The simple act of removing make-up from your face after a long day can be no less than therapeutic, and everyone has their own favourite brand of cleansers and make-up removers. Home-grown skincare brand Just Herbs is aiming to personalize the experience further with a new Ayurvedic micellar water formulation in the works, based on crowdsourced consumer and expert feedback from across the country.
Just Herbs first took this route in 2017 to create a BB cream and is now following up with a make-up remover. “Most make-up users, although aware of potentially harmful chemicals lurking in common make-up items, are still not able to completely avoid using them,” says Arush Chopra, CEO and co-founder, on email. “We decided to take the middle path: offering products that work with or enhance your existing make-up items while limiting or nullifying the potentially harmful impact of harsh chemicals. ”
Invented decades ago, micellar water has only recently transitioned from being a French beauty secret to a worldwide phenomenon. The product takes its name from micelles, tiny oil molecules suspended in soft water, which wipe away every trace of make-up by attaching themselves to the external particles on the face.
Chopra and his team have taken a new approach to the product. “The broad idea around our version is that we make a nutritive blend of nurturing vegetable oils and use a blend of several plant waters picked from Ayurvedic texts as the base,” he says.
The brand created four samples for its survey, incorporating varying proportions of seven Srikamya Rasayanas (Ayurvedic formulations). Plant waters of triphala (amalaki, bibhitaki and haritaki), tulsi, shallaki, sandalwood, vetiver, rose and narangi phool act as the base which holds oil droplets of Indian frankincense, jasmine, myrrh and wheat germ to draw out impurities without drying out the skin.
According to Chopra, over 500 consumers signed up for the survey. I also tested the kit, comprising the variants packed into miniature bottles, over a period of three weeks. Though there was no mention of specific ingredients on the packaging, the variants differed in texture, fragrance and feel. My vote went to an unscented variant.
The brand is currently collating the feedback. The final formulation, with additional improvements, will be launched later this month.
