Secret Skin seeks to “meaningfully” disrupt the beauty landscape


September 29, 2020 | By Rupkatha B

Anisha Oberoi, Founder, Secret Skin

Soon to be launched beauty tech start-up, Secret Skin seeks to “meaningfully” disrupt the beauty landscape with a clean, holistic, sustainable and digitally-enabled brand developed on the premise of conscious consumption.

“An epiphany, a series of coincidences and a deep urge to promote mindful living” led to the birth of Secret Skin that is all set to launch in the UAE within a week. Secret Skin is a digital business built on a framework of social and environmental change. The brand is on a mission to support small businesses from around the world in the sustainable beauty space.

As consumers are becoming more aware of the impact of cosmetic ingredients on their skin and overall wellbeing, the demand for and supply of clean beauty brands and products are gradually increasing.

Amid a lot of uncertainty globally, Secret Skin founder, Anisha Oberoi – a cancer survivor – had a profoundly deep urge to do something meaningful and positive. This led to the conceptualisation of Secret Skin, built on a three-pronged commitment to people, planet and purpose.

On the outside, Secret Skin is an impact-driven beauty tech start-up and on the inside, it has a unique sensibility. “We are at an important juncture when a lot of conversations are happening around colour, gender, culture, diversity, inclusivity and Secret Skin is all about acceptance, self-love and a strong sense of purpose. Our goal is to build a gender-neutral, inclusive community of beauty lovers that will influence a collective change to benefit our ecosystem. Secret Skin is a tech-enabled, discovery platform that aims to connect global, conscious brands to mindful consumers who want to give back to the community,” Oberoi explains.

Also read: UAE start-up survives the ‘great lockdown’

Secret Skin will launch with over 1,200 products spanning across various categories from eight brands. These brands include the UAE-based KJ Serums; Amly Botanicals and Mauli Rituals from the UK; Purearth from India; Australian Grown Alchemist; Lola Lee from South Africa; and Ranavat and a limited unscented range of Art of Shaving from the US. The brand curation has been done keeping in mind a high standard of product integrity. All the brands are cruelty-free, gender-neutral and use ethically sourced ingredients, often following fair trade practices. On its part, Secret Skin has a strong sustainability commitment across the flywheel of sourcing, packaging and shipping.

“The global beauty industry is currently valued at $500 billion, and the projected sales of clean beauty are $22 billion,” Oberoi points out. “More and more consumers are moving towards clean beauty brands, as they realise the benefits of using these products on their skin. In addition, they are also keen to support communities that grow and wild harvest the ingredients that are used to create clean beauty products and the small businesses behind the clean beauty brands.”

“At Secret Skin, our consumers will be able to easily shop form such clean and conscious beauty brands. We will also give them an opportunity to become part of the plastic circular economy. Through our ‘Eco-Rewards’ programme, we strive to curb single-use plastic consumption to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet. The approach has to be holistic and that’s what Secret Skin stands for,” she adds.

As Secret Skin seeks to “meaningfully” disrupt the beauty landscape, going forward, the brand will launch a new-age mobile app before the end of this year. “While we plan to eventually set up an experiential space too where our customers can participate in holistic skincare rituals, conduct skincare workshops and AR/VR driven product testing, for now, we will concentrate on creating a great shopping journey online,” says Oberoi.

“We will also build on our existing product lines and partner with more clean beauty brands from around the world. We are keen to collaborate with like-minded start-ups; in fact, we might partner with an innovative femtech start-up to drive awareness around women’s health. Once Secret Skin launches, we will start a Seed round to strengthen presence in the UAE, while shipping to India. We will then think of expanding to the neighbouring GCC countries. If we are able to create good traction, we should be able to raise a decent Series A funding within 12 months to boost our future goals,” she continues.

Launching a business in the midst of a pandemic must not be easy. For Oberoi, an ex-Amazon executive, goalposts did shift and she had to quickly pivot to be agile. “Since we are a very young start-up, we have the mindset to keep learning, fail fast and scale even faster. We are ready to change gears if something doesn’t pan out as planned. For me, every day is like day one, which helps to challenge the status quo and to innovate constantly with a razor-sharp focus on the end game,” she concludes.

 

For all the latest retail news from the Middle East, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page.

Previous Article Next Article

SHARE

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE /


Rajiv Warrier, Chief Executive Officer, Choithrams

Since the launch of its first store in the UAE five decades 

Continue Reading

March 20, 2024 | By RetailME Bureau
Dr. Dhananjay Datar Chairman & Managing Director ADIL Trading Co. LLC

Dr. Dhananjay Datar Chairman & Managing Director ADIL Trading Co. LLC holds 

Continue Reading

February 29, 2024 | By Rupkatha B
Hani Weiss, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Retail

In 1995 regional retail conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim introduced Carrefour to the 

Continue Reading

February 26, 2024 | By RetailME Bureau
Prashant Parameswaran, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consumer Soulfull

Tata Soulfull, a leading name in the ‘good-for-you’ snacks and breakfast cereals 

Continue Reading

February 22, 2024 | By Rupkatha B
Jean-Luc Graziato, Chief Commercial Officer of Majid Al Futtaim – Retail and Alia Al Harmoodi, Acting CEO of the Environment, Health and Safety Agency

Majid Al Futtaim – Retail, which holds the exclusive franchise to operate 

Continue Reading

February 20, 2024 | By RetailME Bureau
Krishna Dhanak, Managing Director, Alpen Capital

In an exclusive interview Krishna Dhanak, Managing Director, Alpen Capital shared insights 

Continue Reading

February 19, 2024 | By Rupkatha B
Majed M. Al-Tahan, Co-founder & Managing Director, Danube Online

As digital transformation across the retail industry continues to accelerate, the expectations 

Continue Reading

December 19, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau
Frederic Levy-Perrault, CEO, Al Raya Supermarket

Saudi Arabia-based grocery retail chain Al Raya Supermarket serves over 100,000 customers 

Continue Reading

December 15, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau
Ahmad AR. BinDawood, Chief Executive Officer, BinDawood Holding

BinDawood Holding has a rich Saudi heritage, spanning over 50 years, 38 

Continue Reading

December 13, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau
Majid Al Futtaim Retail commits to Collaborative Impact Goals at COP28

Majid Al Futtaim Retail, which owns the exclusive rights to operate Carrefour 

Continue Reading

December 8, 2023 | By Rupkatha B
BinDawood Holding Company earns Honorary Shield for Compliance Excellence

BinDawood Holding Company has earned an Honorary Shield, a distinguished recognition by 

Continue Reading

December 6, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau
First Movers Coalition for Food to create up to $20-bn value chain for sustainable farming

The World Economic Forum, with support from the Government of the United 

Continue Reading

December 5, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau




Download Images RetailME Magazine