I'm a South Asian Beauty Founder—I Swear By This Dopamine-Boosting Makeup Tip

The Lineup is a monthly series where we're giving you an inside peek at the beauty lineups of the most sought-after experts and tastemakers in the industry. Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at all the can't-live-without products that make their worlds go 'round.
You probably know this by now, but makeup is not just for camouflaging a blemish or filling in sparse brows. It serves a much greater purpose: self-expression. My best friend even exalts makeup to art—richly pigmented blush and a multicolored eye shadow palette are the paint, and her face is the canvas.
While the beauty industry has recently made strides toward inclusivity with expanded shade ranges, marginalized communities have often felt that this integral form of self-expression isn't available to them. Kulfi Beauty founder Priyanka Ganjoo knows this feeling deeply. "As a teenager growing up in India in the early 2000s, I never saw anyone who looked like me in beauty campaigns, which made me feel like it wasn't for me," she explains. "In my late 20s, I started working in the beauty industry in New York at Estée Lauder and then at Ipsy. I started playing around with makeup and discovered how fun and expressive it is."
Throughout Ganjoo's career in the beauty industry, she struggled to find products that complemented her skin tone. So in 2020, she founded Kulfi Beauty to encourage people to create a joyful relationship with beauty and celebrate their unique identity without pressure to conform to beauty standards. This mission echoes through the brand, from its name to its product formulations to its shades. "The name Kulfi comes from this South Asian ice cream that's full of fun colors and flavors—the exact playful vibe we aim for when we create each product," Ganjoo says. "Kufli stands for self-expression, joy, and embracing yourself."
Want to know Ganjoo's joy-sparking makeup tip? "My favorite way to do makeup is to have a specific focus," she spills. "It could be a deep stained lip with our lip oil in Black Cherry or an intensely sparkly eye with our (currently sold out) eye shadow in Sona Sona while keeping the rest of my makeup more everyday. It lets me be creative while being effortless." Keep reading for the full breakdown of Ganjoo's beauty routine, including skincare, haircare, and Kulfi's just-launched mascara.
"Our community has been asking for mascara for a long time. I used to skip mascara in my makeup routine because my lashes are heavy and straight and most mascaras weighed them down, which is an experience that's shared by many consumers in our community. This is the first tubing mascara that provides instant volume while lifting your lashes and staying smudge-proof all day. Our formula has ingredients like castor seed oil, rambutan extract, and a nourishing peptide complex that's good for the health of your lashes."
"I love this turmeric shampoo. I have dry, thick hair that seems to never feel nourished and soft, but this shampoo changed that for me. Their formulations are so concentrated and made from Ayurvedic ingredients. The founders are some of the most lovely people in the beauty industry, and I know their heart and soul go into every product they make. This one's always on my shelf!"
"I always start with our concealer (my shade is Extra Elaichi) for a hydrated all-over base or to conceal under the eyes. One of the coolest things about being a beauty founder is that I can create a perfect shade match for myself—something I struggled with forever!"

Emma is a beauty editor on the branded content team. She’s a passionate writer who loves all things beauty, wellness, and personal growth. Before pursuing writing, she worked in influencer marketing at Gallery Media Group, which owns digital brand PureWow. She lives in New York City, where you can usually find her running to a Pilates class or sipping on a green juice in the park.
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