“I still see products being launched in three shades, in four shades, calling them ‘universal’. And it’s just ridiculous,” Banerjee said.
“In India, everywhere you go… you see our features changing, our language changing, our skin colour changing. So it’s very, very important to have more inclusive make-up.”
“LEARNING TO LOVE OURSELVES”
Cheap internet data, rising income levels and the world’s largest population of young people have fuelled an explosion in India’s beauty and personal care market.
The industry is now worth US$15 billion nationally each year, with Euromonitor projecting that figure will double by 2030.
Homegrown e-commerce platform Nykaa – which helped make global cosmetic brands easily available to Indians for the first time – was one of India’s most-anticipated IPOs in 2021.
“People thought brown skin is not pretty,” Faby, another beauty influencer living in Mumbai, told AFP. “But now we’ve started learning to love ourselves.”
Faby has nearly 900,000 Instagram followers and has established herself as one of India’s top cosmetic stylists, recently teaming up with top Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone to promote a skincare line.
Almost her entire apartment has been refashioned into a studio with professional lights, camera equipment and retractable backdrops to stylise her regular online tutorials.
The work can be taxing, with some daylong shoots lasting until well after midnight, but the money Faby makes from brand collaborations is enough to comfortably support both herself and her mother.
“It has been difficult, but now I can have my own Dior bag, I can have whatever I want,” said Faby. “It’s all because of the followers who are watching.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
