The “A-beauty” movement is ready for its global spotlight.
Short for “Arab beauty,” the space has seen sizable momentum in recent years across the Middle East, and now, its most prominent players are gearing up to go even wider.
At the 2025 WWD Global Fashion & Beauty Summit in Riyadh, Yara Alnamlah, who is a Riyadh-based makeup artist with more than 1.5 million Instagram followers and the founder of cosmetics brand Moonglaze, took to the stage alongside Asteri Beauty founder Sara Alrashed to share their respective visions for growth and A-beauty’s global promise.
“Arab beauty is confident; it’s expressive, bold — it’s about embracing your features,” said Alnamlah, who also helms lifestyle holding company When Minds Meet, during a panel moderated by WWD Middle East bureau chief Ritu Upadhyay. Alnamlah’s line Moonglaze takes its name from the Arabic word for moon, “qamar,” which is often used as a term of endearment to call someone beautiful.
“That [name] reflects our vision of glowing not just as an external feeling, but more of an internal feeling,” continued Alnamlah, whose line includes blush and highlighter sticks priced under $40. “The way we represent Arab beauty is by allowing people to embrace and enhance their individual identities — we don’t believe everyone should be the same.”
Alrashed, who launched Asteri in 2023 and has since opened 10 stand-alone stores in malls across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries, shares a similar ethos.
“I wanted to create a brand that spoke to the modern Arab woman — growing up here, we never saw a brand that was made to speak to us, to suit our skin types, skin textures — even the climate here. That’s what I wanted to build: something that speaks to our culture, but also holds up to a global standard,” Alrashed said.
Asteri, which bills itself as “desert-proof” beauty, offers a range of high-performance mascaras, blushes, setting sprays and lip products. Like Moonglaze, the brand integrates nods to Arab culture — which Alrashed noted is more diverse than people often assume — into its identity.
“Arabs are multiracial — you have a lot of different-looking people here, so Asteri is all about inclusivity,” she said, adding that she often looks to her own Saudi heritage, too, for inspiration. “We draw from old rituals and local ingredients, for instance moringa oil, date seed oil…the packaging is all inspired by the diversity of nature in Saudi, as are our store designs, which vary by region.
“We have a lot of layers to our storytelling; our motto, ‘sisters under the stars,’ is engraved in Arabic calligraphy on all of our products. All of our lipstick shades are named after powerful Arab women.”
Alrashed, whose core customer fits into the 18 to 40 age range, opened her 10th Asteri store last month in Riyadh, and is planning to expand both internationally and into a new category — skin care — in the next year.
International expansion is an area where Moonglaze also is focusing its efforts. The company became the first Saudi beauty brand to launch at Selfridges in the U.K. last December, selling out at the retailer shortly after. “It was a surreal moment,” Alnamlah said. “To see Moonglaze on the shelves of one of the world’s most iconic retailers — it was more than a launch. It was a recognition of Saudi creativity and innovation on a global stage. It proved that we’re not just niche — we’re needed.”
Reaching even more markets and customers by showcasing the versatility of A-beauty and its core tenets is a key priority for Alnamlah.
“It can be hard to prove ourselves out there — to push for locations, to compete with other big brands, but there’s also a lot of pride,” said Alnamlah, adding that a focus on crafting quality products offers leverage. “People who come into a store and know that this is a Saudi brand, want to buy it — just because it’s Saudi. Saudi’s are well-educated, they’re conscious consumers, and they like to experience — whether through e-commerce or physical shops — a brand’s concept, textures, feel, storytelling — they like to create community.”