Birth of Vasanti Cosmetics
Vasanti Cosmetics was founded in 1999 and was built on the bonds of sisterhood. Each of the four sisters brought their strengths to form a company that is loved by makeup artists, influencers, and everyday people like myself. Before I tell this origin story, it’s best that I introduce each sister to you.
Gargi: the free-spirited artist with an eye for makeup and a loveable personality. Her ability to connect with others, educate and impeccable artistry helped push the brand further through word of mouth marketing.
Monal: an astute business woman with a knack for numbers and knowledge of the inner workings of business helped establish Vasanti as a brand in over 250 Shoppers Drug Mart locations.
Pinki: a visionary with a years of experience developing the best beauty products we have come to know. She is a maverick with an acute sense of purpose and knowledge which helped establish Vasanti as a player in the cosmetic industry.
Priti: a woman who is talented at quite literally any and everything. Her ability to see the bigger picture while paying close attention to detail provided great value to a brand obsessed with getting it right!
The story however starts with Pinki.
Pinki travelled to Chicago from Toronto to complete a Masters Degree in Child Psychology. While getting used to a new city thousands of miles away from home, she found herself working at a high end boutique owned by a famous former model. Eager to learn the ins and outs of beauty, she found herself in close quarters with makeup artists & clients.
A few days into her new exciting job, Pinki came face to face with the owner of the boutique who she was looking forward to meeting . The experience Pinki had was reminiscent of the infamous “The Devil Wears Prada” moment when Miranda Priestly(Meryl Streep) harps on the eager Andy Sachs(Anne Hathaway)! This moment was no different. The owner of the boutique turns her attention to Pinki, points at her and screeches: “Who is this?! Get some concealer on her!” And sashays her way out of the room.
Makeup artists rush over to Pinki and get to work to hide her dark under eye circles and to Pinki’s dismay, NOTHING worked. Humiliated by the very woman she wanted to impress, Pinki set out to find the solution for her dark circles. After months of searching at both high end boutiques and drug stores, she was left disappointed. Most products either made her under eyes look too ashy, too orange, too pink, too dull, too cakey — essentially everything she tried made her dark circles look worse! In her frustration, she found herself conversing with her sisters back home until she finally decided to move back to Toronto to figure out the age-old question: “Why does makeup not look good on us?”
Growing up, Pinki and her sisters struggled with makeup failing to brighten their skin and enhance their beauty. The shades they tried never quite matched their skin tone. This was the challenge Pinki took on while working at a cosmetic manufacturer in Toronto. Pinki worked diligently with biochemists to understand the inner workings of product development and in doing so, her quest for shades, tones and colours that looked GOOD on everyone became a dream come true. – This was the birth of Vasanti Cosmetics.
(A seemingly horrible experience blossomed into a cosmetic brand that has stood the test of time, and 21 years later, is working humbly to establish itself in a highly competitive market while ensuring authenticity is weaved into everything that they do.)
