This Luxury Beauty Festival Has Become A Must-Attend For Black Women

Black women have long been some of the beauty industry’s most perceptive critics and influential tastemakers. Consider the viral movements sparked by legendary make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath and her mannequin-esque glass skin for Maison Margiela, or Ngozi Esther Edeme – aka Painted by Esther – whose transition blush technique is reshaping modern make-up aesthetics. Their impact also hits the bottom line. The 2022 McKinsey & Company report revealed that Black consumers spend up to three times more on skincare and cosmetics and six times more on haircare compared to non-Black counterparts. Yet, despite driving trends and purchasing habits, a gap has persisted across the luxury beauty sector. It’s a gap that Donna Dia, founder of the Beauty Beat – the UK’s only luxury beauty event for women of colour – is busy closing.

“My first foray into events was within the luxury fashion space,” says Dia, an event director who previously headed up events at Glamour magazine and worked across other Condé Nast titles. “Not only did my experience help to shape my perception of what luxury looks like, but it also taught me what was missing from it: women who look like me were simply not the majority in those spaces.”

Dia began to imagine what it could look like to build an environment where Black women are the priority, not an afterthought. Now in its fifth year, the Beauty Beat has evolved from a dream into Europe’s premier luxury beauty festival, created with Black women and women of colour at its core. As it returns for 2026, this time at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, the sheer scale of what Dia has engineered is staggering. The Beauty Beat debuted in 2022 with 500 women in attendance. Last year it ushered in 4,500 attendees.

This year’s event, taking place on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, continues the Beauty Beat’s tradition of intellectual conversation, cultural celebration and beauty brand discovery, bringing together the likes of Estée Lauder, Fenty, L’Oréal Paris, MAC, NARS, REFY, The Ordinary, YSL Beauty, S’ABLE Labs, Sephora and ILIA Beauty. (The incredibly generous beauty bag is already legendary.)

The guest list also boasts some of the most influential Black women in the beauty space: model, activist, and S’ABLE Labs co-founder Sabrina Elba; digital creator Patricia Bright; celebrity make-up artist Bernicia Boateng (who has worked with Michaela Coel, Jourdan Dunn and Leomie Anderson); celebrity hairstylist Aminata Kamara, who has worked on campaigns for the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Prada; natural hair advocate Paige Lewin; Spice Girl Mel B, and content creator Mikai McDermott. All of them combine expertise with candour.

Dia has leaned further into wellness in line with demand. “Our ladies have been constantly asking about gynaecological health, fibroids, hormones and perimenopause,” she notes. This year, panel discussions will explore reproductive health, deeper dives into the cellular impact of stress and much more. (Via the brand’s online hub, Our Beauty Club, the Beauty Beat is also moving into regular activations spanning fertility workshops, masterclasses and wellness retreats.) “Whether it’s mastering the sharpest winged liner or knowing where to turn if you are navigating fertility and egg count, I want our community to get information from the most sensible, qualified voices,” says Dia.

“Every single particle of the event is carefully thought about,” she continues. “It is imperative to me that outside the QEII – opposite Big Ben and The Houses Of Parliament – our flags depict Black women of all tones, shapes and sizes.” Hence Dia works with global beauty houses for months in advance, personally auditing shade selections and even vetoing brand staff whose knowledge of deep complexions or textured hair is lacking. That blind spot has historically translated to negative beauty counter experiences, where deep undertones are dismissed, formulations misjudged and the immense spending power of women of colour is underestimated. “I cannot have our community coming in and feeling disappointed by the service they receive,” Dia stresses. “I want them to genuinely feel centred, thought about and celebrated.”

That deep feeling of acceptance and safety has cultivated a kind of emotional loyalty. “In year one, an elder – an American woman, probably in her 60s or 70s – came up to me with tears in her eyes,” Dia recalls. “She held my hand, the way an elder does, and said, ‘I’ve never experienced anything like this away from home. Thank you.’ It was a very special moment.” She remembers three more women who arrived solo: “They met at the event, became firm friends and now they come to the Beauty Beat every single year as their friendship anniversary,” says Dia. Her own love of beauty also has an emotional connection; it started with her mother. “Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair was always on her bathroom shelf,” recalls Dia, “so when the brand first partnered with the Beauty Beat and my mum was sitting in the audience, it felt completely full circle.” Which is why Dia feels so strongly that, “whenever a retailer or brand launches a product, [I want them to] automatically think about Black women.”