A NATURAL APPROACH TO BEAUTY

Mora Cosmetics was born from necessity. Founder Minara El-Rahman shares some of her story with Ask Us Beauty. 

Minara: I started Mora Cosmetics because when I had a high-risk pregnancy, I had to change my entire makeup routine. I had to become more mindful of the makeup ingredients I used. Once I started to do research, I realized that a majority of the makeup that I was using contained potentially harmful ingredients. The makeup brands that did contain safer ingredients weren’t pigmented enough for my brown skin. Not only that, I realized no makeup brand even labeled themselves as halal. 

That’s when I decided to create a clean, halal, and vegan makeup brand intended to be universally flattering and highly pigmented to show up on all skin tones. 

As a visibly Muslim woman, I have noticed that beauty brands are starting to embrace models that are visibly Muslim but [the brands are] still not thinking about our needs as a community when it comes to makeup. That is why Mora Cosmetics is so special. We not only speak to Muslim beauty consumers, we truly think about them every step of the way when we create beauty products that can be used by all consumers. 

The concept of ihsan (excellence) is used in everything we do as a beauty brand. We strive to use ethically sourced ingredients, use sustainable packaging, and ensure that we give the best experience to our customers. 

Our hero product, the Satin Sheen Multistick, was made with sustainability in mind. You can use it as a lipstick but also as a blush. This means fewer products to clutter the environment. Can you imagine a world with less beauty clutter?

Ultimately, we created Mora Cosmetics as a love letter to my community and to the beauty world at large. 

You can learn more about Mora Cosmetics by visiting their website https://moraglam.com/

Meet the women behind Mora Cosmetics

MINARA EL-RAHMAN

Minara El-Rahman is truly a beauty maven at heart. Born in New York City, a city well-versed with beauty, she used to stash her mother’s lipsticks in her Hello Kitty purse in grade school. Not satisfied with the limited color palettes of makeup in the 90s, Minara would often hunt beauty specialty stores like Ricky’s NYC for pigments and custom blend her own perfect colors and then sell them. Her mother would tell her to start her own makeup line.

After finishing law school and moving to the Bay Area, Minara was inspired to live a cleaner, more sustainable life. When she tried to find a clean, halal makeup alternative for her makeup, she couldn’t find anything and decided to launch Mora Cosmetics.

JASMINE DAYAL

Born and raised in California, Jasmine Dayal has always had a passion for the environment. Initially beginning her career in Silicon Valley, she eventually made the jump to working in the beauty industry with Sephora. Sephora further developed her interest in clean beauty and helped lead her to start Mora Cosmetics with Minara El-Rahman. Jasmine has always been very eco-conscious and wanted to see a product that was sustainable, kind, and accessible. With Mora Cosmetics, Jasmine gets to engage in her passion for beauty for all.