Adopt Natural Sustainable Skincare Products to Achieve That Radiant Glow Naturally, and Without Any Side Effects

• Q. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
• My name is Namrata and I founded Vishisht in May 2018. Prior to that, I was working in a multinational company as an auditor. After working for 4-4.5 years even though I was happy I wanted to start something on my own, but had no idea where to start. Around that time, I was living in Hyderabad and I developed some skin rashes on my arms and legs. I tried a lot of moisturisers from the best of brands but none of them worked.
  
  Then I started doing some research as to why those moisturisers were not working for my sensitive skin. I researched online, read a lot of articles and saw YouTube videos of Ayurveda doctors, skin specialists and natural therapy doctors who mentioned those chemicals and how they can be harmful for our skin. I learnt about the pure carrier oils like coconut oil, shea butter, pure essential oils and that we actually don’t need to put chemicals in our skincare products. They are in fact harmful for our skin and also the planet. Based on this knowledge I started making my own recipes of moisturisers, hair serums and lip balms. I tried them on my skin and they really worked well and my skin rashes problem also went away permanently. I shared my recipes with my friends and family and they all loved them. Everybody pushed me to start my own natural skin care brand. Personally, I also wanted to have something of my own and this is how Vishisht came into being.

• Q. What was the process and how did you introduce the product?
• Initially we started with about 10 products. I tried different formulae, created the product and gave it to multiple people to try. According to their feedback, we fixed the products e.g. certain products were too greasy, some were not moisturising enough, etc. It took us 1.5 years to figure it out and once we arrived on the correct composition, we launched the brand. We also worked on the packaging, the website, etc. simultaneously. Since then, all the formulae are consistent and now we sell the products through our website primarily and from different online marketplaces like Amazon. Currently we are planning to put up our products in retail stores in Goa and Bangalore and exploring offline options as well.

• Q. What were the challenges that you faced and how did you overcome them?
• There were a lot of challenges. The biggest one was to create a niche for ourselves because the skincare industry is so crowded with tonnes of natural skincare brands in addition to the ones using chemicals. The other challenge was about educating the customers in terms of why our products are better for their skin and why they should switch to our brand. Consumers are used to buying moisturisers for ₹ 60.00 - ₹ 100.00, so a moisturiser costing ₹ 250.00 faces resistance as the price differential is almost 2 - 2.5 times.

• Q. So how do you educate the customers?
• We communicate about the benefits of our products through Instagram, Facebook and our newsletter, e.g. a typical moisturiser costing ₹ 50.00 might get over in a month but our product, even though it costs ₹ 250.00, will last for 3 months. So effectively, they are paying the same price. If someone discovers our products on Instagram or Amazon and enquires about it, we try to help them understand that it may seem expensive in one go but in the long run it is better as the product is used less, it lasts longer and it has a shelf life of at least 1 year. More importantly, it is far better for the skin.

• Q. What are your interests and what do you like to do in your free time?
• Last year when this lockdown happened, we were all locked up in our homes and it was kind of disturbing since I was living alone in Bangalore. It took a toll on my mental health also. During that time I used to work and watch stuff on Amazon Prime. Slowly, it dawned upon me that there is a problem. People who were back with their family were good, but people like me who were packed in their apartments alone, for those guys it was difficult. Even if we were used to working from home, it was still a lot because no human contact at all made it very difficult. Around that time I started taking interest in my mental health aspect as well. I realised there were so many people suffering from depression. I started listening to podcasts on mental health, self-care, yoga and meditation, and there is so much to learn. Whenever I was free, I would look up stuff like 5 things we should do for anxiety or what should we do as soon as we wake up. There is so much to learn and I have taken so much interest in that area that whenever I have time I listen to a podcast of 20-30 minutes on self-development and self-health.

