Kosas Founder Sheena Zadeh on Success, Skin Health and Why She Wears A Full Face of Make-Up on A Long Haul Flight
From raising beauty savvy tweens to dealing with acne prone skin, the California native sits down with Bazaar Arabia for a candid conversation in honour of her brand’s recent regional launch with Sephora Middle East
“It was one of the most transformative things I’ve ever done.”
Sheena Zadeh is telling me about The Hoffman Process just minutes into our conversation. I’m asking her about the kinds of content she’s consumed lately to better her mind, the podcasts and the books she would recommend, and her answer has caught me slightly off-guard.
“It’s a six-day programme that uses the best of science- and psychology-based evidence, with elements of spirituality, and combines them all in a way where you can achieve real transformation in your life,” she explains, touching on how it’s designed to help reprogram the subconscious and reset the nervous system, going right back to the formative years. “By the end of the programme you understand and see what you’ve embodied. Then you are able to actually see two paths and you can go down a path that is better.”
It’s a Thursday afternoon in September, back to school season is in full swing, and the Kosas founder has flown all the way from Los Angeles to Dubai to celebrate the launch of her brand here in the region, available at Sephora Middle East. We’re sitting in a suite at Atlantis The Royal overlooking the Palm Jumeirah’s fronds, the ocean sparkling in the distance, and a display of products has been artfully arranged on the table in front of us. I spot the Cloud Set Baked Setting & Smoothing Powder (a favourite of TikTok guru Mikayla Nogueira) and the Revealer Concealer, which continuously makes must-have make-up lists around the world and counts Hailey Bieber as a fan. The urge to start swatching eyeliners and lip glosses is very much there, but its Sheena’s energy that keeps me transfixed.
Having founded Kosas in 2015 from her kitchen table, the California native has drawn a cult following by building a clean brand, one that combines innovative skincare with high performance products. Skin health comes first. With a background in biology (she has a Bachelor of Science from UC Irvine), love of art and colour (her portrait painting classes have inspired numerous shades) and Middle Eastern roots (Sheena is of Iranian heritage), it’s unsurprising she gravitated towards building her empire within the beauty space.
“Our tagline is ‘Makeup for Skincare Freaks.’ We’re not taking a formula and adding skincare ingredients to it,” Sheena says, stressing how her brand’s method of developing its products differs drastically from other brands. “The beauty industry tends to borrow from itself. It has its tried and true ways of making foundation or concealer. We just don’t do that. Therefore, it creates complexity and takes more time. A lot of engineering has to go into it. We develop from scratch.”
Sheena is open about having struggled with skin issues in her past. “I have sensitive skin and I’m very acne prone. I’m very oily,” she says, but with Kosas she’s able to wear a full face of make-up on long-haul flights. “It protects my skin from the very dry airplane air. It is clinically active skincare. I find that that has helped my skin, because I travel a lot.”
When asked about her Persian roots, Sheena does admit they’ve been at the forefront of her mind since she arrived in Dubai, that she feels connected to the region and the way women here take care of themselves. “Us Middle Eastern girls, we start a beauty routine at a very young age,” she says. “You learn rituals and practices from the age of eight or nine. We don’t come out of the shower with straight hair. You have to go through a lot of steps in order to get there.” She smiles. “Beauty is part of my life. I think my purpose on earth is to make things beautiful.”
The Kosas founder recalls how her mother, who used to work at Clinique, would come home with “tons and tons” of luxury make-up and how, from an early age, she was in awe of it. “I was very drawn to it. I would play with all of it,” she says. “One of the things that she was very big on was this idea of being a little bit haphazard with your make-up, but purposefully so – so things don’t look so perfect. Like don’t take the character out of your face.”
When it comes to raising her own daughter, Sheena admits the next generation of beauty fans are savvier than us millennials were at their age.
“She knows everything,” Sheena says, referring to her ten-year-old who enjoys going to Sephora with her friends like many other girls her age. “I’m so proud of this generation of girls that’s coming up around her age. They’re so advanced. There’s just more knowledge. She is extremely aware. Now, I look to her to tell me what’s like cool and trending, because I don’t know as much anymore. She tells me I’m cringe,” Sheena laughs. Typical tween behavior.
Regardless, it’s incredibly clear that her daughter has plenty of respect for the empire mum has built. “Ultimately, she sees how hard I work – the work ethic thing, she talks about it. She always tells people ‘My mum works really hard’ and I think she appreciates that,” she says.
Does success in the beauty industry look like what she thought it would be back when she was first starting out? “Not at all, because I didn’t have any perspective,” Sheena says. “I would still say there’s no comfortable place where it ever feels like this is now a success. It’s a highly competitive environment.”
“Ten years ago there were far fewer brands. Now, there are a ton of them. There’s more of a responsibility to your community, to your team, and I am also so committed to innovation on top of that,” she says. But that doesn’t mean it’s all grind and no play. “I celebrate the wins, but I always want to keep evolving. I want this brand to go on for hundreds of years. So when do I know if it’s successful or not? I don’t know. You let me know.”
For more information or to shop Kosas in the region visit sephora.ae
