In A Big Step Toward Making Halal Beauty More Accessible, Flora & Noor Is Set To Launch At Ulta Beauty

“My goal is to make halal beauty more accessible in the U.S. I want to be in your Targets, in your Ultas, wherever customers like me shop,” says Jordan Karim, founder of Flora & Noor. “I see us everywhere, and I see us being the pioneer of halal beauty.”

The halal-certified skincare brand is taking a major step toward achieving Karim’s goal of it being everywhere. Flora & Noor is launching on Ulta Beauty’s website with a six-month special collection. The brand scored the spot through beauty company Rare Beauty Brands’ pitch competition created in partnership with Black Girl Ventures and Ulta. The public voted for their favorite brand among seven finalists in the competition via financial contributions of $5 or more on live competition platform Raisify. Flora & Noor racked up 150 votes and walked away the winner.

Karim believes halal beauty products—or beauty products that have been manufactured with processes and ingredients adhering to Islamic law—have substantial upside in the United States.  “A lot of people don’t realize how much potential there is because it’s so untapped in the U.S.,” she says. There are about 3.45 American muslims and more than 2 billion worldwide, and the appeal of halal beauty extends broadly to consumers interested in better-for-you products. According to Fortune Beauty Insights, the global halal cosmetics market was worth $33.3 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to climb to $77.34 billion by 2028.

Flora & Noor launched in December 2020 with two body care products—$24 Oatmeal & Shea Body Butter and $24 Shea Sugar Scrub—Karim developed to address her son’s eczema. She says, “I was finding products that were all natural, but were not working, and then I would find products that people would say are efficacious, but the ingredient list is something that you don’t want to put on your 2-year-old child.”

Shortly after, Flora & Noor branched into skincare with a vitamin C0-focused range containing Boost & Brighten Cleanser, Vitamin C Toner and Super C Moisturizer. Rose Renewal and Radiance Mask ranges followed the vitamin C lineup. The vitamin C lineup features Flora & Noor’s bestselling products overall, but Oatmeal & Shea Body Butter has landed on Amazon’s bestsellers list. In addition to Amazon, Flora & Noor is available at the e-tailers Thirteen Lune and Verishop.

The products are intended to address specific, often chronic skin conditions, notably eczema, hyperpigmentation and melasma. “A lot of skincare is fun skincare, and I love fun skincare, I’m definitely a user of fun skincare, but there are also consumers that need real skincare that yield real results,” says Karim. “Our skincare is tackling chronic skin conditions and because of that it’s not going include a before or after picture because these actives take a certain amount of time to work. These are also skincare concerns that can’t be cured, but they can be tackled.”

Prior to establishing Flora & Noor, she was a research chemist and pharmaceutical skincare consultant for almost a decade at companies like Johnson & Johnson and Allergan. While she worked on products that were vegan and cruelty-free at the companies, they weren’t halal. Halal beauty products can’t have animal byproducts and alcohol. Karim recalls, “I was doing things for work and also buying skincare products in my personal life that I was prohibited to use, and I would feel bad about it later.”

Combined with her effort to find a solution for her son’s eczema, the guilt compelled Karim to introduce Flora & Noor. The brand originated in part from her personal religious experiences, but has applications for a large pool of consumers who both share them and don’t share them. The National Eczema Association, for example, estimates that 31.6 million Americans suffer from eczema.

“We hear the words diversity and inclusion all the time, but inclusivity also goes beyond skin complexion,” says Karim. “I wanted to create something that went beyond vegan and cruelty-free that everybody could use. It doesn’t matter your religion, culture, women, man, you can feel proud to use Flora & Noor.”

Bootstrapped to date, Flora & Noor relies on events like Allure Store pop-ups and appearances such as at the Muslim American Society convention to get the word out. Karim says, “We really try to reach out by actually being with our consumers, talking to them face to face, and really trying to educate and explain the differentiators of our brand because we are one of not many.”

Flora & Noor is attempting to raise $1.1 million through angel investors and venture capital funds. If it secures funding, its marketing strategy could change. Up until this point, the brand has sustained itself on grants. It was a finalist for the brand Tower 28’s third Clean Beauty Summer School program. Karim has avoided interest-based loans that are considered anti-halal. Giving away equity is permissible. Karim says, “I want to make sure that my products are not only are halal-certified, but that, holistically, I’m maintaining my business to be halal.”

She plans to expand Flora & Noor to Africa and the Middle East, where halal products are more common than in the U.S., but tend to tout lightening ingredients. “Here in the U.S. right now, what we’re doing is encouraging our melanin, and we’re proud of our complexions, and I want to spread that message globally,” says Karim. “We should be able to purchase halal-certified skincare that has ingredients for hyperpigmentation, dark spots, etc., but is trying to make sure that we have an even overall skin complexion, not lightening it.”