FAE Beauty

FAE Beauty

Added on May 21, 2026

FAE stands for Free and Equal. Karishma founded the brand in 2019 after coming back from the US and noticing, in stark terms, how differently Indian beauty brands thought about Indian skin. The shades were narrow, the imagery was heavily edited, and the product development clearly wasn't starting from the complexities of brown skin. She had worked as a makeup artist alongside her consulting career, so this wasn't abstract frustration. She knew exactly what was missing.

FAE launches three to four products a year, all developed with an independent lab, none white-labelled. The hero products include the Lip Whip, the Lush Blush (which doubles as an eyeshadow), and the Eye-Deal Kajal. The brand's campaign imagery runs unretouched, showing real skin texture and real skin tones, which is still a rarer commitment than it should be in Indian beauty marketing.

Revenue in FY25 came in at approximately $2.45 million. The brand raised ₹17 crore in late 2025, led by Spring Marketing Capital with participation from Titan Capital. The brand has navigated a down round in its history, which Karishma has been transparent about, and that kind of straightforwardness from a founder tends to correlate with clear-headed decision making elsewhere in the business.

Best for: Colour cosmetics buyers with medium-to-deep Indian skin tones who are tired of finding shades that are 'close enough'.

— D2C Bazaar

About this brand— in their own words

FAE, which stands for Free and Equal Beauty creates and conceptualizes products that work for every shade of brown skin. The brand currently retails buildable matte lipsticks, 2 in 1 mascara brow gel, base coat mascara primer, and multi use lipgloss in a unique roller ball pen. Our Products are Vegan and Cruelty Free.