Rising Star: How FAE Beauty’s Karishma Kewalramani turned inclusivity into long-term edge

For years, inclusivity in the Indian beauty industry functioned as  an afterthought. A handful of foundation shades, limited concealers, and interchangeable lip colours became the norm in a market that claimed to be defined by diversity. While the category expanded rapidly in the late 2010s, many brands continued to rely on established formulas that prioritised speed and scale. 

FAE Beauty launched in 2019 within this landscape. Founded by Karishma Kewalramani, the homegrown beauty brand entered the market with a clear proposition: products designed for Indian consumers, priced accessibly, and developed with representation embedded into formulation, imagery, and communication. Its product range centres on hybrid formats and an expanded shade offering.

After appearing on Shark Tank India and securing ₹1 crore from investors Aman Gupta of boAt and Namita Thapar of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, FAE Beauty raised ₹17 crores in a funding round led by Spring Marketing Capital, with participation from Titan Capital Winners Fund, Arihant Patni, and other angel investors. Six years in, the brand is focused on scaling from India while meeting global benchmarks of quality and performance.

In conversation with The Established, Kewalramani outlines the decisions and trade-offs shaping FAE Beauty’s next phase.

Did this feel like a genuine market gap or simply a moment when beauty became a viable business opportunity in India ?

White space, for sure. Every time I would go to a mall shopping with my mom, I could literally get into any Shopper’s Stop kiosk and find make-up products for myself, being on the lighter spectrum of skin tones, but my mom had a limited few options from brands like Bobbi Brown and M.A.C Cosmetics that sold her shades. That was one aspect, and the other was that beauty in India wasn’t “cool” either. During my time in the US, I remember going into Sephora and feeling like a child in a candy shop. Back in India, I would settle for ugly packaging and buy lipstick because I needed a lipstick. Something fresh, cool, and made in India was missing. That was my white space, and I saw merit since the awareness and curiosity among consumers were also growing at the time. 

Why was lipstick the right entry point, and what did that choice reveal about gaps in the category at the time? 

Lipstick was a no-brainer because it’s the most flirtatious product in the beauty sector. It’s an impulse purchase for most consumers. In terms of a gap, I felt that a lipstick that provides a wash of colour that was sheer but velvety matte—not creamy or glossy like most weightless lipsticks too sticky for the Bombay weather—was missing in the market. I was very inspired by New York-based beauty brand, Glossier; our debut product, the Sheer Buildable Matte Lipsticks, came from my love for the brand’s Sheer Matte Lipstick. At the time, I was leading with two approaches: first was innovation, and second was gut instinct, which, in hindsight, was wrong. Today, [it is important to] launch products based on data. It is key to build the brand for consumers, and not end up making something just for yourself.

Which established practices in the beauty industry did you consciously decide to move away from while building FAE Beauty? 

The rampant prevalence of Photoshop in the beauty industry, undoubtedly. I was so fed up with seeing actresses in beauty campaigns appear lighter and brighter than they were. I even happened to encounter an actress from a beauty campaign for a range of foundations that dropped in 2019, and was taken aback by how whitewashed she was made to appear in the advertisement. That Photoshopped beauty advertisements made people look unrecognisable was frustrating. Secondly, product innovation; in India, replicating products made the beauty industry complacent. I wanted to change what it meant to build beauty in India. When I started out, very few people were going through the process of research and development—most were going to contract manufacturers, either in India or China, and buying ready-made frameworks. 

When I went to manufacturers in the initial stages, they would turn back and say: “Have you lost your mind?”, “Do you know how much this would cost?”, “You know how many MOQs you’ll have to buy?”. That commitment to innovation was something I wanted to change.

What gaps still existed, and how did those influence everyday product and campaign decisions at FAE Beauty? 

The most apparent gap that existed was the ‘cool quotient’, right? There was nothing ‘sexy’ about beauty in India around 2018—it was just a means to an end. Every decision that we make is driven by this diversity—from shade range to casting faces for campaigns, even the communication. We’re not restricted by gender, colour, skin tone or type. Even though we understand that 95 per cent of our audience is women, our Instagram language isn’t speaking to a specific gender.

Did FAE Beauty's no-Photoshop, no-filter approach ever limit scale?

In the beginning, it was significantly limiting. We would get harsh comments on certain Instagram posts, pointing out things like acne on the model’s skin, for example. In retrospect, I think, perhaps, India was not ready for that. Today, we’re seeing a 180-degree shift—from a restraint to a moat leader. Negative comments are an anomaly now. When I meet new customers at events, they always say, “I follow your brand because it feels real,” which has now become one of our defining USPs.

When the norms are challenged for the first time, visceral reactions are bound to happen. At FAE, the aim is to provoke a reaction with our content, our communication—be it good or bad. Over time, with that consistency and clarity in mind, I think people began to associate FAE with a brand that truly cares about “raw” and “real” beauty—and not just checking boxes. Today, people land on FAE’s page expecting inclusion. Plus this generation’s outlook towards how a brand’s imagery should look and feel is also changing. 

