If you’re not yet familiar with the name Klara Cosmetics, chances are you will be very soon. The range of highly-concentrated eyeshadows, lipsticks, eyebrow palettes, primers, and eyeliners have recently hit shelves at Lifestyle stores across the Middle East (and online), meaning it’s time for a bigger bathroom counter.
The eponymous range, named after its founder Klara Sabotkoski, was founded in Australia in 2015 after the makeup-obsessed beauty lover decided to take a serious risk by selling everything she owned in order to launch a cosmetics offering. “You try convincing your husband you have to sell your house to manufacture lipsticks,” she recalls over the phone with Vogue Arabia. Once she managed to get her husband on board and manufacture a complete range, Sabotkoski decided to take her products to the annual Melbourne Beauty Expo, where they were showcased against cult favorites like Benefit Cosmetics. After not making any sales in the first few hours of being there, she began distributing them to shoppers for free. By 3pm, Klara Cosmetics had a two-hour wait. Two weeks later? It was sold out worldwide.
“If you can make it in Australia, you will make it around the world,” she muses. Her statement isn’t all that farfetched— Sabotoski’s formulas can be found everywhere from Hong Kong and Bali to Kuwait. The major selling point of the brand is undoubtedly its extreme color concentration. For the uninitiated, this means long-lasting, smooth application, melt-proof formulas that don’t bleed or crease, and richly pigmented color.
In the Middle East, this is music to the makeup aficionados’ ears. “I love how Arab women in this region apply their makeup,” says the entrepreneur. “It’s the exact opposite of Australia. Women in the Middle East are all about bright and bold colors and glamour — you can’t even go to the beach without a little bit of sparkle.”
Shop five must-have products to bump to the top of your beauty wishlist in the gallery above.
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