Most founders will tell you they identified a gap in the market. Divya Malpani Maheshwari identified a feeling, and decided to build the antidote to it. That feeling was the particular quiet despair of being a young person with acne, reaching for products that worked but punished you while doing it. Cold packaging. Medicinal textures. The constant reminder, with every application, that something about your skin needed fixing. Skinvest, the brand she began building in 2020 while finishing her undergraduate degree in Boston, was conceived as a direct rebuttal to that experience. Clinically effective, yes. But also joyful, sensorial, honest, and built from the ground up for Indian skin tones, Indian weather, Indian lifestyles, and the Indian consumer who had spent far too long being asked to compromise. In the years since, Skinvest has won the Beauty and You awards hosted by Estee Lauder and Nykaa, built a devoted community of what Divya calls skintellectuals, and established itself as one of the most compelling young beauty brands in the country. We spoke to her about how she got here and what she is building next.

Skinvest sits at the intersection of clinical efficacy and genuine joy. Most brands choose one lane. You insisted on both from day one. Why was that non-negotiable?

For me, that was deeply personal. Growing up with acne, I remember using products that may have been clinically effective, but they felt cold, intimidating, and honestly a little depressing. The packaging looked medicinal, the textures felt harsh, and the overall experience constantly reminded you that something was wrong with your skin.

I never understood why skincare had to feel like punishment in order to work. Especially for young consumers, consistency comes from enjoyment. If a product pills, smells unpleasant, feels sticky in humidity, or does not sit well under makeup, people simply will not use it long term, no matter how effective the ingredients are.

So from day one, Skinvest was built on the belief that efficacy and experience should coexist. We spent years refining textures, sensorials, fragrances, absorption, and finish without compromising on performance. And honestly, pulling that off is one of the hardest things in formulation because the more elegant you make a product feel, the more technically challenging it becomes to maintain stability and efficacy. But that challenge became our entire identity.

You started building Skinvest in 2020 while still completing your undergraduate degree in Boston. No full-time income, no industry connections, no home base. What was the internal conversation that made you say yes to starting anyway?

I think there was definitely a level of naivete involved, but in hindsight, that helped me more than it hurt me. If I had fully understood how difficult building a skincare brand from scratch would be, especially as a young founder without industry connections, I may have overthought it.

What pushed me to start was the gap I kept seeing between global skincare and the actual needs of Indian consumers. Back then, most products were not designed for Indian skin tones, Indian weather, or Indian lifestyles, and yet consumers had normalised compromise. People accepted white cast, greasiness, irritation, or formulations that simply did not work well in heat and humidity because there were not many alternatives.

I did not start Skinvest because I thought I had everything figured out. I started because I could not stop thinking about the problem. And once I realised how underserved the market really was, not building it started feeling riskier than trying.

The NoFilter philosophy is central to Skinvest, no miracle claims, no exaggerated narratives, just honest science and achievable results. In an industry built on aspiration and often on illusion, how do you hold that line without losing the magic?

I think the magic today comes from trust. Consumers, especially younger consumers, are incredibly informed. They can tell when brands are overpromising or using fear and insecurity to sell products.

At Skinvest, we never wanted to position skincare as something that fixes you. Our philosophy has always been about supporting skin health realistically and transparently. Skin has texture. Results take time. No ingredient can transform your skin overnight, and we have been very intentional about communicating that honestly.

But honesty does not have to feel clinical or boring. We still create beautiful experiences, exciting campaigns, and products people emotionally connect with. The difference is that the storytelling is rooted in education and achievable outcomes instead of unrealistic perfection. I think consumers appreciate being spoken to with honesty rather than being sold a fantasy.

Skinvest was built specifically for young Indian skin, formulated for our tones, our weather, our pollution levels, our lifestyle. That sounds obvious in hindsight, but it was not being done. Why do you think the industry kept looking away from something so fundamental?

For a long time, the Indian beauty industry largely borrowed global benchmarks instead of building from Indian realities. Products that performed well in colder, drier climates were being brought into one of the most humid, diverse, and environmentally demanding markets in the world without enough adaptation.

Indian consumers were expected to adjust to the product instead of the industry adjusting to the consumer. Whether it was white cast on deeper skin tones, heavy textures in humidity, or formulations that did not layer well in our climate, compromise had become normalised.

What was missing was local empathy in product development. Indian consumers are incredibly aware, aspirational, and informed, but for years they were not being centred in formulation conversations. Skinvest was built to change that by creating products from an Indian-first lens instead of retrofitting global ideas for the Indian market.

You have spoken about growing up with acne and using ointments that made you feel like something was wrong with you. How much of Skinvest is a response to that feeling, and how consciously did you design it to feel different?

