Natasha Shah’s The Nature’s Co. is driven by the five elements of nature Gajanan Dudhalkar

When Ishween Anand was working on mergers & acquisitions at Ernst & Young in the US in 2005, she developed a fascination for natural handmade soaps. So much so that she took a two-month sabbatical from the corporate grind to learn soap-making. Her passion took her to various soap studios and farmers’ markets in the US. And what was a hobby turned into a full-fledged brand, Nyassa, when she returned to Mumbai in 2006.

“I wanted to set up my own natural beauty line as I felt that there’s a huge market for such products,” says Ishween, who sells a range of handmade soaps, body butters and fragrances from her two outlets in Mumbai.

Ishween isn’t the only one who’s giving a makeover to the Indian cosmetic business. For years, Indian cosmetic brands were considered boring and downmarket. The only exception was lone ranger Shahnaz Husain, who succeeded in creating an international beauty empire. But now a host of beauty entrepreneurs who believe in all things natural and organic have jumped onto the wellness bandwagon.

They’re determined to prove that you don’t have to use expensive international cosmetics to look gorgeous. And they’re creating home-grown brands that are glamorous and which they’re spreading across the country too.

Take the Mumbai-based Natasha Shah, who owns The Nature’s Co. Shah grew up on grandma’s recipes. Plus, her family owned the Rs 365-crore Amar Remedies, which has been making Ayurveda-based personal care products for 20 years. So it was natural that she follow this path — although the MBA graduate did research her market for seven years before launching her line in February 2009. “Since I had a ready platform, I felt that it’s time to create a premium line of wellness products that is chemical-free and filled with the goodness of nature,” says Shah, who was funded by Amar Remedies.

Hop across to Reshma Anand in Delhi. This IIM-Bangalore graduate shunned a highly-paid job to launch Earthy Goods in 2007. The brand includes personal care (soaps), skincare (body butter) and food (jams, herbs and organic honey and jaggery) products, all made from natural ingredients.

Reshma worked with Development Alternatives, a non-profit organisation which helps micro-enterprises, before becoming an entrepreneur. So with Earthy Goods too, she has partnered with farmers in Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Pondicherry and the Northeast to help market their products. She says: “It’s essential to give brand identity to the products these farmers develop. So we train them in production, packaging and quality control.”

Ishween Anand handled mergers and acquisitions for Ernst & Young in the US before she started Nyassa

Some of these new entrepreneurs are repackaging the age-old beauty principles of Ayurveda. Others are simply using organic ingredients from local farms. But they’re all throwing up new challenges in the competitive Indian cosmetics industry. And they’re generating a response from consumers too.

Take Ishween Anand. When she launched Nyassa in 2006, she began by selling her handmade soaps from a small kiosk in Mumbai’s Atria Mall. “I just had 150 varieties of handmade soaps and was sceptical initially. But within days, I had to order another batch of soaps,” she says.

The aromatherapy home spa kits are a hotseller from Anumeha Gupta’s Fresh Flower Santonabho Das

Today, her brand sells handmade soaps, body butters, fragrances, body lotions and lip balms made from natural ingredients like honey, oatmeal, coconut oil, olive oil and palm oil. What’s more, sales are growing by 50 per cent a year, she says. Anand has one standalone store and a small kiosk in Mumbai, and she also supplies to spas in Hyderabad.

Shah’s The Nature’s Co., meanwhile, has a store at the luxurious Palladium mall in Mumbai. Shah is inspired by the five elements of nature — air, water, forest, earth and sun. Accordingly, her line of wellness and bath products (body lotions, body washes, body butters, shampoos, creams, soaps, bath salts and moisturisers) is divided into five categories: Atmospure, Aquaspark, Foressence, Earthborne and Starrize.

“Although a lot of international cosmetic majors have entered the market, it’s good to see how so many Indian brands are holding their own in this competitive market,” says cosmetologist Kiran Bawa. She believes that “their smart packaging and their chemical- free ingredients” are helping these brands to woo consumers.

Reshma Anand’s Earthy Goods also retails organic food products Pix by Jagan Negi

Some of the new entrepreneurs are, in fact, infusing fresh life into existing brands. Like Anumeha Gupta is doing with Aneema Soaps. Gupta’s parents, Anuradha and Raakesh Bansal, founded Aneema Soaps, a small-scale unit, in Mumbai under the Khadi Gram Udyog Scheme in 2002. Gupta who did her MBA from MICA in 2004, decided to join her father’s business to better market the products.

