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Beauty

ELLE Discovers: The Youngest Micro Beauty Brands Shaking Up Skincare & Haircare

Personal, sustainable, and irresistibly chic. Just the way beauty was meant to be all along. If you've been craving newness, look no further.

| Siya Bhambwani
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In a sea of hyper-funded, influencer-fuelled beauty giants, there’s something quietly thrilling about a product that comes from a living room experiment. No glossy campaigns. No A-list faces. Just a founder obsessed with barrier function, a few ethically sourced ingredients, and a dream. The next generation of Indian skincare and haircare brands isn’t trying to be everywhere. You’ll find them in niche Instagram pockets, hush-hush group chats, and your coolest friend’s bathroom shelf.

These micro-labels are the ones to watch. Some are lab nerds. Some are aesthetic savants. All of them utterly original.

LessCare: For The Functional Minimalist 

If your beauty routine feels more like a to-do list lately,this cleansing cream and face wash duomight just be your skin’s soulmate. It strips back your routine to just what matters, and not a drop more. With one perfected hero product, LessCare is like a perfectly written haiku—brief, balanced, and somehow deeply powerful. Its innovative two-tubes-in-one formulation has saved me on more tired nights, when I would usually skip makeup removal, than I can remember. 

Beyond Beyond: Skincare That Went To Medical School

At first glance, Beyond Beyond feels like a sleepy, dreamy bedtime brand. But it's actually home to India’s first NAD⁺ SuperCream, and is anything but laid back. NAD⁺ (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, for the ingredient nerds) is a powerhouse molecule that fuels skin repair and slows down visible ageing. But Beyond Beyond’s take is poetic. This is hardcore, cell-level skincare dressed in soft visuals and sleepy serifs. The texture melts, the scent lulls, and your skin wakes up entirely new.

Twenty-Seven Skincare: Expertise In Every Drop 

This brand blends French botanical indulgence with science-backed efficacy. Known for its star serum and face cleanser, the brand celebrates indulgence without compromise. Their formulations feature luxe ingredients like yuzu, rosemary, and lemongrass designed to soothe, renew, and streamline your routine. With their minimalist packaging and maximalist results, Twenty-Seven is where skincare turns into slow beauty.

LúViálz: Where Korean Ritual Meets Indian Earthiness

With its water-light textures, skin-soothing ingredients, and pastel-forward branding, this brand leans into Korean beauty philosophies but adapts them beautifully for Indian skin and weather. Some standout products include an age-defying potion, a serum conditioner, and a Jeju volcanic clay polish mask. It’s skincare that respects your skin’s microbiome. If you’ve ever wanted K-beauty that knows what Mumbai humidity feels like, this is it.

Love Lang: Haircare That Speaks In Love Languages (& Mangoes)

This latest haircare baby? A whole new vibe.Love Lang is fruit-ified haircare with fruits, actives, and soft florals that are almost too cute to use. The shampoos and masks are built around sweet pairings: Peach + Biotin for hair fall, Avocado + Ceramide for repair, and Mango + Hyaluronic for smoothing. It’s a sensory experience; lush textures, gentle fragrance, and results you can feel post-rinse. The tagline is “Your hair’s love language,” and I agree.

Why You Should Care

They’re not trying to be everything for everyone. They’re trying to be honest. To be precise. To make beauty less overwhelming and more personal. Whether it’s Beyond Beyond’s science-backed comfort, LessCare’s ingredient integrity, or Love Lang’s fruit-forward affection, these brands represent a new era of beauty where small is soulful, and incredibly cool.

Sometimes, self-soothing is a bottle, a ritual, and a label you’ve never heard of... yet.

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