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Masterfully mashing a mixture of natural ingredients on a kitchen table is helping women achieve a healthy glow.
Entrepreneur Amna Ahmed has teamed up with her friend Nouf Faisal to produce a range of scrubs, oils and balms aimed at rejuvenating skin.
And the home-based enterprise has already attracted beauty parlours clambering to sell the prize products which have gained a flourishing following in the thousands.
The rejuvenating skin creations were only launched a year ago after the Bahraini buddies, both aged 29, were tired of hunting for their favourite brands in the kingdom. Amna, who lives in Sanad, said: “Nouf and I have always liked using pure and unprocessed beauty products. The problem was that we often couldn’t find what we were looking for - products were either out-of-stock most of the time or simply unavailable in the local market.
“Fed up, we thought why not, let’s create our own! We found some recipes and started making it out of my house to use ourselves. Friends got to hear about it and loved using them too and soon we were overwhelmed with people asking for our body scrubs and balms.”
Mashmoom, also known as Mashموم, was unveiled, a name inspired by the aromatic plant that locals call Reyhan and expats know as basil. The plant is said to offer many health benefits including treating colds, warts and pimples. Some even use the herb to ease the pain of rheumatism and it is said to help boast antioxidants, vitamin C and vitamin A which protects against cell damage.
In the kingdom, the flowering plant is often displayed by Bahrainis to mark happy occasions such as weddings. Brides wear the flowers in their hair as decorative pieces and for its long-lasting sweet-smelling scent.
Amna added: “Mashmoom signifies happiness. We wanted to incorporate our culture whilst establishing a brand and make it trendy at the same time.”
The home-made range include body scrubs, bath salts, massage oils, coconut oil, aloe vera oil, face masks, body oils, cocoa butter, lip balms, face scrubs, lip scrub, coffee oil and pillow mists. The girls have also put together a variety of giveaways and hampers with an assortment of flowers to make gift giving as easy as possible.
Their blends boast a variety of raw ingredients such as organic oil, coconut, Vitamin E, joboba oil, aloe vera and beeswax.
Amna works on mixing up the ingredients, as well as marketing the products at events. Nouf handles the branding and packaging of the products in pretty jars, as well as coming up with new treatments.
The Mashmoom range was unveiled at various markets including Argan Village and the Bahrain Culture Exhibition. The pure potions, moisturisers and exfoliators, which start from BD1.500, have also attracted more than 6,000 followers on the Instagram social media account @mashmoom_ .
The aim is to open boutiques in Bahrain and abroad but, in the meantime, the products can be found for sale in funky fashion outlet Meemo Space and home furnishing and accessory store Be Inspired. Mariam Al Umran, the creative director of Vogue Group and the founder of fashion outlet, Meemo Space and Be Inspired Bh, was impressed by the creations after spotting them on display at an exhibition.
Mashmoon products can also be snapped up at Lovely Lolita, Casa77spa, Lavande Beauty Lounge, Signature Beauty Salon and Caviar Beauty Spa.
