Flicka Makes Safe & Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Minus Hefty Price Tags

SUMMARY

Flicka uses certified vegan, lead- and sulphate-free raw materials to make eye and face make-ups, lipsticks and nail paints suited to Indian skin tones

The Origin Story

When Mohit Pardasani took over his family’s 40-year-old cosmetics retail store, he soon noticed an obvious pain point – customers could ill-afford top-quality products with hefty price tags. Building a budget-friendly beauty brand minus a quality drop was the obvious solution, but it seemed an arduous task. However, Priyanka Nawani (his spouse-to-be at the time) had enough business experience as she worked for her family’s apparel brand for five years. Together, they launched Flicka Cosmetics (meaning beautiful girl in Swedish and their daughter’s name) to bridge the quality-price gap in the make-up market.

The Differentiator

Flicka uses certified vegan, lead- and sulphate-free raw materials to make a diverse palette of eye and face make-ups, lipsticks and nail paints suited to Indian skin tones. The paraben-free (free from harmful chemicals), cruelty-free and affordable range reflects the brand’s safety and social commitments. It also helps women become savvy consumers by educating them about cosmetics that they use regularly.

The Growth

Unlike conventional D2C brands, Flicka’s founders went offline first as customers would want to try a new line of colour cosmetics in physical stores instead of trusting it instantly and buying it online. To date, its products have been showcased in more than 2.2K brick-and-mortar stores and seen a loyal following. Understandably, customer acquisition cost was minimal when the brand entered the ecommerce domain due to those early community and brand-building efforts. Its products are now sold offline (through its distributors), on e-commerce marketplaces and via its website. It also claimed a 5x jump in revenue in FY23 compared to FY21.

What’s Next

Flicka targets an INR 100 Cr revenue mark by FY26 based on its motto that it will help every woman look good, feel good and get more out of life. It will continue to upgrade its product lines and production processes in sync with customers’ evolving requirements.