Homegrown lipsticks

Poonam Bindra

Cottage industry is at its best when run by an enterprising female mind. If Southern India can boast of entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biotique fame, we in Ludhiana have ‘the lipstick lady’–Vijay Dhingra whose brainchild ‘Beauty Ka’ has grown from a mere sapling in the year 1990 to a full-grown tree today. It has spread its branches not only in Punjab but also in HP, UP, Haryana and Jammu. 

Wanting to give her gender beauty enhancements with herbal goodness, Vijay got herself trained rigorously in Mumbai for four years before initiating her venture in 1990. 

She kept her friends as role models and experimented on them to do the research for her Beauty Ka Herbal Cosmetics. Today, the range varies from lipsticks to herbal henna and umpteen shades in nail polish.  “For me the prime pursuit was to see that there should be no harmful effects of Beauty Ka products. rather they should be nourishing and beneficial” tells Vijay who is a popular figure  at ladies clubs functions and also gives  lectures and demonstrations  in cosmetology at women colleges. 

“Give me a well-equipped kitchen and I will give you a lipstick, pronto,” states the enterprising lady. Always a forerunner in cosmetic-related ideas, our entrepreneur has launched a new range by the name ‘Your Choice’, which has a set of a lightener, a darkener and a brightener that will help the users to blend and create their own shades in lipsticks to match moods and dress too. The latest in the kitty of Beauty Ka are the non-transferable long-lasting lipsticks and nail polishes. “We have a complete R&D department that studies the latest trend and accordingly formulas are made after much experimenting.”