We were absolutely thrilled to be able to interview the three amazing women behind the inclusive beauty brand, CTZN. The three sisters- Aleena, Naseeha, and Aleezeh- saw a gap in the global beauty market and not only are they filling it, but they are paving the way for the future. Unique, inclusive and diverse, CTZN Cosmetics are shaping the industry by building a global brand presence which caters to skin tones otherwise neglected. Focusing previously on lips, the brand revealed to us their next big venture, and we are just as excited as them for what 2023 will bring for the brand.
Not only were we super excited to learn about their wonderful products, which by the way, are all vegan! We loved hearing the family’s entrepreneurial story and their perspective of growing up with intersecting identities. The young brand is truly built upon the passion the three women share for solving the problems which themselves and others have experienced while purchasing beauty products. Quality has definitely not been neglected as the Khan sisters put their hearts and souls into their products and solving the common issues they know all too well. Their authentic brand values, cultural awareness and high-quality products are all amazing reasons why you should make CTZN your 2023 go-to beauty brand.
This interview was a pleasure conducting and we are sure you will find it just as interesting and inspiring as we did.
Tell us about your experience, and how CTZN started?
Aleena: [Speaking of CTZN’s inclusive nude lip collection, NUDIVERSAL] We get so passionate talking about our neutral lip shades. When people think of products that suit all skin tones, they often just focus on the complexion category, i.e. foundations and concealers. At CTZN, we believe that your complexion, lip tone and undertones actually impact every makeup category – from shade range, to formulations needing to be adjusted for certain skin tones within one collection, to the level of color payoff. If you look at eyeshadow, you need to think about how much pigment you need for the color tone to show up as powerfully on certain skin. Even fragrance, it’s so interesting, because we have learned that melanated skin requires a higher perfume and alcohol concentration for the scent to be as long lasting and prominent.
We started with the lip category to show that it’s not just foundations and concealers that need to be disrupted for people of color – nude lipsticks are a perfect example of this.
With CTZN, because we are South Asian, we noticed from a personal experience as beauty consumers that when we stepped into a mainstream department store, not one model on the displays or posters around us were South Asian or Middle Eastern. This wasn’t just on a product level, which is the obvious part, but even the imagery around us. There was not one person with a middle brown skin tone; South Asian or Middle Eastern complexions. I think that’s crazy, because we’re such huge beauty consumers and it’s a big market. So, even if you’re looking at it from a business perspective, which rules a brand’s decisions, why are we being ignored? One thing that we could work on as South Asians is more vocal about why this matters, and demanding this focus from mainstream brands! We purposefully did not make CTZN just for South Asians because we concluded through research that people don’t want to see a niche brand just for one sub-group where you are again isolated, but actually feeling represented within a global brand where you are equally considered. So, that’s how CTZN came about.
Launching a beauty brand is not easy! Are any of you from a beauty background? How did you start?
Naseeha: Yeah, I do have a beauty background as a certified makeup artist, from Los Angeles Makeup School! I have always been obsessed with makeup and beauty in general, ever since I was young. I played around with makeup a lot, and then in high school I would do my friend’s makeup. When I was in college, I was working as a makeup artist on a popular beauty concierge app. I was working with different skin complexions, and that really helped me to understand how to approach artistry on different undertones and face shapes. I really understood the background of makeup and formulas from the beauty concierge app experience. I also taught myself through YouTube. I used to watch it religiously after school, I would run home and put my YouTube on and not talk to anyone and just learn, learn, learn. I also attended Makeup By Mario’s Masterclass, and I learned a lot of tips from that. I had one-on-one experiences with some Instagram makeup artists as well, which was really helpful.
Aleena: We always joke that we didn’t take advantage of it enough back then. Naseeha would always beg to do our makeup and me and Aleezeh would say ‘No, we’re not in the mood’ and now we’re trying to book appointments and she’s over it, she’s too big for us now [laughs].
You all sound like such a powerhouse, all three of you have got such different skillsets. We are intrigued by the brand name, how did you come up with the CTZN?
Aleezeh: We always felt that we didn’t resonate with just one culture because of the way we grew up. We’re Pakistani and were born in LA, but then moved to Dubai when we were pre-teens. Our dad moved there for work, so we all moved as a family. So, we grew up in Dubai and then we all went to high schools that were super international and diverse. So, thankfully we’ve all been exposed to different cultures.
Naseeha and I then studied in London and Aleena went back to Los Angeles for university. Our upbringing truly inspired a desire to create a global brand that felt ‘of the world’. Growing up in Dubai especially played a part in this passion for a multicultural focus, because over 80% of residents here are actually expats from all backgrounds, races and ethnicities. Cultural tolerance was such a pillar embedded in us from a young age – Dubai is the city where you go to a waterpark and see someone fully clothed in a Burkini next to someone in a bikini, and both were accepted and normalized!
