Prachi Bhandari, Co-Founder and Head of Research & Development at AMINU Skincare

Interview with Prachi Bhandari, Co-Founder and Head of Research & Development at AMINU Skincare

A licensed cosmetologist trained at the highest level CIDESCO, CIBTAC & MASA, London – world’s most prestigious qualification for Aesthetics, Beauty Therapy & Treatments.

Prachi is  known for her powerhouse refining and reshaping skin treatments and holistic wellness offered  at her signature salon for the better part of the last decade.

The products at Aminu are a reflection  of Prachi’s deep understanding of varied skincare needs, hands-on experience, and knowledge about globally available effective & clean ingredients & technology.

Her intent has always been to  make sure that each skin-type gets exactly what it needs to look & feel it’s best.

At the heart of everything Prachi does, is her dedication towards health & well-being. She’s  committed to celebrating women or men, of every age and ethnicity, in every unique form.

Life teaches us the best and her passion of holistic health practices stems from having tragically  lost her father to ill health in 2007.

A few years ago, Prachi’s father tragically came down with a  brain infection and slipped into coma. The doctors were not hopeful of his condition, and that is what sparked Prachi’s affiliation for holistic health practices.

She was 16 at the time, when she  dropped a semester from college and spent 278 days straight in the hospital, monitoring each and every change in her father’s body, meticulously researching every salt in his medicines.

Driven by  her unconditional love to see her father healthy again, Prachi started reading about the human  body, it’s various forms of medicine and wellness.

From the experience that shaped her into the person that she is today, Prachi learnt very  important lessons that have defined Aminu’s journey and shaped its philosophy.

It was clear that  you can’t treat any ailment, even a tiny little acne, in isolation. The organs in our body don’t  operate in isolation, and considering the SKIN is the largest organ in the body, the focus for her  was defined.

To cure something from its roots, you must understand the body, and that was the  seed that continued to germinate her strong belief and catapulted her into holistic wellness. 

Empowered with knowledge and a clear vision, Prachi decided to move on from her family  business of lighting and translated her long-standing vision of ‘giving back’ into her signature  salon Kallidora, which means the gift of beauty.

Her intention was to make her customers feel  beautiful, both from inside and outside. During this time, Prachi and her team cemented  relationships with her customers that went beyond the regular hair treatment or face peels.

At Kallidora, Prachi spent a lot of time understanding the mental and physical health of her clients,  researched, and developed nutrient supplement recipes for them to nourish their body from  inside, while she was treating concerns on the outside.

Her unwavering commitment and passion over the years brought her to a strong realization that  nature has solutions for a lot of our bodily ailments.

As she studied skin more and used products  from all over the world, one question kept nagging here, as to why there wasn’t a single product,  made for all types of skin,that is natural and on par with the ‘best in the world’, in terms  of ‘efficacy’.

Over the next two years, Prachi travelled all over Western Europe, UK, East Asia,  North America and kept working on this very idea.

In March 2019, while on a 3 week-long trip to  Europe, to specifically study skincare, and it is then where the idea of making her own natural  and yet high-performance skincare took seed.

In her quest towards creating a product line that is totally unique and world class, Prachi, along  with her husband, Aman and uncle Sanjay decided to move forward with their vision for Aminu, to be an all-encompassing provider of self-care that are natural, effective, safe and sustainable by  utilizing the best ingredients and adopting path breaking technology.

Prachi’s creative energy is also the backbone of AMINU’s unique aesthetic. Her background, and  experience in design has helped immensely in amplifying the overall experience of AMINU  products and conceptualizing the brand, whereas her 8 years of hands-on experience as an aesthetician and trusted skin care expert has helped her channelise her creative ideas via a defined  framework.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind starting AMINU Skincare?

Prachi Bhandari: A curiosity sparked when my father’s critical health journey drew me closer to the marvellousness & intricacies of the human body, medical science and holistic health practices to beat cancer and its effects on the body. 

I was moved by the power of plants, advanced technologies and how when they could heal so much more.My journey is majorly inspired by the many months I spent in hospitals across India tending to him.

Later, I moved to Mumbai, where I continued my design, cosmetology, and healing sciences and deepened my meditation practice.

I started a holistic clinical spa offering therapeutic skin care treatments & rituals, committed to building a healing sanctuary based on plant science, purity & its essence at the core.

The idea of AMINU was born in this clinical spa from my desire to create genuinely effective AND safe products.

Authentic products that honestly deliver results, nourishing the skin with potent, bioavailable ingredients powered by helpful science.

My background as a cosmetologist, discerning nose and deep knowledge of the precision services rendered led me to the intensive research in high-performing ingredients and unique technologies with an emphasis on physiology and phytochemistry – integrating the holistic science with the alchemy of therapeutic ingredients to produce a profoundly vibrant, nourishing, and efficacious product line.

How has your background in science and technology helped you in the development of skincare products?

Prachi Bhandari: As a licensed cosmetologist, I have been refining and working on non-invasive treatments and holistic wellness for almost a decade now. This experience has built my ability to feel and understand an ingredient’s function as it relates to our skin, but I also developed a rare sense to determine the purity and quality of our raw ingredients from their extraction process and storage conditions.

