Parents all over the world discourage their children from trying on cosmetics at a young age. Their main concern is usually that chemicals in the cosmetics would harm the soft young skin that children have. A young college student herself – Manpreet Kaur, wants to create change.
The owner of an online store selling vegan cosmetics in India, Manpreet wants people of all ages to enjoy chemical-free, healthy skincare and cosmetics products. The best part? Her products do not just have a cosmetic benefit but are good for the skin AND for the environment!
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About June Cosmetics – A vegan cosmetics store in India
Her store – June Cosmetics – has been operational for more than a year now. For Manpreet, her biggest achievement has been that her customers also end up becoming her friends. Her products range from lip balms, lip scrubs, body scrubs, soaps, and cheek tints (a crowd favourite).
All the raw materials for the products are sourced from different places in India. They are strictly animal cruelty-free, organically produced and chemical-free! Her online store as well as her products all have a similar aesthetic of being ‘cute’ to look at, shimmery, sparkly, feel-good vibes, all pink and pastel and sometimes accompanied with cute stickers, labels, handwritten notes.
“My online store is me. It shows how I feel and what I like. I like shimmery sparkly things, and I know my regular customers, not just children, are attracted to that aesthetic too.”
Manpreet handmakes each product during weekends and ships them off on Mondays and Tuesdays. Her best friend Bhavika Motwani has also joined Manreet recently to help Manpreet expand her small handmade online store.
Is it difficult building a vegan cosmetic brand?
“Absolutely not,” says Manpreet, passionate about the motives of her small business. Despite researching for weeks before starting her online journey, the main issues she faced were –
- Initial resistance from her parents (They are now extremely proud parents!)
- Ensuring her starting capital is sufficient
- Legal hassles of procuring raw materials from China after the ban by the Indian government (She now only procures raw materials from India.)
- Inventory management (Related read: Top inventory management tools for small businesses)
- Balancing her education, taking care of her pets, and keeping track of her orders and shipment
“It might be slightly more expensive, but it is very small in comparison to the benefits that vegan and eco-friendly products can have. I am vegan, so I am speaking from experience about its long term advantages. I am also happy to tell my customers who ask me about it.”
Manpreet has been challenging the perception that vegan cosmetics in India are much harder to make and sell. Raw materials, for example – cocoa wax instead of beeswax for her lipglosses, might be slightly more expensive. But Manpreet is more than happy to bear the cost because –
- More people now ask her and WANT to be educated about veganism and animal cruelty-free products
- The products are safer to use on the skin, and for children who like experimenting with their parents’ cosmetics
- It fits into the larger goal of giving back to the environment and not harming it in the longer run
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What are her plans for 2022?
June cosmetics is based on the promise of sustainability. That means Manpreet is aiming for each step of the production process to be sustainable.
Infact, she recently introduced glass bottles instead of plastic bottles. And she encourages her repeat customers to send her the bottles back for refills at lower prices instead of ordering for new jars.
The one part of the process that is still lacking- is the packaging materials used. Changing this is Manpreet’s main goal for 2022.
As the owner of a vegan cosmetic store in India, Manpreet knows marketing her store is as important as having good quality products. She still sometimes struggles to give regular engaging updates on her social media but Manpreet has promised herself that she will focus more on using social commerce to scale her business next year.
View this post on Instagram
“Bhavika and I decided to bring our focus away from expanding our product types to marketing the existing ones better in 2022” – Manpreet
How did Instamojo help June Cosmetics grow?
June Cosmetics started out on Instagram but the popularity of the products helped it grow. Manpreet soon found it very difficult to keep track of all the messages flooding her DMs. Responding to each text with the product price, keeping track of all shipments and new orders were becoming quite demanding.
This is where Instamojo helped Manpreet set up a website along with additional integrated features like shipping and payments.
“Thank god for Instamojo, It definitely made my life easier!”
Instamojo for your own online cosmetic stores
If you have a passion project like Manpreet and do not know where to start – Instamojo is the place to be. With Instamojo, you can create an online store within a few minutes without any prior technical knowledge.
If you are worried about handling too many things, Instamojo helps you streamline your process and helps you be financially independent!
