Beauty Trendsetters In the Nigerian Beauty Industry

+ How They Changed The Industry

Over the years, there has been a significant growth of the beauty industry in Nigeria. The willingness of women to spend a larger proportion of their income on beauty products has vastly increased.

Different beauty events and platforms have popped up over the years to ensure people are exposed to great opportunities and all this has been made possible, thanks to some amazing women who are major players in the beauty and cosmetics industry. These beauties did not only start the trend but they have made moves to put the Nigerian beauty industry in the spotlight and serve as the push for upcoming talents like themselves. Below is the list of trendsetters in the beauty industry in no particular order.

1- TARA DUROTOYE

When talking about trendsetters in the beauty industry it is only right that Tara Durotoye, CEO of House of Tara International is included. Tara Durotoye is one of the early entrants into the beauty industry in Nigeria. Coming at a time when the makeup industry was not at the level of sophistication it is now, Tara established the House of Tara International at the age of 20 back in 1998 as an undergraduate. Now house of Tara has three facets which include makeup studio, makeup school and the TARA product line. Herr product line includes the Tara Orekelewa Beauty Range suited for the black African woman, Inspired Perfume which is Nigeria’s first homegrown fragrance and the H.I.P Beauty Range, a beauty line for the new look Nigerian woman.

2- KUDIRAT FASHOLA

Mrs Kudirat Fashola is the CEO of Kuddy Cosmetics, one of Nigeria’s top beauty store. Starting out with a small beauty shop in 1986, Kuddy Cosmetics now has 17 shops in Lagos, Port-harcourt and Abeokuta.

While Mrs Kudirat was working with Unipetrol, she always flew in to bring beauty products from New York to sell in Lagos. Kuddy Cosmetics was one of the very first make-up stores to launch in Nigeria and now they deal in the sale of both make-up and skincare products and now Kuddy Cosmetics has launched its own life of beauty and make-up products.

Mrs Kudirat Fashola has exclusive distribution right for major brands like Black Opal, Kuddy Cosmetics, Queen Helene, Tara Beauty Range e.t.c

3-  JACKIE AINA

Jackie Aina is a Nigerian American beauty youtuber with over 3.45m subscribers and a total of 336.8m views. She’s a champion for diversity within the makeup industry who advocates for the visibility of the people of colour. She criticized makeup brands for not including darker shade ranges for foundation.

Several cosmetic companies in turn accepted her criticism which led to a successful partnership. She has partnered with major brands like Anastasia Beverly hills, Too faced and e.l.f cosmetics. She started her YouTube channel in 2006 and through this avenue she reviews products, teaches viewers how to use them and also advocate for black women.

4- Dr. EBELE UGOCHUKWU

Dr. Ebele Ugochukwu is the MD of Sleek Studio, Nigeria Division and she specializes in the sale and marketing of Sleek Cosmetics from the UK. With a diploma in practical dermatology, her goal is the dissemination of healthy skincare practices by providing training workshops and seminars to educate the Nigerian public.

5- BANKE MESHIDA LAWAL

Banke Meshida Lawal is one of Nigeria’s most popular make-up artists. She went from being a make-up artist to starting her own cosmetic brand, BMpro. It all started due to the fact that many make-up products didn’t suit the dark skin. The first BMpro make-up studio was established in 2002 while the BMpro make-up line came into existence in 2006.

Starting out with just 14 products, her makeup line now boasts of over 200 beauty products. She is now the owner of a leading Nigerian business having a cosmetics make-up line, training school, a beauty advisory and an online magazine.

6- ORE RUNSEWE

Communication specialist and CEO of Arami Essentials Ore Runsewe has a love for beauty, style, wellness and culture.

Her skincare product, Arami Essentials was birthed after her move to Nigeria. She had to constantly rely on friends and family members to bring in beauty supplies from the US. This got tiring and she realized how effective and affordable some local supplies are in Nigeria and this was what led her to make the move.

Arami meaning “my body” in Yoruba is a natural beauty brand funded in 2016 with a tagline “your body is a temple”. The Arami glow oil is the most popular Arami product because if the signature scent and easy absorbance into the skin.

Other products include Onyx black polish, ivory body butter, body and hair food e.t.c.

