This Dubai bootstrapped startup is making clean, conscious beauty mainstream

Dubai boasts several high-end brands. The city is a haven for shoppers looking to buy luxury items—be it clothes, shoes, handbags, or even make-up.

Residing in this cosmopolitan is Mukta Purain, who had difficulties getting her hands on affordable skin and beauty care products during her pregnancy. 

In 2016 when she had her son, Purain started experiencing severe skin sensitivity, and all she could find were products from brands like Dior, Chanel, etc., or drugstore skin care products. 

There were hardly any products available in the mid-segment. 

“I would have to get derma care products, and I started ordering online from other regions, especially Korean skincare products,” she tells YourStory Gulf Edition. 

She saw these online products helped her skin ailments. They were simple, had good formulations, and focused on inflammation and hydration. 

However, she realised a drawback. From placing an order to receiving it, the process was expensive and time-consuming. “I thought I couldn’t be the only person facing this problem,” Purain says. 

“I realised this huge gap in the Middle East, which didn’t have high-quality products in the mid-range, especially in clean organic beauty space,” she adds. 

This was the beginning of MissPalettable, a retail and ecommerce company that offers natural and clean beauty brands. After its inception in 2016, the brand also forayed into conscious beauty brands. 

From natural to conscious brands

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, clean and conscious beauty concepts gained momentum as customers decided proactively to use products deemed fit for their skin. But, back in 2016, the concepts were nascent. 

“It was easier to say natural [than clean or conscious beauty]. I had to educate myself and create for the market. People had a lot of preconceived notions when it came to natural skin and beauty products. All that had to be changed,” says Purain. 

At first, Purain reached out to several brands to get them to the Middle East. She focused on ensuring they understood her ideologies and slowly getting them into the market. Soon, brands started directly reaching out to her. 

Starting with four brands, today, MissPalettable offers products from over 25 brands, including OxyLam, LilyLolo, Cele Customers, and more, on its platform, offering products such as BB creams, conditioners, face creams, etc.

According to Purain, the company sees an average basket size of AED 200 (~$54.45). The Dubai-headquartered company operates with a team of five employees. 

Building the inventory 

“The first step was to work around the perception. As a retail and ecommerce platform, I wanted to bring in colours as many were under the impression that a brand like ours had to use mostly green or browns,” Purain shares. 

MissPalletable made a conscious branding choice of going for more bright and fun colours. “We did a lot of digital marketing and events to focus on the fact that natural and organic brands can also be performance-based,” she adds. 

Especially for make-up, it has to be fun and should have lots of colours. MissPalettable purchases inventory from brands and keeps stock and has exclusivity agreements with overseas companies. 

Purain says her company is also working on a marketplace model to give access to smaller and independent players. “Earlier, only brands like Sephora and Boots gave market access, and it isn’t easy to get into these organisations if you are a smaller player,” Purain explains. 

Adding, “Many brands are looking to come on our platform. So, holding the inventory can be challenging. There also is a significant growth of new homegrown brands. Therefore, a marketplace model makes sense.” 

According to the founder, the company is on the path to building a hybrid business model, where it can list homegrown and local brands and maintain pricing for international brands. 

While she refused to share the business margins, she says they are strong and not excessive. 

A Mordor Intelligence report states that the UAE cosmetics products market is projected to see a CAGR of 6.2% in the next five years, pushed by a younger population and an increase in online shopping. 

In the UAE, MissPalettable competes with a few players like Powder Beauty and Secret Skin. 

Purain says she wants to continue MissPaleetable as a bootstrapped company while growing organically. “We don’t want to go down the funding route just yet, as there will be certain growth expectations. We have a certain personalisation factor, which we want to hold onto. We are more like a curated boutique that way,” Purain explains. 

Post-COVID-19, the company has seen 30% growth. It was much slower before as the team spent time educating the customers. 

“In the UAE, people initially weren’t comfortable buying online. A lot of our sales were on the cash-on-delivery (COD) model, but it had different risks. Now, people are more open to buying online. So, more growth is happening,” says Purain. 

Besides building the hybrid model, MissPalletable aims to go beyond the UAE market to the larger GCC regions. It is also looking to build an app.