5 Young Muslims On How They Navigate Makeup & Modesty

Muslim women are among the biggest beauty consumers in the world.

It was recently reported that Saudi women in particular spend more on makeup than food, transport or clothes, and that Dubai is tipped to overtake Seoul as the beauty capital of the world.

With beauty brands waking up to the potential spending power of the 'Muslim dollar', cosmetics and fashion campaigns are increasingly catering to this group: the halal beauty market, for one, is estimated to be worth $53 billion by 2023.
 
Despite the strides made by the global beauty industry, expectations of modesty can present conflicts for Muslim women wearing makeup. The subject has long proved a divisive topic within this faith group; there are countless online forums rife with such notions as the idea that a woman must only wear makeup for her husband.
 
Thankfully, millennial Muslim women are increasingly redefining and reasserting their relationship with beauty on their own terms, challenging the tired 'submissive' and 'stereotype-breaking' tropes that we’ve come to associate with this group in recent years.
 
Ahead, I spoke to five Muslim women and non-binary individuals about their beauty routines, how their identities have become politicised in recent years and whether makeup and expectations of modesty can be a source of conflict.