Honestly, a huge part of Skinvest is a response to that feeling. Growing up with acne, I remember feeling like skincare was always associated with correction or concealment. The products I used felt medicinal in every sense, from the smell and texture to the packaging itself. They constantly reminded you that you had a problem to solve.

I wanted Skinvest to emotionally feel different from that experience. We were very intentional about creating products that felt joyful, comforting, and exciting to use while still being clinically effective. Bright packaging, sensorial textures, playful names, lightweight formulations, all of it was designed to make skincare feel empowering rather than punishing.

Because when you struggle with your skin, confidence is affected long before the skin itself improves. I never wanted our consumers to feel less than while waiting for results.

Skinvest does not believe in gendered skincare. That is a quiet but radical stance in a category that has historically been almost entirely women-facing. How has that played out with consumers, with buyers, with the industry?

From the beginning, I never understood why skincare needed to be gendered. Skin concerns are human concerns. Acne, dehydration, pigmentation, barrier damage, these things are not exclusive to one gender, so the products addressing them should not be either.

What is interesting is that consumers, especially younger consumers, have responded very naturally to that philosophy. We see people across genders using the same products within families, couples sharing routines, and men becoming increasingly ingredient-aware and skincare-conscious without wanting products marketed through outdated stereotypes.

I think the industry is slowly moving in that direction too, but there is still a tendency to create unnecessary binaries. At Skinvest, we wanted the focus to stay on skin health, education, and efficacy rather than attaching skincare to gender identities.

You won the Beauty and You awards hosted by Estee Lauder and Nykaa within months of launching. Recognition that early can be validating, but it can also create pressure. How did you manage the expectations that came with it?

Winning the Beauty and You award so early was incredibly validating because it signalled that the industry saw potential in what we were trying to build. As a young founder starting from scratch, that kind of recognition gives you confidence that your instincts are worth trusting.

But at the same time, it definitely brought pressure. Suddenly there are expectations around growth, innovation, launches, and constantly proving that you deserve the recognition. I had to consciously remind myself not to let external validation rush our pace or decision-making.

At Skinvest, we have always believed in building long-term consumer trust over short-term hype. So even after the award, our focus remained the same: listening obsessively to customer feedback, improving formulations, fixing packaging issues when needed, and staying committed to product quality over speed.

The word skintellectual captures your audience perfectly, curious, informed, a little obsessive about ingredients. How do you keep building for someone who is always learning and always raising their bar?

I actually love building for that consumer because they push the industry to do better. Today’s skincare audience is incredibly informed. They read ingredient lists, understand formulations, question claims, and actively educate themselves. That level of curiosity keeps brands accountable.

For us, that means we can never rely purely on marketing language. Every formulation decision, every percentage, every claim has to stand up to scrutiny because our consumers genuinely care about the science behind what they are using.

At the same time, we also try to make skincare feel less intimidating. Being a skintellectual should not require a chemistry degree. So a big part of our role is translating complex science into something accessible, enjoyable, and practical for everyday life.

You have described Skinvest’s mission as making every Indian youth feel confident in their skin. That is not just about clear skin. It is about self-acceptance. How do you carry that responsibility in the day-to-day reality of running a brand?

I think about that responsibility constantly because skincare is never just skincare. Skin affects confidence, self-image, social comfort, and even the way people show up in everyday life. Especially for young people, difficult relationships with skin can become deeply emotional very quickly.

That is why we try to approach Skinvest with empathy first. We never want to create fear-based messaging or make consumers feel like they need perfect skin to be worthy or confident. Our goal is to support healthier skin while also normalising texture, imperfections, and realistic expectations.

In the day-to-day reality of running a brand, that means listening very closely to our community, being honest in our communication, and remembering that behind every order is a real person trusting us with something deeply personal.

What is the next launch from Skinvest, and what problem is it finally solving?

Our next launch is a lip care range, and it is a category we spent a long time researching because we realised how normalised compromise has become there as well. Most lip balms either feel overly waxy and temporary, sit heavily on the lips, or rely purely on aesthetic appeal without genuinely supporting long-term lip health.

We wanted to create lip care that feels sensorial and enjoyable, but is also deeply functional. The formulations focus on repairing and strengthening the lip barrier, preventing moisture loss, supporting pigmentation concerns, and delivering long-lasting nourishment without feeling sticky or uncomfortable.

A big part of the development process was also rethinking the overall experience, textures, finishes, packaging, and usability, because consumers today want products that are both effective and exciting to use daily. That balance between clinical performance and emotional experience is something we continue to obsess over across every Skinvest launch.

Divya Malpani Maheshwari is the CEO and Founder of Skinvest.

Instagram: @skinvest.skincare

Website: skinvest.care

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