Mira Kapoor’s Akind isn’t another celebrity beauty brand—it’s an endeavour from one consumer for another

Mira Kapoor bottles her beauty ideologies in the form of enduring solutions to streamline skincare routines

Anyone casually scrolling through Instagram would perhaps notice how important beauty and wellness is to Mira Kapoor. From her proclivity for slow mornings to her go-to beauty hacks, her bite-sized product reviews and minimal make-up breakdowns and even podcasts with key opinion leaders from the industry, Kapoor has nailed the less-is-more approach, tactfully, on her social media platforms over the years. Based on her online presence, it is easy to imagine Kapoor conversing about beauty and wellness for hours. When The Established met Kapoor, we can attest that this really is the case. Now, she takes a step further, by not only talking about her favourite products but by venturing into the business of beauty with her entrepreneurial debut, Akind—a skincare line she has founded in collaboration with Reliance Retail’s beauty platform Tira.

Kapoor’s transition from playing a beauty expert online to setting off as a founder of a skincare line seems rather natural—a feeling very thin on the ground in the case of celebrities of late. In a chat with The Established, Kapoor struggled to draw a distinctive line between beauty and wellness, for she believes that they’re “two sides of the same coin”. It is this ideology that ultimately led to the inception of Akind. 

Kapoor conceptualised the brand with a limitless ardour for a healthy skin barrier and a pressing need for all-encompassing solutions that are simple yet effective. That Akind’s packaging features ‘All Skin Types’ and ‘Listen to your skin’ for all of the nine products from the introductory collection as a standard, aligns with her commitment towards the origin of the brand.

Where it all began

Kapoor began flirting with the idea of skincare in her teenage years. Watching  her mother get monthly facials is her earliest memory of encountering the world of beauty. “Her beautician would give me rosewater patches, which would make me feel that I was also getting [a beauty treatment] done,” shares Kapoor. Perhaps, that feel-good factor is also what influenced her wellness-centric definition of beauty. “One of the rituals my mom followed was applying raw milk on her face, and I’m carrying this forward with myself and my kids too,” she furthers. Observing her mother and emulating her minimalistic approach to beauty has shaped her perception of it, she shares. “Today, the way I see beauty is to embrace your natural self, looking after yourself, but looking your best self.”

As Kapoor gave us an express tour of her journey from rosewater patches to Akind, the natural question arose: why is wellness always intertwined with beauty in her world?  “Health, wellness, and beauty are all very central to my self-care routine. Whether it is going to the gym, looking after your skin or eating right, are factors that equally impact how I feel about myself. A holistic approach—covering inside-out health as well as focusing on preserving all the work you’ve put [into taking care of yourself] —supports overall well-being.” 

Wellness may have turned into a buzzword today, but for Kapoor it has always been a way of life. “While beauty and wellness are intertwined because your skin reflects the state of your health—I’ve always seen my mom eat mindfully, and the results show up on her skin—taking care of your skin gently and consistently is key,” she explains. Kapoor never takes her skin for granted; addressing its needs and concerns  remains her top mantra to achieve radiant, healthy skin. “Of course, the concerns and the kind of products I use have changed, but my relationship with beauty and wellness…not so much.” 

Why should you care about Akind?

With nine products spanning categories such as cleanser, toner, serum, moisturiser, and sunscreen, Akind’s range is divided into three categories —Build, Balance, and Defend. The brand’s products are centred on the premise of barrier fortification, utilising science-backed ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid, ceramides, probiotics, peptides, and mandelic acid. While Akind is certainly not the first brand to take this route, its approach is what sets it apart. “As a skincare-obsessed girl, I’ve consciously worked on figuring out my beauty philosophy and skin language over the years.” Despite having access to top-tier skincare, Kapoor sensed a gap. “I’ve used so many products in the past 8-9 years; however, when people would ask me for recommendations, I wouldn’t feel confident taking names, for nothing seemed to be a right fit for me, personally.”

Drowning out the noise and jumping off the bandwagon of trends and viral ingredients,  Kapoor focused on developing no-frills products that adapt to various climates, phases of one’s menstrual cycle, and the evolving needs of the skin over time. For Kapoor, the biggest vantage point for the brand was the fact that she created it from a place of void, one that she sensed while trying to identify the best-suited skincare products for herself. Akind draws inspiration from her beauty ideologies—a combination of a less-is-more approach with attentiveness to one’s skin.

Kapoor is trend-agnostic; the fast-paced peak and downfall of the latest ‘it’ thing don’t particularly impress her. When asked about the new beauty practices she has embraced and if she’s ditched something she swore by in the past, she says, “My beauty philosophy has been, is, and will be minimalism.” However, “applying, and reapplying, sunscreen is a habit I’ve embraced with open arms ever since we developed No Shade Sunscreen Primer.” And, the biggest beauty sin, according to her? “Doing too much and trying everything that's trending.” As far as wellness is concerned, “wrapping my dinner before the sunset is amongst the many things that have proved to be beneficial.”

Despite the widespread scepticism towards celebrity-owned brands, Kapoor remains unfazed. She identifies herself as “a consumer before an entrepreneur”, presenting Akind as a brand “from an everyday girl, with everyday concerns, for everyone.” Kapoor also grapples with the fluctuating moods of her own skin—sometimes angry, sometimes well-behaved. “I realised that an individualistic approach is the only way to cater to the moods of your skin,” she explains, encapsulating the ethos of Akind: “You’re one of a kind, and your skin is one of a kind.”

Befriending Akind is pretty straightforward. The brand boasts an earnestly competitive price point, a well-curated range of products that allow customers to build a complete routine, and an omnipresence, thanks to Tira, that not only acts as a vehicle to penetrate Akind deeper into the market via its physical and online retail stores, but has also worked in tandem with Kapoor on various facets of bringing the brand to life—from research and development to formulations and trial runs. “Through my partnership with Tira, we have co-created this brand together and aim to take it to as many people as possible—this has been a very humbling experience for me,” shares Kapoor. “Skin barrier is the foundation of your skin’s health, and addressing the skin barrier as the nucleus of this brand has only enabled us to tap a wider audience.” 

Why is now the best time to be in the business of beauty?

The Indian beauty industry is witnessing a kind of ascendancy it never did before. With a market size of US$31.51 billion as of today, the Indian beauty market is projected to grow annually at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.6 per cent. As a domino effect, a never-seen-before wave of homegrown beauty brands emerged in the past decade, making them a noteworthy shareholder of the [Indian beauty] market. All of this has, unequivocally, transpired in response to the consumers’ evolving needs and purchasing patterns.

“People are recognising that taking care of themselves, their skin, is also a priority,” says Kapoor. “Self-care has become an integral part of our lives. I think people realise that feeling good about oneself makes them a better person at work, among their peers, and so on.” According to a 2020 survey, Indians spent 50.4 per cent, or 726 minutes, of their time on self-care and maintenance on a daily basis. “Furthermore, the standardisation of colour, concern, and preference is slowly disappearing, with people scouting for unique, tailor-made solutions,” says Kapoor, and that’s where Akind comes into play. There is a lot out there; for consumers, it’s the best time as “everyone is doing their best to give you their best,” she shares.

In the works for a year now, Akind hopes to add to beauty routines of its users the only thing that Kapoor thinks it misses—coherence. Whether you construct an entire system comprising Akind’s products, or simply slide in one in your existing routine, the goal is to do away with the stress, confusion, and ambiguity from your skincare regime.

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