CTZN Cosmetics

CTZN Cosmetics is a new-age makeup brand founded by three sisters Aleena, Aleezeh and Naseeha Khan. The Khan sisters identify themselves as third-culture kids, with their diverse backgrounds of being born in the U.S., raised in the U.A.E., with Pakistani ethnicity. Aleena, Aleezeh and Naseeha are currently based between London and Dubai. The CTZN story came to fruition when founders Aleena, Aleezeh and Naseeha went shopping for cosmetics at a major beauty retailer and realized that not a single model in mainstream beauty campaigns looked like them, or better yet represented them. Models with ‘middle brown’ skin tones were hardly ever Southeast Asian or Middle Eastern. Beauty campaigns aside, the same issues were prevalent in beauty brands' product formulations, where certain skin tones and undertones are often not considered. The CTZN founders soon started to realize that many of their friends of color felt the exact same way about their own demographics being underrepresented in industries such as beauty and fashion. The conversation then evolved when Aleena, Aleezeh and Naseeha noticed that the lack of diversity in the beauty industry spans way beyond skin tones - but also gender. The male demographic is often unacknowledged in the cosmetics industry despite being a significant percentage. The mission became clear to the founders: to truly be an inclusive makeup brand, CTZN Cosmetics needed be genderless, catering to all skin tones. CTZN Cosmetics is also proudly 100% vegetarian, cruelty free, paraben free and talc free. The CTZN founders are sincerely excited to introduce this brand to all people of color! Let the journey begin.