Aleena: Before CTZN started, that concept of a ‘citizen of the world’ came from our grandma. In school it would be super confusing to answer when people would ask us where we were from. Unless you have ten minutes to hear our whole story (laughs). People want this one answer, or they want the answer that they’re looking for. I remember feeling like until you answer why you’re brown they’re just going to keep asking. Someone once said ‘your passport is where you’re from’, but I’m not just American either. So, it’s a strange question and it’s so multi-layered, but our grandma said ‘just say you’re a citizen of the world’!
Naseeha: And now it’s a trend to be multi-dimensional and own your cultural mixup, especially with everyone proudly now posting their results from identity tests such as 23 and Me! Now it’s accepted to have a little bit of this blood, a little bit of that ethnic background.
Aleena: Yeah, it’s interesting how back in high school you’re so self-conscious about the different layers of who you are, but as you evolve into an adult, you realize the parts that make you unique are the most beloved!
Aleezeh: On International Day we never knew which culture to represent – should we wear our American clothes or our Pakistani clothes? It was so hard to juggle which ones to represent because we resonate with both.
Aleena: The important thing with the name CTZN is that it’s a global brand. It’s not just a North American brand, it’s not just a Middle Eastern brand, and we don’t want to fall into that silo. From day one we wanted to be of multiple regions and we still want to expand in that direction even more.
When you launched CTZN, what kind of challenges did you come up against in such a noisy, competitive beauty space? You have a unique selling point and there was nothing like what you guys had when you were launching.
Aleezeh: Because our brand is all about coming up with a shade for everyone, regardless of complexion or gender, we wanted to test our products on a lot of people. So, I think a challenge was how long everything took. We usually hold focus groups in Dubai and London for example, lots of different countries, so that we’re covering all skin tones and backgrounds. And then we make sure that the formula feels good on your lips, and it needs to be both high quality and vegan friendly. There are so many factors that we have to consider that take longer than the development process. But we think that it’s worth waiting for, because we need to make sure that these formulas work on all skin tones, while also being high-performing.
Naseeha: There’s so many steps in creating products. There are compatibility tests, then you have to test the formula in the packaging. It sits there in a fridge at different temperatures and you test the melting point. Those processes take such a long time. You can’t just create a product and launch it after four months; it takes a long time. So, there’s a lot of planning ahead of time that you need to factor in. I feel like the challenges don’t stop, it’s not just in the beginning.
Aleena: A challenge at the beginning was launching a product that was not just a great formula, but a great vegan formula. We are perfectionists with the formulation. So, when we thought we were close to being done on this one lab visit, we felt that the lipstick was too transparent on the lips and wasn’t the pigmentation level that we had hoped for. We had to make an executive decision that we had to try again. So that delayed the launch a bit, but it was so worth it because we’re so proud of the formula now. Because we’re not like a celebrity brand with a huge platform, we really like to think about what doesn’t exist, and what is different about us. So, that is a challenge in itself but it’s also a fun motivator.
We constantly put that extra pressure on ourselves to give you something that you haven’t seen before, otherwise why, in the saturated market, would you buy from us? I think it’s that innovation, that fresh perspective that we try to give.
I think that’s great, your authenticity is so true. When you launched CTZN, did you immediately get the response you wanted, or was it a long process in the 3 and a half years since you’ve launched?
Aleena: I think we always had the mindset of slow and steady wins the race, so that’s how we think. Anything else feels like a bonus, because we want to be the long-term brand that’s still here decades later that we can pass on. We really feel like it’s here to stay. I think we got really blessed that there was early recognition. So, I wouldn’t say a big break, but in the beginning, months after launching we won an Allure Best of Beauty Award. That was crazy for us because that was the industry recognition that we dreamed of before.
I think the coolest part was that our NUDIVERSAL Lip Duo in shade Stockholm won Best Neutral Lipstick for Dark Skin Tone, and it was the deepest shade out of our collection. So that was even cooler, because it was that recognition that we were looking to show that we have solutions for deeper complexions that were historically unaddressed. It was just surreal because the year after that, shade Koh Samui then won Best Neutral Lipstick for Medium Skin Tone. So, we’ve really been positioned as a category leader, which we believe we are, and it’s why there are 25 nude lip shades from a warm beige to a fudge brown.
Aleezeh: And I think it was important for us in that first year to participate in those big beauty moments, so we had a booth at BeautyCon. Even though we weren’t a known brand at that time, just having that exposure in that space was so amazing for us. We had people that stopped by at our booth that are still following our brand and still purchasing now. So, I think just having a presence where a lot of people end up going for beauty was important. It’s about being at the right place at the right time.
Aleena: Yeah, we visited our Nordstrom location in Newport in California. It was so crazy, by chance, we bumped into someone that met us at BeautyCon the first year we launched. And she was like ‘Oh My God are you guys CTZN?’ and she’s like ‘I don’t know if you remember but I met you at BeautyCon’ and we did remember her. So that was such a full circle moment, she didn’t know that we were there that day and she didn’t know that CTZN was even in Nordstrom, because we had just launched in that new location.
