• Abuja bubbles, beauty market booms for Yuletide

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

As the festive breeze slowly sweeps across Abuja, the city’s markets are beginning to shimmer quite literally. From Kubwa to Wuse to Utako, and other parts of the city cosmetic shops are buzzing like beehives, packed with women searching for creams, oils, scrubs, serums and every beauty enhancer that promises a December glow.

In a season when most Nigerians are tightening their belts, the beauty industry in the Federal Capital Territory seems to be telling a different story, a much brighter, shinier one: “This is our own festive season.”

At the Kubwa Central Market, the air carries a mix of fragrances—coconut oils, body butters, scented scrubs and the chatter of excited buyers. Standing behind a colourful shelf of lotions is Gabriel Oga, his face lighting up as he recounts how business has transformed almost overnight.

“Market don open o!” he laughs. “Women have started preparing. They want to look different for Christmas.” To Oga, the festive rush is predictable almost ritualistic. Every year, as December approaches, women flood his shop in search of the perfect skin-brightening formula:

“Sales are better than last year. Maybe because food prices have dropped small, so people have extra money. But even if there is no money, women must glow for Christmas.”

At the ever-busy Wuse Market, cosmetic seller Joy Ameh is arranging her newly arrived products, though the shelves already look half empty. She shakes her head as she narrates how her shop was cleared out twice in one week.

“I just stocked up, and everything finished again,” she said. “Women are glowing early this year.” Even though complaints about economic hardship echo across the country, Ameh insists that beauty remains non-negotiable for many women: “Some women will buy cream before buying rice.

“They believe you can manage food, but you cannot manage your skin. This year’s rush is the biggest I have seen in years. I think because foodstuff prices have gone down a little, some women now have small change. But even those without money don’t mind sacrificing to look good.”

In a plaza near Utako Market, George Afor narrated a different side of the booming beauty business a troubling uptick in shoplifting. “The pressure to look beautiful has turned some ladies into petty thieves,” she says, her voice laced with frustration. She recounts a recent incident that nearly turned chaotic:

“A woman hid creams inside her clothes. My sales girl caught her. It was embarrassing. She wanted to beautify herself by force.”

Still, Afor admits that business is at its peak, especially for glowing creams and toning serums: “Everybody wants to look finer than they looked last year. It’s the season of shine.”

From glitters to glow oils, toning creams to perfume oils, our business is humming with energy. The rush intensifies as Christmas inches closer. For now, out shelves continue to empty as women pursue that perfect festive radiance even if it means skipping a meal or stretching a budget.

A resident of Gwagwalada Area Council, Oluch Emeh, said December glowing in not negotiable: “For many Abuja women, looking good for Christmas is more than vanity, it is cultural.

“It’s about presenting oneself confidently when travelling home, showing relatives that city life hasn’t worn them down, and stepping into the New Year with renewed energy.

“December is the month when weddings, reunions, engagements and celebrations pile up and appearance becomes a personal project. It is also a moment of escape a chance to feel beautiful, even in a year of adversity.”

Another resident, Florence Aka, said: “I don’t joke with this season’s glowing because know if many ladies that have gotten through glowing during this season.

“I have started working on my skin. When you lighten your skin, you look better irrespective of what you are wearing.”

Ene Abah said that by this time other years she would have started working on her beauty. But this time, she is yet to start because of the economy.