As CF celebrates the inherent connection between beauty brands and their countries of origin in our Around the World In Beauty series, our next visit is to explore African beauty.
As the world’s most biodiverse continent, and the only one to stretch across the northern and southern temperate zones, it’s not surprising that African beauty is as diverse as the heritage and cultures of the individual countries that make up the continent. What unites brands such as Epara and Liha though, is the wealth of indigenous – and world-leading – beauty ingredients that such companies can draw upon, including some of the industry’s best moisturisers such as shea butter and argan oil. The result is particularly effective nourishing formulas for hair, body and skin, which will care and cocoon from head-to-toe.
Read on to discover the best African beauty brands to enrich your routine…
Skincare
Skincare from African beauty brands is all about caring – for both your complexion and also for the eco-system that helps create it. Within the bottles and tubs themselves, you’ll discover deeply moisturising formulas to keep your skin buttery soft and smooth in both hot and cold climates, as well as protective ingredients such as antioxidants to protect against common concerns for Black skin, especially hyperpigmentation. Then, there are the schemes in place to protect the sustainable growth of those necessary ingredients as well as job creation and education funds being put in place too. That means indulging in these soothing formulas also helps give back to the committees who make the creations possible.
By combining the potency of South African botanicals from the desert, sea and land; generations of traditional African medicinal knowledge; and the high-tech innovations of modern labs, African Botanics helps you achieve impressive skincare results. Whether you want to protect, smooth or soothe your complexion, there's success to be found through the brand's clever combination of leading actives such as skin brightening vitamin C with wrinkle-reducing retinol. Plus, new-age extraction and encapsulation techniques help to enhance penetration and tolerance on your skin for quicker results.
Meaning 'to cocoon oneself' in the Nigerian dialect of Ebira, Epara looks to some of Africa's most celebrated organic and natural botanicals (with the help of a UK lab) to power its luxurious-feeling formulas. Separated into four different rituals, a Skin Quiz helps identify the best products for you; if you struggle with dry skin, you'll want to discover the deeply nourishing ritual that the founder, Ozohu Adoh, developed to successfully treat her own dry skin condition.
Shea butter – a true star when it comes to moisturising ingredients – is celebrated throughout R&R Luxury's formulas, which are designed as a love letter to Ghana. As one of only a few companies to source, manufacture, sell and export in Africa, the company also aims to keep the benefits gained from the continent's resources within the population. There's plenty of products to choose from too, including oils, scrubs and soaps, but the scent and inclusion of a delightfully creamy lip butter in the Serenity travel set makes it particularly covetable for long haul flights.
Technically a brand founded in Sweden (which you'll notice by the chic, minimal Scandi bottles), founder Roger Dupé was inspired by his West African parents to build this POC-focused skincare line. The line benefits from this heritage and a particular highlight is the deep cleaning yet gentle cleanser that gives energy back to your skin using salicyclic acid and ginger root extract.
Meaning "my body" in Yoruba, each product in the Arami skincare routine is designed as a calming selfcare ritual, with formulas that the founder Ore Lawani hopes will put Nigeria and the wider African continent on the wellness map. The ingredients, which are tailored towards adding a healthy glow to your skin, are refined by traditional processing techniques, with small batches created to guarantee freshness. The magic is definitely in the simplicity of each jar and bottle.
Kyalli Skin is going through a relaunch, so you'll need to join the waitlist to get your hands on its botanical blends, but trust us, it will be worth it. With ingredients sourced from across Turkey, Egypt, Ghana and beyond, founder Charis Udeh was successfully working as a management consultant at Ernst & Young when she realised the products she created for family and friends filled a gap in the skincare market. Her range draws on her Nigerian knowledge and family history of African formulation to create products that are joyful to use, but ultimately really work to solve common concerns, from dehydration to acne.
Makeup
Whenever African makeup brands enter the global market, they bring with them diverse solutions for serving the needs of all women, but especially those with Black skin who have historically been underserved in the wider beauty community. For that reason, African beauty is not only the place to look for skin-loving foundations in a full spectrum of shades, but also colour cosmetics including lipsticks, which are made to be flattering, fun and long-wearing in equal measure.
Uoma Beauty's award-winning foundation has a wide-range of 51 shades for all skin tones, plus the ability to choose your complexion's undertone (cool, warm or neutral) for a better, long-wearing match. It's also a true skincare-makeup hybrid with each of the six broad skin colour groups benefitting from specific ingredients designed to target key concerns, such as blemishes, pigmentation and dryness. No wonder Nigerian-born founder Sharon Chuter is so celebrated for her creation.
