The fourth edition of the Beautyworld Middle East Awards took place on the evening of 29 October as part of Beautyworld Middle East 2024, the region’s largest international beauty, hair, fragrance and wellbeing trade fair, which was held from 28 - 30 October.
Shortlisted nominees were selected in 17 categories from over 600 nominations and deliberated over by an expert panel of judges from across the industry prior to the awards ceremony at Conrad Dubai.
The hotly contested Conscious Brand of The Year was awarded to Le Rouge Français for their Alizarine Lipstick – which uses colours extracted from dye plants and is both organic and vegan certified.
Homegrown Brand of the Year was awarded to fragrance brand Kayali, which was founded by beauty mogul Mona Kattan in 2018 and is inspired by Middle Eastern heritage and the tradition of layering scents.
The Niche Fragrance of the Year award was given to Bohoboco’s Red Wine Brown Sugar – a unique unisex perfume with secrets notes of dry red wine, enriched with the aromas of wood and brown sugar. The brand was founded by fashion designer Michael Gilbert Lach.
Nailcare was celebrated in the Nail Product of the Year category with L’Atelier Green Paris, a green and plant-based range of polishes, picking up top prize. Started by two sisters in Paris with a passion for sustainability and beauty, the brand offers the perfect blend of fashionable style and ethical consumption.
To reflect evolving consumer and industry trends, six new categories were added to this year’s awards: Male grooming product of the year; Personal care product of the year; Cosmetic product of the year; Skincare product of the year; Hair styling device of the year; and Hair product of the year.
The Snow Mushroom Ice to Gel De-Stress Hydrator by SKG Labs won Skincare Product of the Year thanks to its winning formula of ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, pentavitin and lipomoist. The product can be used at room temperature or applied straight from the freezer for an icy boost to tired, puffy skin and is garnering rave reviews.
Creative Director of her eponymous salon and dubbed as the Middle East’s ‘Queen of Colour’ Maria Dowling was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her services to the hair industry. With a hugely successful career spanning over 30 years, Maria has been instrumental in creating a strong hair community in the UAE that fosters high standards and collaboration. Maria’s colour specialist salon ‘Maria Dowling’ opened in Dubai in January 2022 and, aside from winning a plethora of regional awards for its brilliance, it has been featured in international publications such as Harper’s Bazaar US as one of the Top 10 salons in the world. Maria herself was named one of the Top 10 colourists in the world in the inaugural issue of Porter, Net a Porter’s revered magazine and has become a go-to expert in the industry for other stylists.
