Following in the footsteps of the K-Beauty boom that had brought Korean rituals and beauty beliefs to the masses in recent years, African beauty or A-Beauty was next on the horizon, according to WGSN.

And Clare Vaga, head of beauty at WGSN, said this was a particularly exciting movement to watch because it was very different to the likes of K-Beauty.

A-Beauty is nuanced not homogenous ​

“This is a regional beauty that’s emerging and that makes it slightly different because it’s much more nuanced; there are 54 countries that make up Africa,”​ Vaga told attendees at this week’s WGSN Beauty Live online event.

“…It’s very important that when you think about A-Beauty, you don’t think of this as a homogenous region,”​ she said.

Africa has home to a plethora of “amazing” ​beauty ingredients, she said, and there were many brands developing fantastic product concepts throughout the region.

African botanical skin care specialist 54 Thrones was one good example of a brand utilising the vast palette of African ingredients in its products whilst at the same time pivoting everything around “authentic beauty rituals of the region”, ​she said. ​There were also a number of brands working hard in the sustainability space, she said, particularly in South Africa.

“A-Beauty is the one to watch,”​ Varga said, asked where some of the most emerging promise was in the global beauty category.

Heritage and storytelling – behind the rise of J-Beauty and C-Beauty​

And interest in country-specific or region-specific beauty rituals and routines was nothing new.

Last year, Euromonitor International predicted Japan-Beauty and China-Beauty (J-Beauty and C-Beauty) were primed to steal the spotlight from powerhouse K-Beauty​, thanks to strong heritage, science…