• Q. Are you doing better now?
• Absolutely. I travelled back home around Diwali. But my parents advised that if possible, just move back here because your business is online and we don’t know how long this COVID is going to continue and it is going to be very difficult. Earlier, I was in Bangalore but now I am in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, and I am with my family for 5-6 months so business is going great because of the help I get from my family.

Where Can You Find Them?
www.vishisht.com

• Q. You mentioned earlier that one of the challenges is the presence of so many skincare brands. What makes Vishisht stand out from other natural skincare brands?
• Even though we are in the market to do business our foundation is based on a social cause. We focus on the social aspect first and then we move to the profits. For us our planet is at the core of our brand. From sourcing the raw materials to the delivery of the final product, every step that we take, we keep our planet in our mind, e.g. for sourcing raw materials, we try to get them by road and not by air so that we can reduce our carbon emissions.
  
  Moreover, contrary to many brands which offer 50-60 products we are offering only 15-16 products. This is because we believe in offering the customers only what they need. We are not spoiling them for choice. We do not want the customers to keep buying, then throwing, and filling their vanity with 100 products which they are never going to use. This is a waste of money, resources and products. We offer the products to our customers that they actually need and not giving 5 different options in say a lip balm. Our lip balm suits all the skin types and we are not giving 5 options because that is a waste of resources. Also, customers might end up buying 3 products which they might not use and in the end they will get expired and it will all be a waste.
  
  Our packaging is completely plastic free, 100% recyclable, there is almost zero waste from our side. Even in terms of ingredients, we put bare minimum ingredients which are required. We do not add anything extra like fragrances. We are creating products that simply work without creating wastage of material, packaging or delivery, or even sourcing the raw materials.
  
  In terms of delivery, we also offer our customers to return the jars. A customer can collect 4-5 jars and send them back to us. We will offer them a discount to recognise the fact that they took that particular extra step of sending the jars back to us. This way we are trying to close the loop, instead of buying new jars, we are trying to reuse the jars that are sent back by the customers. As I said, our planet is at the core of all our practices. We as a brand want to make sure that we do our bit. We want to sell as many products as possible and divert plastic from ending up in landfills and oceans. This environmental consciousness I would say is probably a differentiator from other brands.

• Q. Many of the things you talk about, the average consumer has not really thought about.
• Exactly. We are educating our customers on these lines so that once we become conscious about our choices in terms of climate conservation and our planet, the whole thing starts from our brand. Once we are conscious of what we buy, I think 50% of the job is already done. If we do not buy things we don’t need, we have already done 50% of the part. It all happens because of wasteful purchases and throwing them in the dustbin and which then ends up in the landfills. I think that is a major contributor as a consumer if we are conscious of what we are buying.

• Q. Sustainability is clearly a big part of Vishisht. Why is it so important for you?
• Even before I started my brand, I used to be conscious of what I am buying and how much I am buying. You know how we go crazy when we have a fixed salary and when the salary comes we go all nuts and be like I’ll buy this and I’ll do online shopping. I used to be like that before but then slowly my thoughts changed because I saw a lot of videos about it. I remember seeing this picture on the internet where they were trying to remove a plastic straw from a turtle’s nose, which was very moving. We humans keep throwing our waste into landfills and our oceans, and the sea life and the animals on land are just dying. I also watched a video of a cow which ended up eating the garbage which had a glass piece in it that almost cut the inside of her stomach. These animals do not know how to talk, they cannot express themselves and they are dependent on us and this is what we are feeding them, right? That is when I decided that as a human being and a citizen, I’ll try my best at my level to protect and conserve our environment and planet. Of course, one person cannot change the entire world but if we start from ourselves and educate 4-5 other people, we can lead by example and gradually more and more people will become conscious.

• Q. Is there anything you wish to add?
• I am really hoping that a lot people read this article that you will be publishing on your platform. All we wish for people is that they can make a small change in their lifestyle and become more environment conscious. I hope this article is an eye-opener for people who read it and they start taking our environment more seriously.