“I always felt the beauty world was intimidating. Like I didn’t belong,” Priyanka Ganjoo, founder of Kulfi Beauty, tells Vogue over Zoom. “So, I knew I wanted my brand to be celebratory and fun.” Ganjoo, 34, achieved her goal with a playful new beauty brand, Kulfi, launching today. Starting with a range of moisturizing aloe-vera and safflower seed oil-infused eyeliners and an inspiring content platform, the brand is meant to celebrate South Asian and diverse beauty.
Ganjoo, who previously worked in consumer strategy at the Boston Consulting Group, decided to start her company with a set of eyeliners—also known as kajal—in five shades, ranging from an earthy terracotta to a bright purple. “If you look up the cultural factors of kajal, it’ll say it works to ward off the evil eye,” she says. “But we think kajal can be used for more than that—a way to express ourselves and express our beauty.” The names of the liners are meant to evoke self-confidence, from Rain Check (“That mood when you’re like, ‘I’m too busy for you right now—I’m doing a Vogue interview,’” Ganjoo says with a laugh) to Nazar No More, which implies that a nazar—an amulet known to protect against the evil eye—is no longer needed, given each person’s ability to “define beauty through their own gaze.”
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