7- AMEERA ABRAHAM

Ameera Abraham is the CEO and Spa Director of Nail Bar and Amali Cosmetics, a premium professional nail care brand. Ameera set up the Nail Bar after she discovered there was no spa dedicated to providing professional nail care treatments in Abuja. She has always felt that the hair salon should be a separate entity from the nail salon but in Nigeria there didn’t seem to be any area of specialisation at the time. She focused on nails unlike her competitors who focused on beauty in general and because of this she was able to capture a greater chunk of the market. With a diploma in spa management she launched the Nail Bar, an upscale destination that delivers unrivalled luxury nail treatments that go beyond the classic manicure and pedicure and in 2017 she launched the Amali Cosmetics gel and lacquer nail collection.

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8- JANE OGU AND STELLA NDEKILE

A partnership was formed when Stella Ndekile, a Lagos based medical lab scientist whose dream was to provide high quality makeup products with international standard for African makeup lover teams up with Jane Ogu, a Nigeria celebrity make-up artist popularly known as ‘Flawless Faces by Jane’ to create Nuban Beauty.

Nuban Beauty is a makeup line launched 15th May 2017 that provides quality and affordable makeup products designed specially for the African woman. Nuban Beauty is best known for its eyeshadow palettes like the ‘Beauty Intensified Palettes’ which features 25 colour eyeshadow palettes that consist of 6 matte shades and 19 shimmers.

9- Dr. VIVIAN OPUTA

Dr. Vivian Oputa is the MD of DermaCare Medical LTD, a medical Practicioner and specialist in Aesthetic Medicine, Surgery and Dermatology. With a core focus in corrective skincare, she corrects burns, ageing, scarring and the myriad of problems associated with black skin.

She has remained relevant by educating the public and advancing her knowledge on the latest techniques in the trade.

10- DIMMA UMEH

Chidimma Umeh formerly known as “Thatigbochick” is a content creator and beauty and lifestyle YouTuber with over 300k subscribers. Dimma Umeh started out with tying Ankara fabrics and doing the makeup to match the fabrics. Now she has become one of the makeup artists to have the largest following on YouTube.

11- LESLIE OKOYE

Leslie Okoye is the CEO of Cookie Skin, a skincare product for women of color and the L’Okoye Academy – an educational sector of the skincare business.

Driven by the mission to find a simplified skincare regimen for women of African descent, she launched her own line of holistic skincare products – Cookie Skin in 2010. Her products include; peppermint soap, serum, body lotion, face and body sponge e.t.c.

12- EZINNE ALFA

Ezinne Alfa is an award winning influencer and entrepreneur. She is the founder and Editor in Chief of Beauty in Lagos, an online presence for anything beauty in Nigeria.

The blog, Beauty in Lagos shares everything Lagos has to offer as regards beauty and it has become Nigeria’s No 1 digital platform for beauty content. Beauty in Lagos does not only give information on beauty products but it also provides promotional and marketing solutions to beauty brands and businesses.

13- GBEMISOLA ONABOLU

CEO of Afrovirtues, a Nigerian hair care brand with products that cater for the need of both adults and kids hair.

The Afrovirtues Natural hair brand was created to make hair products with 100% natural ingredients to help cure all scalp and hair ailments. The Afrovirtues Products includes a full range of haircare products specifically for kids from 6 months – 11 years.

14- HADIZA NYAKO & FATIMA WAZIRI

These Northern ladies, Hadiza and Fatima are the founders of The Henna Place, a traditional women only salon that offers various pampering sessions, body and hair treatments for women which was established in 2014.

These successful beauty entrepreneurs specialize in beauty and skincare treatments using natural products and techniques from the North.

The Henna Place has made a name as a beauty nest where women go to in order to pamper themselves.

15- OMONTESE ITA

Omontese Ita is a renowned celebrity make-up artist and founder of the Beauty Cook Studio, a one stop shop for everything beauty related and it was established in 2005. Apart from her artistry in make-up, she is popularly known for her hair styling skills.

Omon invented the race of the ‘Switch Gele’ and her consistency with this gele style helped convince people that had their doubts as regards gele tying.

She specializes in vintage looks but they does not stop her from pulling off any desired look from natural to dramatic.