We’re also all about gifting, because we feel like it’s a more authentic way to promote your brand because you’re not forced to post and there’s no pressuring them to react unless they like it. And so, I think through gifting we’ve been really lucky that some key makeup artists love the brand and they’ve been using it on their celebrity clients. The celebrity placements that happened organically were a dream for us. From Hilary Duff, to SZA to Demi Lovato, we’ve just had some cool moments like that.
It’s because your products are great! So, this is super exciting, how did Sir John end up becoming a part of your team?
Aleena: I would say that was one of the moments that felt like the big break, because he’s such a guru in this industry, to see that kind of partnership being solidified was just crazy. He was in that first list of PR gifting when we first launched CTZN!
Naseeha: I remember when we looked at the PR gifting list and I saw Sir John’s name, I was so intimidated. I thought that he was never going to get our gifts or even open them. So, the fact that he wanted to work with us a couple of years later truly felt like a full circle moment, especially for me.
Aleena: What happened was someone in the industry introduced Sir John to our team, and we had a Zoom call. We honestly didn’t know where it would lead, it was just exciting enough to tell our story and hear his story as well. And I think it’s mainly the fact that he’s a humanitarian, he has such a deep soul and he doesn’t want to put his name on just anything. He really cares about that human aspect. Because CTZN is about cultural awareness and making people feel seen in an engaging community, he felt so aligned and passionate about our mission. I think it’s also the fact that we’re a young brand; he was able to make an impact and we could grow together. Longevity is important to us and him.
He goes so well with your brand message. What else do you have coming up in 2023? Are you allowed to say?
Naseeha: We can’t say specifically, but we’re excited because we’re expanding beyond the lip category and we are focusing on eyes. I’m not going to say the product exactly, but I’m excited to focus on a new category, it’s going to be fun.
Aleezeh: It’s actually the first product that Sir John ideated and developed with us completely from scratch, so we’re really excited that it’s our first launch with him, where he helped us creatively on all fronts.
Aleena: Another focus for 2023, is related to our Culture-Torial segment and really building that library. Culture-Torials are a video segment we created and also trademarked, where shared what they love about their culture while doing their CTZN makeup routine. This year, we’re aiming for 52 Culture-Torials; we really want to get a flow where there’s one published a week, so that’s a big, big goal for us. That’s a whole part of our brand that we’ve realized is unique, that no one is doing. Anything that we feel like we are doing that’s unique, we know we need to be louder about it, so we’re passionate about that angle of CTZN. We feel like we are the first beauty brand that’s merging cultural awareness and beauty content, where you are actually learning about culture through a makeup tutorial. It’s about the mannerisms of people, what people love most about their culture, whether it’s food, music, nightlife. It’s actually inspired by this Cancel Culture era, where everyone feels this disappointment of not being understood rather than finding solutions to connect us all through education and shared platforms.
We feel like CTZN is a lifestyle brand, it’s not just about the impactful, high-quality cosmetics, that should be standard if you are launching a new brand today. For us it’s this cultural awareness angle that we’re equally passionate about.
That’s amazing. My last question is what advice would you give to someone who was getting ready to launch a beauty brand?
Aleena: We feel like it’s about listening to the community. We never create a product just because it’s what we personally want. First of all, my sisters and I represent just one skin tone demographic, we’re one perspective, we’re one gender. So, you really need to conduct focus groups, surveys and do research online of what other people are saying from different backgrounds. If we’re doing things all from one lens, that’s how Cancel Culture happens, that’s how you don’t realise that you have missed something very important. Things are missed, because you’re only exposed to one mindset.
Naseeha: That was helpful for us actually, and we have an amazing advisory board in our team. With what Aleena said, we have different age groups, ethnicities, genders and that helps. Because, we don’t claim that all of our ideas are right. We always take our ideas back to the advisory board, and we tell them about it and hear their feedback and that’s how you grow and know about different ideas.
Aleena: And we’ve been challenged! So, we don’t just have ‘yes men’ around us, that wouldn’t be inspiring. But I think even just testing on different people, making sure that yeah, you’re creating 25 shades, but did you test on different complexions to make sure everyone still has a fit? It’s not just about the number, it’s about actually engaging our community. That is how the Code Red collection came about. We heard from people that they wanted to see our take on red lipsticks after the nude range was so successfully received. So that was born out of people organically telling us they wanted reds. So, we are very reactive to feedback. That is the beauty of a small or indie brand, or a growing, emerging brand like us. We have the ability to listen to what you’re saying and go straight to the lab, because it’s still a very intimate team. So, keep letting us know what you want to see, because we can move quickly and it’s not twenty levels of people that have to approve an idea, we can go straight to the factory and develop something that you want. So, that is a really cool part of the stage we’re in right now.
Aleezeh: I think also some advice for launching a brand is that you need to know your deep why. You shouldn’t be launching your brand for the sake of it. You have to have a meaningful reason as to why you’re launching it, I think in this time because people are looking for something to connect and resonate with.
You guys have been so amazing, everything that you’ve achieved is so inspiring, and what a powerhouse you all are!
Words By: Jyoti Matoo and Aleena, Aleezeh and Naseeha Khan
Header Image: Arundhati Das
