Sara Al Rashed
Sara Al Rashed was never made for an ordinary life. Outspoken yet with finishing-schools style poise, the beauty entrepreneur looks flawlessly made-up, but with flashes of bold color that match her vibrant personality. Al Rashed comes from a prominent Saudi family with business in banking and construction. But drawn to the more artistic side, she trained and worked as an architect with design as her creative outlet. While she had always been interested in makeup, it wasn’t until during Covid that she took her casual interest to the next level. “I was researching the beauty sector and noticed there’s nothing here in the region that represents the Arab woman. Instead, there’s always this one stereotype of an Arab woman everywhere you go,” explains Al Rashed. “When Arab women avel outside of the Middle East, people look at us and think we look all the same – heavy kohl eyeliner, ve layers of foundation. As we know, that isn’t at all true.” Her new beauty brand Asteri is a counter to these look-alike assumptions. “Asteri’s aim is to go global and show the modern Arab woman to the world,” she enthuses. “I want to break stereotypes.”
Launching with a wide collection of color cosmetics, Asteri covers all bases from foundation and concealer, brow and eye pencils, to lipsticks, mascara, and a universal bronzer. “It’s a more modern take on makeup,” explains Al Rashed. “I wanted us to be more eclectic and youthful, without losing the luxury feel.” Breathable, buildable, vegan, and made with low irritant ingredients, Asteri also boasts a “desert-proof” formula. “The lab created a trial with women wearing the makeup in environments that replicate the extremes we experience here in the Middle East. We tested in saunas, through 60 degrees Celsius with high humidity – and it stays on,” she affirms. Th brand’s Saudi DNA is felt throughout, with the pressed powders imprinted with custom calligraphy reading “sisters under the stars,” a reference to the brand’s astrological inspiration. Named after the Greek word for star, Asteri was partially motivated by its founder’s vision of a sisterhood beneath a shared sky. “I was looking for something that will resonate, not only with Arabs, but with the whole world. The night sky relates to my ancestry as in a way the stars have always been the guide of people,” she explains. “My idea of a modern ibe or sisterhood is like looking at the stars –if you get closer to them, they all look different, but from a distance, they become brighter as a collective.”
Photo: Courtesy of Asteri
The idea of a sisterhood that is stronger together is born from Al Rashed’s own childhood, where her parents encouraged their daughters to forge their own paths. “Thankfully, I grew up in a home where my father wanted us to work, even when it wasn’t the norm for women. At the time my sisters and I were growing up, Saudi was different from what you see today. It was OK to not work and it was OK to not continue your school, but this was something my parents pushed us to do differently,” she recalls. “My mom was strict, but she was very avant garde for that time in that she always pushed us to be different and to not follow what was expected culturally.” In her honor, says Al Rashed, she has named one of Asteri’s signature legacy lipsticks for her, with Johara a rich red shade symbolizing power. “I believe that makeup is a good place to start to give you more confidence, sometimes to give you that little push that comes with knowing you look good,” she says. Despite her own natural beauty and charming appeal, the Saudi entrepreneur is adamant that it’s more important to focus on her soon-to-be customers, rather than her own image. “I’m a founder; I’m more into creating the company than being a face of it,” she shares. “But I don’t want to just have people that are super beautiful models to represent the brand. We want diversity; strong women who are leading in different sectors.”
Like her mother before her, Al Rashed recognizes that cultural expectations don’t have to be a barrier to finding one’s own version of success. “As a Saudi woman, I would say if you think that you can’t do something, go for it because there is no better time than today,” she says. “It’s empowering to show not just regionally, but globally, who Saudis are, and what Saudi women are made of.”
Originally published in the June 2023 issue of Vogue Arabia
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