The beauty industry has to be one of the hardest to stay afloat in but easily the most exciting. New brands are created at the speed of light and people are always searching for the next best thing and feel-good fast product. This year, in particular conversations around sustainability in beauty boomed, while commitments to greater diversity and inclusivity were cemented. Home grown beauty brand Luscious Cosmetics has been riding each wave successfully and has stood the test of time, namely the past twelve years. Instep sat down with CEO Mehrbano Sethi to discuss how she positions Luscious in the global market and plans for the brand in the rapidly changing market of the beauty industry.
“The beauty industry globally is hotter than technology right now. (It’s hotter) in terms of new brands entering the market and capital being invested into the industry by non-traditional investors with some of the same people who were previously investing in tech,” she says about the industry that isn’t slowing down anytime soon. “Every celebrity in the world is trying to release their own beauty line because the investment is there. This makes it a highly competitive environment but one of the advantages Luscious has that newer brands don’t have is the twelve years of experience behind us.”
The reason for so many brands entering the playing field, she explains, is that many pick up stock items and stick their labels on them. The upside is that with a small amount of investment you can create a new brand but the downside is that you’ll never have innovation or customization on your side. For a beauty brand that’s crucial, given that trends change constantly in beauty.
How is Luscious keeping up with changing trends and trending conversations around sustainability and transparency in beauty? Sethi shares that the movement about clean beauty has just picked up steam but her brainchild has been cruelty free and vegan since 2007, before it was ‘lawful’ to be so. In an effort to push these brand values further she is rebranding Luscious to ‘True Luscious’ to take it beyond just makeup. “At the core of it we are a colour makeup business and we’ll have skincare and serums but our mission is to now own the fact that we have been safety testing our products above and beyond what was required since 2007.” She shares that she’s been very nervous about the rebranding but the customers she’s reached through market research have appreciated the visual direction she’s taking the brand in.
Another shift in the market is that more men are buying makeup products than before and brands are capitalising on the trend. Chanel was the first cosmetic giant to launch its first men’s makeup line last year consisting of three products, including an eyebrow pencil, lip balm and a tinted moisturizer. More are sure to follow suit which Sethi recognised early on and is set to launch her own brand for men. In the Fall/Winter of this year, she’s launching Rally & Rok with a tinted moisturizer, anti-pollution moisturizing face mist, concealer and a face mask. “We employ around 200 people, half of whom are men who are very comfortable with makeup. They’ve been pushing for skincare and makeup hybrids for the makeup category, which is completely wide open. It’s the next boom we’re going to see because it’s the other 50 per cent of the market that can be captured with the same facilities already available to us.”
We wonder how important it is to have celebrity endorsements or a face behind the brand in the beauty industry, given the success of the likes of Fenty, Kylie Cosmetics, Huda Beauty or even Nabila locally.
“Luscious is a brand I’m building to survive a 100 years. I haven’t tied it with me because I believe in order for adaptability we need to relate to our customer first and foremost,” she says.
This year’s plans for True Luscious include launching a lip and eye serum with a patented formula for anti-blue light to combat constant screen viewing and an anti pollution primer. Sethi shares, “I try to to add things that not only increase the value of the product but are also functionally rewarding.”