In keeping with the times, she decided to give a fresh spin to them too. Says Gupta: “The Indian spa industry is at an all-time high and there’s a growing awareness of wellness products. So I felt the need to develop a spa range that can be used at home too.”

The result: her own brand Fresh Flower, launched under Aneema Soaps last year. It includes a range of aromatherapy home spa kits which are priced between Rs 299 and Rs 999. Then, she has Anuspa soaps, which are made from jasmine, lavender, basil, eucalyptus, khus oil, aloe vera, and panchamrut (a mix of five natural ingredients including cow’s milk and ghee). They’re priced between Rs 39 and to Rs 49. Gupta has two manufacturing units in Parwanoo and Mumbai.

To be sure, natural soaps and cosmetics aren’t new in India. But the new entrepreneurs are giving a contemporary twist to this age-old knowledge and packaging them attractively.

Take a look at the Nagpur-based Iraya brand, which was founded by Rahul Kale three years ago. Kale, who did his MBA from France in 2001, felt the need to start his own brand on returning home.

“I felt it’s time to present Ayurveda in a contemporary context. So I started a cosmetic line based on it. Although Ayurveda is not new to India, making it appealing to today’s generation was a tough challenge,” he says.

Kale undertook extensive research, working on new formulations and procuring new raw materials. For instance, he teamed up with farmers in the Bastar region, teaching them organic farming to cultivate high-value herbs.

Their interest in Ayurveda and naturopathy motivated Sucheta Khandwala (above) and Priti Mehta to launch Om Ved

Iraya has four lines — Ayurveda, Botanicals, Bath and Shower, and Spa at Home. Kale lays emphasis on finding new ingredients. For instance, he uses emulsifiers from sesame oil and sal wood butter in his creams and lotions, manjistha (a high-quality Indian herb) in his eye-gels and face-creams to promote proper blood circulation, and kumkumadi (saffron) oil in the face-serums. Iraya’s products are priced from Rs 100 to Rs 300, and are currently available in all the high-end spas across the country.

Also staying ahead of the pack is Om Ved, started in 2009 by Sucheta Khandwala and Priti Mehta in Mumbai. Their products include body massage oils, skin toners, bath soaps, shampoos and face masks using ingredients like neem, almond oil and sandalwood.

Khandwala and Mehta actually own the Orra jewellery stores across the country. But their keen interest in naturopathy and Ayurveda motivated them to start Om Ved. Says Mehta: “We have a team of Ayurvedic doctors and cosmetic consultants. All our products are free from petrochemicals, glycols, synthetic perfumes and synthetic colours and we’re against animal testing too.”

The new beauty entrepreneurs say that awareness about natural cosmetics is growing rapidly. “People are experimenting more and more with natural cosmetics,” says Aneema Soaps’s Gupta.

The accent is on all things green. And brands like Earthy Goods highlight the fact that their products are made the old-fashioned way by hand. Says Reshma Anand: “The manufacturing process does not involve machines at any step. It’s like going back to the good old days, when technology was basic. This makes a huge difference to the product quality.”

Buoyed by their initial success, the brands are drawing up heady expansion plans. Shah is opening an outlet of The Nature’s Co. in Chennai next month, followed by stores in Calcutta, Bangalore and Pune over the next few months. Earthy Goods too is expanding its footprint in the North besides tapping the corporate sector.

Nyassa’s Anand plans to open stores in cities like Chennai, Delhi and Baroda this year, while Kale, who expects his turnover to touch Rs 20 crore in two years, will set up an Iraya store in Delhi by mid-2011. And Om Ved plans to open a handful of standalone stores across India by the end of 2011.

All the home-grown cosmetic brands agree that marketing is the key to success. And they’re paying close attention to smart packaging and slick retailing. What works for all these brands is their continuous research and development with natural ingredients. Says Shah: “We make a conscious decision not to repeat the ingredient in any of the lines.”

Some of Shah’s unique products include a garlic-based anti-acne cream, a mango lip-balm, corn exfoliating face-wash and marshmallow clay cream. Shah is also working on a personal hygiene range of sanitisers, oral care products and kids’ toiletries. Nyassa’s Anand too is developing a line of body mists and fragrances and a complete haircare range too.

Will the brands be able to survive in the intensely competitive cosmetics business? The players are confident of success. Says Mehta: “The future is bright. Given the increasing awareness of chemicals and additives, we are sure that there will be a great demand for natural Indian cosmetics in the coming years.”