Manish Malhotra’s entry into the beauty industry has come after a long wait.
Beauty has always played a key role in the designer’s work since his debut as a Bollywood costume designer in 1990. He introduced the concept of “styling the entire look” so that the hair, makeup and nails matched the protagonist’s outfit. He says that styling Sridevi for the 1993 film Gumla was “the first time a Bollywood actress had just one haircut for the entire film.”
“Makeup and hair are such an important part of my job; they can make or break your look,” he says. So when The Good Glam Group (the company behind tennis player Serena Williams’ Win Beauty line) reached out to him, Malhotra knew he had to do it.
Manish Malhotra Beauty was launched in October 2018 with a glamorous, shimmery collection that includes eyeshadow palettes in a variety of textures (foil, metallic, matte), high-shine lipsticks, nail polishes, glosses, highlighters, and more, priced between Rs 800-1500 (approximately $9-18). Currently, the brand is backed by investors such as Warburg Pincus, Prosus Ventures, L’Occitane, and Bessemer Venture Partners, and currently sells over 150 SKUs. It plans to expand further both in India and abroad.
Indian couture designers like Malhotra, long confined to runways and niche clientele who can pay their prices, are finding ways to break into the beauty world. Unlike Malhotra, though, most of these have remained limited-edition partnerships. In October 2017, designer Gaurav Gupta collaborated with fragrance brand The Perfume Library to launch a scent called “Again.” In February 2019, Manish Arora designed a Valentine’s Day gift box for skincare brand Kama Ayurveda. Last year, Payal Singhal partnered with Indian beauty brand Kilo Beauty to launch a range of matte nudes tailored to Indian skin. In 2020, Kilo Beauty collaborated with skincare brand Ranavat for a self-care collection packaged with her signature botanical motifs.
There was clearly an opportunity for further growth: According to Euromonitor International, the retail value of the Indian beauty and personal care market is expected to be $16.5 billion in 2023 and grow 11.5% to $18.4 billion by 2026.
Designer Masaba Gupta, who launched her Cosmo Wellness brand Love Child in August 2022, which offers wellness-oriented products like lipstick, nail colour and anxiety relief oil, currently works full-time in beauty alongside running her own fashion business, but soon realised that focusing on colour cosmetics was the way to go.
“When it comes to skin care, we’re not in the market to read an article online and buy a retinol,” she says.
Gupta’s products, wrapped in dopamine-inducing packaging with vibrant illustrations and Masaba’s trademark prints, range in price from 175 rupees to 2,200 rupees ($2-26). “When you see our products on the shelves, you won’t mistake them for any other brand,” she said.
Today, the brand’s lipsticks are a major part of its best-selling product portfolio, generating annual sales of 750 million rupees ($8.9 million).
Consistent brand identity
For Indian designers who work constantly with models, makeup artists and brides, expanding their ability to forecast trends from fashion to beauty seems like a good idea. But some observers are raising warnings.
“Beauty is often seen as a way to make money, but it raises the question of whether designers are truly interested in beauty and whether they apply the same principles, attention to detail, thought and time to beauty products as they do to clothing,” said Vasudha Rai, author of the beauty and wellness books “Glow” and “Ritual.”
For fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, when he launched his beauty line in collaboration with Estée Lauder in March 2024, it was important to maintain consistency between the two lines.
“It’s important to me to create something that is timeless, and I’ve done that with my clothes,” Mukherjee told Business of Fashion in a February interview. “My hope is that women will [lipstick] This shade [beauty] It’s a collection that can be enjoyed for years to come.”
Mukherjee has also made sure her cosmetics have a luxury feel: A line she developed with Estée Lauder includes 10 lipsticks in 24-karat gold-plated tubes adorned with her signature royal Bengal tiger, retailing for a hefty 5,400 rupees ($64) each.
For designers like Malhotra, the Bollywood connection also helps them create a pitch that can be applied across categories: “Bollywood is really creating pop culture in our country,” says Darpan Sanghvi, founder and CEO of Good Glam Group.
Made in sleek black and gold with curvaceous borders, Malhotra’s Beauty Dispatch offers a dual experience when you unbox it: it aims to “relive that carefulness you feel when opening a beautiful Manish Malhotra outfit,” says Sanghvi.
Catering to the local crowd
Yet, to grow, these brands need to reach a wider demographic than just the upper echelons of Indian shoppers. And as the consumer demographic diversifies and is no longer limited to the affluent, they also need the communications and SKUs to cater to their needs.
Gupta’s decision to use Hinglish (a mix of Hindi and English) in her communications stemmed from a need to reach a wider audience and not leave people in smaller cities behind. Even her product names are peppered with quintessentially Indian phrases, such as Nazar Na Raj (Hindi for evil eye) kajal and Rani (Hindi for deep pink or queen) liquid lipstick.
With beauty standards varying significantly from one country to another, consumers are increasingly looking for authentic solutions based on geography and cultural uniqueness. This is an opportunity for designers from India to highlight their roots. Additionally, many Indians want to support home-grown beauty brands. According to a Mintel India report, 41 percent of Indian consumers strongly agree that it is important to support local brands that understand their needs.
“This sentiment is reflected in the growth of homegrown brands offering products tailored to Indian beauty needs, including makeup for Indian skin tones,” said Taniya Rajani, principal analyst, beauty and personal care, Mintel India.
Love Child’s 18-shape foundation, launched in January 2024, took a year to develop and involved consumer research with research agency NEPA, which claimed to have resulted in shades that match 90% of Indian skin tones.
That applies to marketing, too: The brand launched a campaign with the Mumbai Indians women’s cricket team in February 2024, which Masaba said was an example of the brand’s philosophy of creating products for all of India. Love Child tripled sales and revenue in the second half of 2023 by doubling its best-selling products, expanding into all categories with makeup, maximizing the holiday season and expanding its scale in marketplaces.
She points out that Masaba’s targeted marketing approach has also had a positive impact on the brand.
“I’m glad I don’t have many followers. [on social media]”They’re a sizable but very meaningful following who believe in me and like me, but aren’t blindly buying my products,” Masaba said.
