India’s beauty industry has just welcomed a new player—Molten Beauty, a brand created at the crossroads of skincare and makeup, born from the collaboration between Myntra and Vellvette Lifestyle, the maker of SUGAR Cosmetics.
Launched just days ago, Molten Beauty is already drawing attention as a skincare-first, hybrid brand designed to meet the everyday needs of Gen Z consumers. Positioned ahead of the festive season, the brand offers a sharp proposition: clean, ingredient-driven formulations that deliver both care and colour.
“We are delighted with the encouraging initial response to Molten. As a skincare-first brand, Molten is built on deep research and is designed to offer effective solutions to everyday concerns of the Gen Z Indian consumer. Early favorites like the Aqua Chill Moisturiser, Buff Glow Lip Balm, and Anti-Acne Sunscreen have already emerged as top picks. Both tier 1 and tier 2 cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Jaipur, are witnessing strong traction, reflecting the brand’s wide appeal,” says Venu Nair, Chief of Strategic Partnerships and Omni Channel.
Why Hybrid, Why Now
Globally, hybrid beauty—products that combine skincare benefits with cosmetic performance—isn’t a fad but a fast-growing category. From e.l.f. Beauty’s skin-loving primers to Glossier’s makeup-meets-moisture staples, the lines between skincare and colour have blurred.
Consumers, especially Gen Z, want fewer steps, cleaner labels, and multitasking products that fit into fast-paced routines.
India is no exception. With the skincare and makeup products market projected to reach USD 12.3 billion by 2030 (Research and Markets), and clean beauty expected to triple in size this decade (Grand View Research), Molten Beauty’s hybrid positioning aims directly at the sweet spot of aspiration and practicality.
The Collaboration Play
This isn’t Myntra’s first tryst with beauty, but it’s arguably the most ambitious. The platform brings its deep consumer insights, tech-led discovery, and rapid-delivery service (M-Now), while SUGAR adds its product development expertise and credibility with young urban consumers.
The launch portfolio is intentionally tight—about 15 SKUs, priced between ₹250–₹400. Vegan, cruelty-free, and marketed under a “skin-first philosophy,” the range has been designed to feel accessible, transparent, and fun—three attributes critical to a Gen Z brand voice.
For Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, co-founders of SUGAR, Molten is an extension of their playbook: bold colours, quick trend response, and ingredient awareness. For Myntra, it’s a way to deepen lifestyle relevance beyond fashion into daily self-expression.
The Market Challenge
Molten Beauty arrives in a competitive but fragmented space. Nykaa Cosmetics, Plum Goodness, and international imports like Maybelline are all doubling down on clean claims or hybrid products. Yet few have cracked the combination of price accessibility, mass-scale reach, and skin-plus-colour positioning.
The risks are real. Shade inclusivity remains a weak spot for many Indian brands. Ingredient integrity—especially in the “clean” space—faces consumer scepticism unless backed by transparent communication. And while Gen Z demands affordable pricing, cleaner formulations often mean higher costs.
Molten’s ability to balance these tensions will determine whether it scales beyond novelty.
Fast Delivery, Faster Feedback
One distinct advantage for Molten is Myntra’s M-Now quick commerce integration. By launching exclusively on Myntra, M-Now, and www.moltenbeauty.com, the brand is betting on shorter feedback loops.
Trends can be validated quickly, formulations tweaked, and assortments expanded based on consumer data.
This agility could make Molten Beauty India’s closest analogue to the fast fashion of beauty—a model that has powered Shein in apparel and is being reinterpreted by beauty players worldwide.
What Molten Beauty Signals
Molten Beauty is more than just another launch; it’s a marker of where India’s beauty industry is headed:
- Category blurring: Skincare and makeup are no longer separate baskets.
- Gen Z targeting: Brands are speaking in the voice of their youngest buyers, with affordability and transparency at the core.
- Platform-led incubation: Marketplaces like Myntra are moving from being distribution channels to co-creators of brands.
- Data-driven agility: Digital-only launches allow faster iteration than traditional retail models.
The Bigger Picture
If Molten Beauty succeeds, it could spark a wave of platform-incubated, collaboration-driven brands that blend consumer data, speed-to-market, and clean-ingredient innovation.
For India’s Gen Z—already skeptical of over-promises but eager for experimentation—Molten could well become the benchmark of what beauty in the 2020s should feel like: fun, functional, and fiercely transparent.
