High-Performance, Clean Beauty at Your Fingertips.
When my friend, PR guru-turned-entrepreneur, Amina told me she was launching an online beauty shop focusing on the Middle East market, back in 2018, I was very excited to hear more. Back then, there were very few, key, online beauty platforms in the region that focused on high-performance, sustainable, and clean brands.
Enter Powder, who are now top of its league when it comes to the latest sought after, exclusive range of beauty products. There’s just a plethora of amazing skincare and make-up products available to buy for those in the Middle East that are cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free, organic ingredients and pregnancy-safe. They even have a fabulous list of brands that are free from all the chemical nasties like synthetic dyes and fragrance to PEGs, sulphates, mineral oil, parabens, alcohol, phthalates, and silicones. What I love about Powder is that they have a huge selection of global brands that have made a name for themselves in the beauty industry.
If you’re living in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, you’ll find this beauty platform a skin saver. My favourite go-to products from Powder include LA-based brand Salt & Stone, Bergamot and Eucalyptus Deodorant, homegrown London brand Saltee, SPF 30 Body Sea & Sun Lotion and sustainable, ethnically-formulated beauty brand Ilia, Super Serum Skin Tint SPF40.
I had a chat with Powder co-founder Amina Grimen to find out more:
Q: Tell us about the concept of Powder? What's the story behind the creation?
Amina: Powder is the region’s first and most comprehensive destination for insanely good, obsession-worthy products with a conscious DNA, hand-picked from around the world by beauty devotees who want to educate and empower everyone to shop based on their personal values, without compromising a thing.
The story of Powder began for us, myself, and my co-founder Ayat Toufeeq, when we each experienced skin challenges for the first time well into our adulthood. On one hand, growing up with perfect skin was a blessing for both of us, but that also meant we had no idea what to do next when the time finally came, and we had to deal with problematic skin issues. These experiences completely changed the course of how we approached beauty and skincare, and ultimately led us to create Powder.
Q: How does it stand out from other beauty brands in the GCC?
Amina: Powder is more than just a place to shop; we’re championing a revolution for a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable beauty space, one product at a time. As the pioneer of conscious beauty in the region, it’s our mission to arm our community with the knowledge and information to know exactly what they’re putting on their skin, and we aim to do so with unconditional transparency.
We recently introduced the latest technology in online shopping: an Ingredient Analysis tool that provides our users with instant, easy-to-understand explanations for every ingredient in every beauty and skincare product across our full range of brands. This commitment to transparency is helping our customers choose products that better fit their needs and provides them with peace of mind, so introducing this feature has had a positive impact across the board.
We also have advanced filtering available within each category on Powder which allows our customers to shop based on their values, skin type or concern, hair type or concern, or by including or excluding specific types of ingredients.
Q: What are your favourite products and why?
Amina: Such a hard question! Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with sun care, I really love EVY Technology, Daily UV Face Sunscreen Mousse SPF 30. It gives me long lasting protection and it suits my ultra-sensitive skin. Its non-greasy formula also makes it perfect for gliding on well under my makeup. I also love The Nue Co., Barrier Culture Moisturizer and The Nue Co., Barrier Culture Cleanser. It’s super gentle and loaded with probiotics. If you are magnesium deficient or simply need a supplement to calm and relax you, I cannot recommend enough Moon Juice, MAGNESI-OM Berry Unstressing Drink.
Q: What sustainable steps have you made in the business that you want to share?
Amina: Our customers are noticeably becoming more educated and doing their homework on issues around sustainability. This makes sense, as there has been a rise in ‘greenwashing’ with brands providing misleading information about how sustainable their products really are – and consumers are wising up to this! So naturally, they’re delving deeper and trying to separate fact from fiction. We advocate for complete transparency on ingredients and information and ultimately want to empower our customers to go out into the world armed with information so that they can make conscious choices that are right for them.
Q: How important is clean beauty to you and do you think it’s important to your customers in the region?
Amina: Now more than ever, beauty and skincare consumers are choosing purpose-led brands who prioritize quality, sustainability, and ethics. However, with access to so much information available online, consumers are also overwhelmed with confusing and ambiguous information, particularly around product ingredients. As the trusted guide for safe, sustainable, and transparent products that are kinder to both our bodies and to the environment, we meticulously vet every product and ingredient, so our customers don’t have to. We’re committed to brands that embody the values of our conscious customers but will only ever stock what’s truly worthy of a spot on our shelves and, more importantly, our customers’.
Brands we stock may avoid any number of the following ingredients: aluminium, DEA, MEA, TEA, parabens, synthetic fragrances, PEG, sulfates, phthalates, propylene, butylene glycols and artificial dyes. They may also be cruelty-free, vegan, made with organic ingredients or with sustainable practices.
Follow Powder:
Instagram: @powderbeautyofficial