A longtime makeup marketer is launching a beauty brand inspired by her Palestinian heritage.
Called Zaiie — an Arabic word translating to “like me” in English — the brand is founded by Reema Shihadeh, formerly a global director of makeup marketing at The Estée Lauder Cos.
Debuting direct-to-consumer on Thursday, the brand looks to channel hallmarks of Palestinian culture into high-performance beauty products. It launches with a $38 Lip Press tinted gloss, a $40 The Marble highlighting blush balm and a $68 Olive Melt makeup remover, each infused with olive oil sourced from groves that are owned and operated by Shihadeh’s family in the West Bank, Palestine.
“Olive oil has always been a part of my life,” said Shihadeh, who grew up in the U.S. and each summer would visit her extended family in the West Bank. “We’re familiar with olive oil in skin care, hair care and even body care, but I was particularly interested in what it could bring to the color cosmetics space.”
Each Zaiie product features a signature Olv+ Complex, which blends five ingredients including olive oil, olive squalane and ceramide NP to support skin moisture and barrier strength.
“The products have skin care benefits, but they’re also multifunctional; you can use your fingers, you can use a brush, your hand,” said Shihadeh, who tapped celebrity makeup artist Mollie Gloss to help develop the Red Thread, Mishmish and Rose Milk shades for the lip gloss, as well as the blush balm’s two reddish-brown and peachy shades, called Toasted and Plucked, respectively.
As part of the launch, Shihadeh teamed with creatives including writers Danya Issawi, Zeba Blay and Evelynn Escobar to launch a zine exploring the genesis of Zaiie, and more broadly, the experience of being a member of a diaspora and preserving one’s cultural heritage. The zine will be a free gift with purchase for the brand’s first few hundred customers.
“As I started sharing Zaiie with people, I realized how many people have their own version of this experience — from different backgrounds, different traditions — but this similar desire to feel connected to where we come from and to share those stories,” said Shihadeh. “My story is the impetus for the brand and its ingredient story, but I want Zaiie to be a lot larger than myself.”
For both the zine and Zaiie’s creative materials, Shihadeh tapped a photographer and a videographer in the West Bank to capture scenes of life across Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The team also captured scenes of Shihadeh’s family and their groves, which include a 15-acre grove in Beit Ijza and a 14-acre grove in Biddu.
“I wanted to be able to show small moments of joy,” said Shihadeh.
If Zaiie scales beyond what her family’s olive groves can sustain, Shihadeh said she will potentially look to partner with other Palestinian olive growers to support production.
“[We can] give back to the community beyond just giving back to my own family,” said the founder, adding that her near-term plans are “to build awareness and introduce Zaiie to as many people as possible — not just through our products, but through our story and the philosophy behind the brand.”
“Zaiie begins with my Palestinian heritage, and the idea is to kind of create space for other stories and traditions and perspectives,” she said. “I want Zaiie to be as much about what we learn from other people as what we share about ourselves.”