All that glitters: Nano Au Veda develops nano-gold serum to deliver luxury skin care experience

Nano Au Veda is a cosmeceutical skin care brand that was recently launched in September by Suganthshree Sudanthiram, a former engineer.

The brand debut with only one product, Au Glow, a serum that features Kakadu plum-derived vitamin C and nano-gold.

Swarna Bhasma, gold ash, has been used traditionally in Ayurveda for millennia. The company modernised this by employing patented green technology from the University of Missouri in the US to synthesise nano gold.

Nano Au Veda claims to be the first brand in India to have developed a cosmeceutical product using green nanotechnology and nano-gold.

“There are a lot of products that use gold, but they probably use gold flakes, gold dust, and that is not gold in its best form. Nano-gold is so small, smaller than a cell so it enters the skin so much easier and can amplify its effects,” ​said Sudanthiram.

Sudanthiram told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the product was designed to “deliver an experience”​ to the consumer.

“We’ve tried to differentiate ourselves by offering an experience to the customer. Even though it's essentially a vitamin C product, we wanted people to want to use the product. If it was just a product from the drugstore, you would use it, but you wouldn’t necessarily enjoy it. With Au Glow, we want people to feel a sense of luxury and enjoyment.”​

She added that the significance of product experience was becoming increasingly crucial for consumers.

“The mindset in India 10 years ago used to be really conservative. We wouldn’t spend on things like travel. But now we have realised that experiences are more important than saving. Only in the last few years, there’s been a major shift in people wanting to invest in themselves.”​

With a luxury experience comes a greater price tag. According to Sudanthiram, you can find a vitamin C serum in India for around INR800 (U$11), while Au Glow costs almost four times that at INR3,195 (U$43).

“Indian consumers now understand that it’s important to have healthy skin. They are becoming more informed and are willing to pay more for beauty. That being said, we are not too exorbitantly priced for the ingredients that we use. We are really trying to be cost-effective in terms of pricing because we want more people to be able to try it,” ​said Sudanthiram.

Since the brand launched, Sudanthiram said it has been doing well despite the fact it had not invested much in marketing.

“Our sales so far have only happened through word-of-mouth marketing. We’ve not invested heavily in marketing because I believe the brand has to grow organically – that’s true success with the product.”​

Moving forward, the company is looking to expand its product range.

“We’re trying to build products that are not available in India and we have a couple of them in mind. However. we want to be sustainable in what we’re doing. We don’t want to follow the herd and launch 10, 50 products.”​

The company has its sights on an international expansion and is looking for distributors in various markets, including China, the US and the Middle East.

“We’re looking a Dubai, China – like us I think consumers here love gold. We’re also looking at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia and the US.”​