for global beauty giants, blending curated international brands with homegrown stars like Bex Beauty and Nadine Njeim Beauty.
Spanning 15,000 square feet, the Kuwait Ulta Beauty store looks to bring to life the company’s hallmark model of All Things Beauty, All in One Place through an assortment across categories and price points along with makeup, skin, brow, and nail services. Showcasing more than 300 beauty and wellness brands, including many that are new to the Middle East and part of the Only at Ulta offering, the assortment includes Ulta Beauty Collection, Ôrəbella, Morphe, Polite Society, LolaVie, Sacheu, Better World Fragrance House, and Snif, as well as global brands Peter Thomas Roth and Kiko Milano. Emerging local brands such as Bex Beauty, Asteri, and Nadine Njeim Beauty will be in the assortment, too.
Following the Kuwait opening, Ulta Beauty and Alshaya Group (the retailer’s regional partner) will continue their expansion with new stores in United Arab Emirates at the Mall of the Emirates in January 2026 and Dubai Mall in March 2026. Ulta Beauty will also make its debut in Saudi Arabia with a store at the Red Sea Mall in March 2026. Additional Ulta Beauty locations are planned across the Middle East as part of the ongoing partnership with Alshaya Group.
In short, the Middle East is no longer just following beauty trends — it’s setting them. From booming growth and trend-defining innovations to the rise of regional brands commanding global attention, the sands and skylines of the Middle East and Africa are where the future of beauty is taking shape.
Enter Beauty Middle East, the international trade show held October 27 through October 29 in Dubai, which welcomed 85,291 visitors from 178 countries and more than 2,500 global exhibitors, marking this year’s show as the most visited in its 29-year history.
“We’ve seen extraordinary momentum — not just from the Middle East but globally,” added Ravi Ramchandni, Show Manager, Beautyworld Middle East. “From fragrance to packaging to emerging tech, Beautyworld Middle East 2025 has shown that Dubai is now the global heartbeat of beauty innovation.”
From the debut of Next in Fragrance & Next in Beauty Conferences to the launch of Natural Notes, Makeup Studio, and First Editions, the 2025 edition redefined the global beauty landscape, positioning Dubai as the world’s meeting point for beauty innovation.
Here, CEW US rounds up some of the stand out brands from the show:
Ajmal is launching a new fragrance collection, “Oud Marquis,” featuring 10 perfumes inspired by Dubai. Three of these include a touch of sustainable Agarwood (oud), a core element of Ajmal’s identity.
According to Amandine Nikuze, the collection is the result of collaboration with top renowned fragrance houses, and curated by the Ajmal team.
The brand has a 75-year heritage, known especially for Oud, with sustainable farming practices in India. Ajmal’s presence is global, with distribution in 60 countries, including plans to expand further in the US market via online presence and eventually standalone retail operations.
The new “Oud Marquis” collection will launch soon, emphasizing both Middle Eastern and Western influences. Ajmal will continue to focus on sustainable ingredients and packaging for new products.
Italian fragrance house Xerjoff launched a line of seven perfumes dedicated to the seven emirates of the UAE. The fragrances will be available from December 2025, in 100ml parfum bottles sold exclusively at the Xerjoff boutique in Dubai, as well as in a collector’s set featuring all seven scents in 50ml editions.
ARMAF Club de Nuit Bling celebrated the regional launch of its newest scent at BWME 2025 with Ebraheem Al Samadi of Dubai Bling as the face. Armaf unveiled A Space Between Time – a futuristic, multi-sensory installation featuring anti-gravity perfume displays and laser-refracted light that explored the connection between scent, time, and memory. Club de Nuit Bling comes on the heels of the global success of the Club de Nuit Intense line.
Makeup artist Hung Vanngo and his namesake brand made its official Middle East debut during his masterclass at BWME. He took the stage to showcase his brand, which launched in September in Sephora U.S. Vanngo was inspired early on by ’90s fashion magazines, and his love for art eventually brought him into beauty. His product line this fall made a huge splash in the beauty community, and it is now arguably one of the most-watched MUA brands in the industry.
Pop Gossip, a brand associated with Korean cosmetics distributor DL Trade, aims to blend pop culture with trending beauty looks for the Gen Alpha and Gen Z crowd. Popular items include Pop Gossip Airy Skin Multitask Concealer Dew Cover, a light wear texture concealer providing invisible coverage, as well as Forever Glow, a light face makeup with peptides.
