HYDERABAD: The face is the moneymaker and so, it rightfully deserves all the attention we give it, sometimes a little too much attention. We pamper our skin with a long list of products, a series of trials and errors and most often end up disappointed with the results, or lack of it. Keeping this in mind, city-based duo Vaishnavi and Arthi have come up with a one stop solution for all skin problems — their Instagram handle, @unsweetened.beauty.
After completing their higher studies abroad, they returned to Hyderabad and realised that the skincare products that they have been using here were not delivering on their promise.Arthi, who had moved to California, and Vaishnavi, to London, met each other through mutual friends. They soon realised that they have been facing the same issues and that led to the birth of their blog.
Arthi, when she returned to India about two years ago, never imagined that she would lean towards skincare. “In 2020, I met Vaishnavi and that was when we started talking about skincare and our experiences. This is how our Instagram page took shape,” says the tech expert. On the other hand, Vaishnavi worked with a start-up in London which focused on consumer brands and goods. After returning to India, she took up a job at ISB, which was still a part of the startup ecosystem. “The products that I used to buy here were not effective and so I had to ask someone to get me my stock from abroad. That is how I met Arthi and we ended up speaking about skin a lot.”
The two friends wanted to share their knowledge with people, for which they started @unsweetened.beauty with a skin guide and product reviews. “We wanted to tell people if a certain product works or not. And, this was picking up in India. Here, people prefer natural products like coconut oil, turmeric and so on. We wanted to tell them that just because a product has chemicals it is not harmful. We wanted to speak about the ingredients in detail. Another aim was to debunk all the skincare myths. So, we connected with skincare experts,” says Vaishnavi.
She and Arthi would soon be starting a skin school soon. “We got this idea after speaking to a number of followers. We found out that there is a lot of information about skincare, but it is not structured. There’s no way of knowing if the information is credible or not. That’s why we want to begin with the basics,” says Vaishnavi. For this, they will rope in dermatologists, skincare experts, cosmetologists and chemists from across the country.
“What doctors say can seem a bit technical and boring. So, we will include an industry expert -- like a makeup artist, a dancer or a nutritionist. We will also be starting a skincare dictionary and a myth page,” they say. While the two lovelies have big plans in store, check out their Instagram page for the launch of their skin school which is likely by mid-July.