How Masaba Gupta's LoveChild aims to focus on self-care

Masaba Gupta

That's my game face," says Masaba Gupta sitting across her desktop screen for a video interview with mid-day. She is talking about the joy-sparking ritual of applying lip colour before driving out into the world. "The process of slicking on a coat buys us some time to face the world; it is intimate but at the same time the most public experience."

Gupta's foray into fashion as a designer in 2014 was just the beginning. "I tend to get easily bored," the 32-year-old entrepreneur admits with a laugh. "And so, I'm always on the lookout for new challenges." Her ambitions have seen her poised to reinvent herself as an actor in web shows (Masaba Masaba and Modern Love Mumbai) and now as a force behind a new beauty, cosmetic and personal care brand called LoveChild.

Yesterday, she unveiled the vegan, paraben-free range with the tagline, ‘For the Queen in You' for her 1.6 million social media followers. The first drop of products includes a range of lipsticks, nailpaints, face mists, intimate wipes and anti-anxiety oils. "We are not just a brand offering a lipstick that comes in different shades and lasts 24 hours or one that's good for the environment. We also want people to understand that lifestyle changes are as important. The larger idea is to provide a holistic approach to nutrition, fitness and wellness - every facet of self-care - via our blog and podcasts. I can't wait; it's exciting," Gupta says.

Did we mention, the beauty campaign also features up-and-coming actor Zahan Kapoor and South Indian model Bharath?

The launch of a beauty brand comes eight months after Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) announced a strategic partnership with "gen-next focused" designer Masaba Gupta to build a presence in the beauty and personal care segment. This possibly makes her the youngest if not the first Indian designer to launch a standalone beauty brand but Gupta insists that it has not been without overcoming multiple roadblocks. "After being told a flat no all my life, LoveChild feels like a personal victory," she explains, recalling the first time she approached a big corporate to invest in her beauty line. It was 2015, when Kylie Jenner had launched her Lip Kits, and Gupta thought to herself: ‘Why can't India have its own beauty brand?' "I don't think corporate companies have faith in a designer to launch a beauty brand," she shares.

Disheartened but not defeated, Gupta decided to take on the responsibility of raising capital on her own in 2019. A few months into developing the product thankfully, the ABFRL group investment came along by way of entering into a "binding term sheet to acquire 51 per cent stake in the House of Masaba". She hopes to introduce a new product range over the period of next three years. "Year one will include everything, from lipsticks, eye kajal, fragrances to foundations and concealers followed by bath and body products and finally, delve deeper into wellness and skin products like serums."

But her first plan of action is to take LoveChild to the Caribbean (because of her father's origins). "It's my long-standing dream. That's what I want to do first, the rest of the world will have it after," reveals Gupta who also stars in the online campaign wearing an African headwrap.

‘Embracive cosmo-wellness'

"We've become somewhat inured to a certain ‘type' of beauty starring in a certain type of campaign. I was adamant that our campaign photographs didn't follow the usual trope of featuring six women with six different skin types and saying: ‘Hey, we are inclusive'. I also didn't want our cast of 11 models to wear products that didn't belong to our brand, which is typically the case when cosmetic companies shoot their campaigns. At every step we thought of how inclusivity looks like today, and for me, it's about celebrating your natural skin and the ease of picking a shade or texture of lipstick or nail paint by a mother and a daughter. I'd actually say that this idea of a target group has to be totally abolished from every designer brand in the country because the first question we are asked is: target group kya hai?

It's only love

"Last week when I commented on actor Ranveer Singh's naked picture on social media, I got trolled and called out for being a ‘motti', a ‘kalu' despite the fact that I have lost 10 kg and my skin has cleared up. People still see me for my looks, and for the fact that I am the daughter of an unwed actor-mother. I remember reading an article that celebrated me as the entrepreneur of the year where the opening line read: ‘Masaba Gupta, the love child of Vivian and Neena'. The fact that I am a designer wasn't mentioned for the first few paragraphs. No matter what I do or how successful I am, people will continue to view me as a ‘love child'. It's why I decided to call my brand Lovechild, because I am finally able to own it [the identity] now. ‘Hey man, it is what it is'."

Log on to: Lovechild.in, House of Masaba stores and select e-stores
Cost: Starts at Rs 600 for bullet lipsticks; Rs 900 for liquid lipsticks, nailpaints at Rs 225; face mists at Rs 450; intimate wipes at Rs 100 and lavender anti-anxiety oil at Rs 550