Current Trends In The Beauty Business

The Indian beauty industry has seen huge growth in the last 10 years, simply by paying close attention to its shoppers’ needs. You’re too busy to get your eyebrows done? The salon will come to you. Too tired to go shopping? Just point and click. Worried about chemicals in your lotion? Go completely herbal. Samreen Samad and Joyoti Mahanta explain the five major changes that got the beauty business booming

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GOING NATURAL

Over the last few years, growth in the cosmetics market has been driven by products that use natural or herbal components, practice sustainability and make efforts to reduce ecological damage. According to a report by the international market research firm Research And Markets, during the last decade, the herbal beauty business has emerged as the new growth frontier for the beauty business in India.

Saffron from Kashmir and sandalwood from Mysore. The Indian terrain and our history of kitchen garden remedies offers a lot for the beauty labs to pick from. The demand for herbal cures has never abated, even while international beauty brands have flooded the market. Today, the Indian cosmetics industry has a plethora of brands that use herbal extracts, fruit extracts and essential oils. Nature’s Co, Soulflower, Just Herbs, Biotique, Nyassa, Organic Harvest, Forest Essentials, Iraya, Lotus Herbals, Himalaya, Kama Ayurveda, Fabindia, Blossom Kochhar, and VLCC are just some of the more popular ones.

“Just like the French took their traditional practices and indigenous knowledge about fragrances, wines, and cuisines and created global industries out of them, Indian herbals too were just waiting for such a push,” says Rahul Kale, founder of Iraya, about how the idea of starting an indigenous-ingredient based company came about. Brands like his are flourishing by capitalising on the growing awareness of the scientific benefits of Ayurvedic recipes and herbs and combining that with packaging that suits the sensibilities of modern consumers and making these products easy to use. Manufacturers of Ayurvedic products are investing in research and constantly coming up with new and innovative technology and products that are resulting in better cosmetics.