A mother-of-five has launched one of the world’s first brands of halal make-up after fears she could be praying while wearing ingredients which are forbidden to Muslims.

When Samina Akhter of Hall Green wanted to buy halal makeup she was shocked to find that hardly any existed – so decided to create a range.

The 41-year-old former saleswoman spent two years setting up the company Samina Pure Mineral Makeup – and has already seen it take off beyond her wildest dreams.

Launched just last month, Samina has already gained hundreds of customers and taken orders from across the globe. Now she is so busy she has roped in her family to help with packing and sending out the products and is already aware that the business has outgrown the office in her terraced home.

The project began as a personal quest.

“I just started to wonder what was in the products that I was using,” she said. “I was using all the usual high street products but it started niggling me that they may contain animal products or alcohol. There are quite a lot of products which are animal free but then they can include alcohol.

“If I was going about doing things or praying while wearing them it caused me a bit of concern.”

So Samina attempted to track down a halal range.

“There just wasn’t anything about,” she says. “After I started the project I came across a small collection from a company in Australia but there wasn’t a lot of choice.”

So she decided to do something about it. With help from support organisations such as Business Link Samina researched the market, created the products, chose colours and found factories in Europe and Australia who could manufacture to the level she wanted.

“I wanted the products to not only be free of animal ingredients and alcohol but also chemical free and not include ingredients tested on animals. They are completely ethical so although they are halal they can appeal to everyone,” she said.

In order to gain a valid halal label, Samina had to work with the Halal Boards of Certification in Europe and Australia who visited the manufacturers and suppliers – a process which will need to be renewed each year. But that certification is important to her.

“By having them checked I can be confident they are halal,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be selling them, or wearing them, if they weren’t.”

The range features eyeshadow and liner, lipstick, gloss and liner, blush, foundation, powder and brushes.

* Fact File

* The word ‘halal’ means permissible or lawful as defined by Muslim Shari’ah law.

* Products which are forbidden or unlawful are known as ‘haram’.

* Halal can be applied to products which have been certified halal by the relevant country’s halal certification board.

* Halal is usually applied to foodstuffs and methods of slaughter.

* Haram includes alcohol, pig products, blood and animals not slaughtered in the name of Allah.