How does consumer feedback influence product development and repeat purchase today? 

Community drives every product decision today. If you have seen us on Instagram, there are five layers of consumer feedback running through at any given moment—comments on posts, reactions on stories. We have broadcast channels on WhatsApp and Instagram, buzzing with questions from our community. For example, at the time of sale, we ask what merchandise would customers like to receive, and take steps accordingly. For the most recent skin tint launch, the project was driven by a constant exchange of community feedback. I was building the product in a very different way earlier—it was originally a matte formula, but our community shared they wanted a dewy one. Accordingly, we shifted our strategy: colours, shades, long wear claims—all driven by community. 

Whenever we launch a new product, we don’t need to spend money on advertisements beyond the product itself, because our community reacts almost immediately. 

As far as retention and repeat purchases are concerned, we see a lot of trickle down now, wherein community—or non-community—is choosing to shop at the fastest possible destination. So there has been a shift from D2C (direct-to-consumer), which is our own website, to Nykaa, and now quick commerce. Overall, however, our repeat rates increase by 20 per cent year-on-year. This seems like a healthy number in a category that is tough to penetrate and saturated at the same time.

What have been the brand’s most commercially defining moments so far? 

The first one has to be the launch of Lip Whip, our liquid lipstick. And the second has to be going live on Shark Tank—a very big defining moment. 

Moreover, we realised that we should sell looks, and not products. Our social media content reflects this; we showcase how to achieve looks as opposed to the ‘buy-our-lipstick’ narrative. This allows us to get into multiple layers of routines with our consumers, and not just tap a single product. Commercially, the most defining point for us was when we accepted that we’re not in the business of selling singles, but looks or routines.

What are the operational decisions that have most directly contributed to the brand’s growth?

This is a constant work in progress. Firstly, hiring the right people has translated into a growth boost. For a long time, we’ve been funded, but cash trapped. When we finally got the kind of funds required to hire the smartest people in the room, we saw multiple opportunities for growth cropping up. I think the team really is a make-or-break for a business to boom. Earlier, I would micromanage—down to phrasing an Instagram caption. When I started hiring leaders in other areas, I realised that those parts of the company can very much succeed; in fact, they do better without my leadership. 

What changed after Shark Tank India, and what didn’t? 

I think several people became emotionally attached to my journey. Many women saw themselves in what I went through. The journey has not been linear for me; I had my set of challenges, too, and being able to share them has been liberating and also tied into the brand’s inclusivity ethos. 

What didn’t change, according to me, is the brand’s exposure and penetration in Tier-2 and -3 areas of India. Despite airing on national television, we were stuck to being exposed in our bubble, which is Tier-1 cities. While the exposure is amazing, it wasn’t as deep as we expected. What also remained unchanged is the sort of trust that didn’t necessarily bring in an immediate, powerful investor community—the convincing part is still in the picture. 

How are you currently allocating capital across product, marketing and hiring? 

Our priority is cool product innovation. The endeavour is to bring cooler, efficient formulations with innovative packaging. We’re also proactively spending on increasing the top-of-the-funnel awareness for the brand. We want to move beyond targetting Gen Z in metropolitan cities and also reach younger consumers in remote cities. Once consumers try, I’m confident about our conversion rate. Lastly, we want to double down on hiring smarter people on the team.

What has quick commerce unlocked for the brand, and where does it still fall short? 

Speed is a win, for sure. I never thought that there would be a time when one would think, “I want lipstick” and get it in 10 minutes. It’s bizarre, in the best possible way. But where it falls short is in assortment. Stocking the entire line-up on quick commerce is not feasible.

How do you think about pricing, and why has accessibility remained important to the brand? 

I am actively trying to lower the prices further—because inclusivity also comes from accessibility. I used to hate the fact that some people couldn’t afford high-quality, high-performance make-up because it came at a certain price. It’s a heartbreaking experience to see a girl walk out of a beauty store because products are out of her budget—I wanted to change that. 

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to crack the drugstore pricing yet—think about ₹200. Our cost of goods sold limits us there. But, the aim is to build more economically accessible products. Another inhibiting factor is packaging, which is very expensive as it comes from international sources. But that’s also a point of differentiation for us, so we can’t completely overlook it. Additionally, we go an extra mile to ensure each of our make-up products also offers some skincare benefits—those ingredients also come at an added cost.  

How do you define success for FAE Beauty at this stage? 

Cultural influence is definitely important. When people walk in for interviews, I often ask them this question: What’s the one beauty brand in India that you admire the most? My goal is for FAE Beauty to be the answer whenever someone goes to another interview. We want to be the reason why a young Indian consumer feels excited about removing their lipstick from their handbag and applying it in public. That kind of cultural influence can take a brand a long way—and translate into both category leadership and durable sales.