The 26th edition of Beautyworld Middle East – the region’s largest international trade fair for beauty products, hair, fragrances, and wellbeing – began a three-day run at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) today (Monday, October 31) as regional and international beauty companies and industry leaders come together to discuss industry pathways and discover new trends, technologies and business opportunities. 

This year’s show, spread across 14 halls, sees the return of the ‘Next in Beauty’ conference, which brings fresh thinking, new insights, and elevated business strategies to the fore. Running across the whole three days, the opening agenda was headlined by English scent maverick Jo Malone CBE, Creative Director and Founder of Jo Loves.

In conversation with Lauren O’Connell, Beauty Editor of Cosmopolitan ME, Malone told her inspirational story of artisan beginnings to global success to a standing room only crowd, followed by a live demonstration of her new ‘Fragrance Tapas’ experience.

“It is amazing to be here in Dubai, walking into the show this afternoon, and seeing so many amazing SMEs and entrepreneurs – it fills my heart with joy to know the future of the industry is in safe hands,” said Malone, who moved permanently to Dubai earlier this year. “Dubai is full of opportunity, and everyone wants to help each other here, which is incredible to see. It is also teeming with creativity which is a perfect atmosphere for us to be in.

“The name Jo Loves came from my son who said I should call it that because I love perfume and perfume loves me. As a brand, Jo Loves is all about innovation, bringing people together, and family. When starting a new business, there are three things you need: Passion – you need to feel the heartbeat of your products; Resilience – you will hear the word ‘no’ more than you hear the word ‘yes’; and creativity – I believe everyone in the world has a bank account of creativity and you are the only one who can grow what is in there into something special.”

Another highlight session taking place on day one included an outlook on the MENA market for Beauty and Personal Care from Amna Abbas, Senior Analyst at Euromonitor International. She revealed the region’s beauty and personal care industry is valued at US$36 billion with 11 per cent growth projected through 2026. Hair care, fragrances, and skin care are the top-performing categories.

Abbas also explained industry growth in the region can be directly correlated to its growing number of millionaires – both nationals and expatriates. There are currently a little more than 75,000 UAE residents whose wealth is between US$1m and US$5m and that will continue to increase, she said.

“Golden visas, five-year multiple-entry tourist visas, Qatar and Saudi opening up tourist visas preparing for the Fifa World Cup… all these things are leading to more millionaires entering the country,” said Abbas during her presentation at the conference. 

“As the number of millionaires increase, we see a greater number of cosmetic clinics, healthcare options, specialist clinics, products and services – not so much at a salon level, but a deeper level, such as dermatological peeling. Everything suggests the future is very bright for the regional beauty and healthcare industry.” 

The show features seven major product sections covering cosmetics and skincare, personal care and hygiene, hair, nails and salon supplies, machinery, packaging, raw materials and contract manufacturing, fragrance compounds and finished fragrances as well as natural and organic. 

It is also hosting Quintessence – an exclusive platform where the world’s ‘creme de la crème’ of perfume brands showcase their creations in an exceptionally luxurious and contemporary environment - while 16 major international fragrance houses will create their own interpretation of a signature scent for the show in the Signature Scent feature, with visitors having an opportunity to sample them and vote for what they felt most captures the essence of Beautyworld Middle East.

“I am a distiller and perfumer by profession, and this is our fifth time exhibiting at Beautyworld Middle East and our first time back following the pandemic. Being a part of Quintessence has always benefited Areej Le Dore as our aim each year is to grow our existing network and find new business partners. Just within the first few hours of the show opening, we have spoken to some promising business partners and visitors alike. This year, we’ve brought our new collection to the show, where each scent has an Indian-Attar focused element. Since these Attar fragrances are very strong, they’ve been combined with various heart notes to give it a modernistic touch,” said Russian Adam, Director, Areej De Lure.

Eurofragance, the Barcelona-based perfume house, has opened its ArtLab Gallery to visitors this year - a space that exhibits several works that are the outcome collaboration between different Perfumers and Artists. The artwork presented at Eurofragance’s ArtLab Gallery is the result of the collaboration of five young women Artists, currently established in Dubai, ranging between 17 and 21 years of age, and six Eurofragance perfume Creators.  

Antoine de Riedmatten, Global Business Unit Director, Fine Fragrance and the General Manager IMEA based in Dubai says: “There is a lot going on at the Eurofragance stand this year, but if there are two key things to take away from our ArtLab Gallery, they are our creativity and our values.  We do things differently at Eurofragance and we are on the constant lookout for creative inspiration.  This space is dedicated to creativity and to the collaboration between artists.  Our values compel us to connect with people from different horizons and cultures. This is why we give young women Artists the opportunity to be seen, heard and celebrated.”