My love for high-performing skincare practices led me to become a synergistic formulator and has helped me develop unique, never seen before products that show a visible difference in your skin health with regular use.

It has helped me avoid getting swayed by trends on social media but instead, focus on first principles when it comes to formulating products and staying true to Aminu’s goal of promoting skin health. 

Can you walk us through your research and development process for creating new skincare products?

Prachi Bhandari: The starting point for me is to understand the underlying root cause of the concerns that we see on the surface, such as pigmentation, fine lines, acne, and increased sensitivity. This process sometimes takes me even to the DNA level to pinpoint the root cause of concern/symptom. 

Second, we scout the world for nature-derived & clean, high-performing ingredients that work on the identified root cause and are backed by clinical studies. 

Third, we spend a lot of time ensuring these high-performing ingredients are delivered in deeper layers of skin. 

All this has helped us develop unique, never seen products that show a visible difference in your skin health with regular use.

What makes AMINU Skincare different from other skincare brands in the market?

Prachi Bhandari: Every brand has its approach, and perhaps there is a need for all of them. What I can tell you about Aminu is that we are rooted in science and not trends.

From deep diving into skin biology (dermatology) and ingredient chemistry to creating an ecstatic sensory for the users, we lean on science before anything else.

Second, we have not restricted ourselves to any one school of skincare, say Ayurveda or marine or organic or chemical based etc., but instead, we are continuously trying to incorporate the best solutions from all corners of the world.

How do you ensure the quality and safety of your skincare products?

Prachi Bhandari: We avoid raw materials that are considered harmful, carry the perception of toxicity or have been linked to causing skin issues.

With ingredients currently being debated as to whether or not they are safe, our approach is to avoid them until more concrete evidence is available. 

Our ingredients are proudly sourced from reputed manufacturers who guarantee the highest standards in the world.

As a consequence of this, we end up procuring components originating from more than 40 countries. We conduct many safety tests for our products, like microbiology, presence of heavy metals; we also get our formulas tested for Safety and irritation from global labs.

Our Certifications include – Made Safe Australia Certified, Zero Plastic Inside from the Netherlands, Dermatologically Tested, 100% Vegan + Cruelty-Free, Medicert, ISO and GMP manufacturing practices.

What challenges have you faced in the skincare industry, and how have you overcome them?

Prachi Bhandari: Sourcing such unique and rare ingredients is a challenge on the supply side. Managing the supply chain is an issue since more than 90% of our ingredients are sourced from outside India.

Since we don’t have acrylates and polymers, manufacturing is challenging with a minimal margin of error, given our commitment to not use micro-plastics. Meticulous planning is the only way to manage this, and all credit to Aminu’s operations team for that.

There is so much noise on the demand side and what is right and what is not for the skin. Cutting through that noise and communicating with the end user is an exciting puzzle we continuously solve by disseminating fact-based education with fantastic content creators on social media, our partner salons, dermatologists and beauty editors.

Can you share some of the most popular or innovative skincare products that AMINU Skincare has launched?

Prachi Bhandari: Each Aminu product is very innovative and unique in treating skin concerns. I personally love Aminu’s Regenerating Serum.

Better ageing is one of the difficult concerns to heal in skincare, and this one serum works on all signs of ageing.

It features a highly specialized blend of peptides to help visibly repair, restore resiliency, firm, plump and smooth the appearance of wrinkles.

The second would be the Nourishing Sleep Oil. Based on principles of psycho-dermatology, this face oil works not only on your skin but the endocrine system through aromatherapy to heal & reduce sensitivity.

What is your vision for the future of AMINU Skincare, and how do you plan to achieve it?

Prachi Bhandari: To be the global benchmark in highly efficacious clean skincare. We plan to achieve that by:

1. Continuing to develop cutting-edge products for preventing and repairing different skin concerns.
2. Educating people through our trusted social media partners and the salon industry.
3. Making our products accessible worldwide.

How does AMINU Skincare incorporate sustainability and ethical practices into its operations?

Prachi Bhandari: Safety, great design and pleasure can coexist in harmony with sustainability. We achieve this by making more sustainable choices where possible without compromising product design and experience.

We don’t use any single-use plastic in the outside packaging and no micro-plastics inside the product. Bio-degradability of the product is an essential requirement for us.

We carefully monitor water consumption during the production process to minimize water wastage. We designed our packs to be super compact and eliminate liners where possible without compromising security in delivery, which means we use less paper than other comparable brands, which minimizes our carbon footprint in delivery. All our shipping materials, cartons, liners and board are fully recyclable.

Can you share some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a skincare business?

Prachi Bhandari: One piece of advice: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. So keep going & do common things uncommonly well!

Break trends instead of following them. There is a high chance that by the time you realize something is trending, it will have already crossed its peak. Create something original and create value for your end user.

Read more Success stories of Indian entrepreneurs, Women Entrepreneurs & startups stories at SugerMint. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn