Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia, founder Aastha Jain said the brand was inspired by the personal rituals from her own upbringing. She recounted that her family did not use commercial toiletries but instead made their own.
Among them were ubtan, a traditional concoction typically made up of a powder, like turmeric powder, and activated with a liquid component such as saffron milk, oil, rose water or aloe vera gel.
“It’s a very fine powder that you can use all over your body as a scrub or as a face pack. Growing up, my mother would use anything we had leftover – three or four fruits, a vegetable and add it to turmeric powder and that was that,” said Jain.
With Tvachamrit, Jain said she wanted to reintroduce and modernise things like ubtan, which tend to take up some time to prepare. “Today, my mum doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t have the time to make it. So that’s why I wanted to develop ready-to-use powders that you can scoop out, add milk or whatever and use on your skin.”
Return of the rituals
Tvachamrit made its debut in 2018, and according to Jain was doing relatively well before India imposed its COVID-19 lockdown, affecting production work. Once it was lifted, the brand continued to do well and ended up growing 100% year-on-year, according to Jain.
“It was an interesting time. It was great because everyone started to realise that we have this rich culture of skin care and Ayurvedic practices,” said Jain.
“In the past, women in India would take two hours for their bathing ceremonies. They would oil and massage themselves. This is called Sneha, meaning pampering and self-love. Women also used to steam their hair to infuse it with scent. During COVID, people finally had the time to sit down and take care of themselves and enjoy the rituals.”
At the same time, the brand faced increasing competition from a crop of new beauty brands. To compete, it relied on creating educational content on social media to speak to its niched audience.
Now, with the pandemic behind it, the brand is aiming to expand its target audience, said Jain.
“What we are trying to do now is establish ourselves as a luxury brand that is accessible in India. Our competition are some really big brands, but they are a little high in price and not available for everyone. India is still a very price-sensitive market.”
In addition to its price proposition, the brand has expanded its product offering to cater to a wider target group. It recently launched two products, a facial oil, and a rose hydrosol. Jain revealed the brand will be launching two more products this year.
“We really want to have 100% of growth again this year in terms of revenue. I think this is quite doable since like I said, post-COVID, a lot of people have become more aware of rituals and about skin care and ingredients,” said Jain.