Emolyne Cosmetics was founded by Ugandan-born, Denmark-raised and London-based Emolyne Ramlov, who decided to take action when she couldn't find perfectly coordinated lip and nail products to experiment with. Each of the shade names have an African connection as a nod to Ramlov's roots, but what really sets the brand apart is the flattering yet quite unique tones chosen, which allow for you to try out new colours that feel new and exciting, but not too avant-garde.
Juvia's Place is a brand celebrated for its high-intensity, pigment-rich makeup and you don't need to spend a lot to give it a try – the Nigerian-born brand has been setting the British highstreet alight via Superdrug in recent months. From eyeshadows to powders, there's something for those who like to make an impact with their makeup and for those with more subtle tastes. Whatever camp you fall into, the Velvety Matte Lipstick Collection is a great place to start.
Bodycare
Whether you need to soothe dry, chapped skin in the winter, or want smooth, shiny limbs for the summer, you can trust African-based bodycare brands to wrap your body in moisture. That means they take the chore out of prepping your body throughout all 365 days of the year. The products also build upon generations of knowledge about ancient healing rituals, so they have selfcare at their heart, and, as with skincare from the continent, you can expect the leading brands to make the very most of the region’s legion of nourishing oils.
Liha is the darling of many a beauty insider, with CF's beauty editor first discovering it through this sustainable coconut wax candle that has the most relaxing aroma of geranium, frankincense and lavender. The bodycare products are just as indulgent, with rich shea butter formulas to lock moisture into your skin, all inspired by Western African botanicals. Together, that makes the brand perfect for gifting.
Powered by memories of the tubs of shea butter sent to her in the United States from her Nigerian aunties, founder Christina Funke Tegbe set out to celebrate as many African-grown, sustainably-sourced botanicals as possible through her brand 54 Thrones, which stands for the 54 countries of Africa. You'll find a choice of Ugandan vanilla, Ethopian honey, Egyptian lavender, Moroccan rose and Kenyan hibscus scenting her rich beauty butter – which is hotting up on social media for good reason.
Inspired by the rich history of African healing rituals and traditions, South-African bath and bodycare brand Malée (which is a term of endearment for learned women in the Nigeiran tribal language, Bini) aims to bottle the wanderlust that Africa inspires. Focusing on plant-based ingredients, this salt and sugar-based exfoliator is an award-winning highlight with a combination of rich butters and oils, including cocoa seed and shea, to leave your whole body soft and smooth.
Ghanaian-American entrepreneur Abena Boamah-Acheampong was inspired to create her natural skincare line by her mother's use of shea butter, or nkuto in Twi, as a cure for skin ailments when she was a child. The brand now directly sources its shea butter, which it combines with other equally moisture-locking oils, from the Katariga Women in Tamale to ensure sustainability, purity and ethical practices. For silky-smooth skin this summer, try the best-selling body butters. The only hard part is choosing your favourite from the array of joy-inspiring scents.
Haircare
Perhaps surprisingly, African haircare has been slower to hit the global market than other categories, with many brilliant brands not currently available for shipping overseas, probably because the companies operate on a smaller scale. That’s despite Africa being a continent that has a wealth of knowledge, especially for curly, coily, and afro hair types. Instead, it tends to be American and British individuals with roots in the region that have helped provide expanding options for Black hair types on a global scale, with formulas inspired by African traditions and ingredients in some cases.
While SheaMoisture is now owned by Unilever, you can still trace its legacy back to the entrepreneur Sofi Tucker, who sold her homemade beauty products in Sierra Leone in 1912. Shea butter and African Black Soap were mainstays of her creations and those key ingredients, as well as a focus on supporting female beauty workers in Africa, continues to this day and the brand is frequently recommended by those looking to care for their curls.
Building on the Yoruba belief that everyone's head has a powerful energy linked to destiny, ORI is a brand focusing on supporting the health of your hair. From these stylish head-beaded satin scrunchies that help limit hair breakage to deeply nourishing leave-in conditioners and oils, each purchase also helps support children get the education they deserve in Nigeria. A similar scheme helped the founder when she was growing up there after the loss of her father.
Created by British-Ghanaian actress and facialist Adwoa Akoto, DWIRA draws on her Ghanaian heritage to nurture skin and hair using the natural oils and shea butter that Akoto's mother used as a former beauty queen. You can expect deeply moisturising ingredients and simple-to-use products, which are especially well-tailored for tight curls. The 100% Natural African Black Soap for hair, body and face, for example, is produced in Ghana via traditional methods using a recipe passed down through the generations.
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