Beauty brand Secret Cosmetics is reviving the traditional skincare secrets of Manipur!

With her venture, Secret Cosmetics, Tuingam Louzhi from Manipur is on a mission to bring a natural skincare revolution and create a skincare community that appreciates the natural way of living. She makes her products with natural ingredients and sells different oils, including the Perilla Seeds Face Oil!

It was Tuingam's love for cosmetics and her grandmother’s traditional methods of skincare, which inspired her to bring out the best from nature for the skin. She founded Secret Cosmetics in 2019 out of her passion for skincare products with zero experience in entrepreneurship, after doing a basic course to learn to make lipsticks and lip balms.

" As a young child, I grew up loving cosmetics and took great care of my skin. Nobody taught me that interest. I remember calling friends over weekends to try my homemade scrub or turmeric paste. Making my own cosmetics really gives me so much contentment. My passion for beauty products made of all-natural ingredients has brought me to create a colourful existence", she said.

Apply what you can eat!

With the philosophy of 'Apply what you can eat', Louzhi kickstarted her venture in 2019, which now offers a range of natural skincare products. Her collection includes different types of oils such as Perilla Face Oil, Khaching Hair Oil, body creams, scrubs, and lip balms. All her products are made with the cold-pressed method, which means the extraction and making don't involve high heat levels. This way, the proteins and fats in oils remain safe.

During her childhood, Louzhi's grandmother used to pound perilla seeds on wood mortar and squeeze out a few drops of oil. She would then apply the oil, which is rich in omega-3 to Louzhi’s dry skin. Perilla oil is high in antioxidants and has anti-allergic properties. It soothes, repairs, and provides powerful antioxidant protection for mature and aging skin. Following her grandmother's footsteps, she launched Perilla face oil the next year, and it was a big hit.

"In 2020, we launched a face oil made of perilla seeds which gradually entered into a bigger market. Through the media coverage, people from across the globe came to know about the benefits of this amazing face oil. Perilla is less known to pan India but our ancestors have been using this oil their whole life", she said.

Everything is sourced from the farmers of Ukhrul, Manipur

Louzhi sources all her ingredients locally from the farmers of Ukhrul. It was going great until the pandemic hit them, and there was chaos. "We had to stop all the production. But it was a blessing in disguise for me on the brighter note. It gave me time to introspect myself, the mission and vision of the brand, how I want it to stand out from the rest. It was a turning point for us to shift towards all things natural and work with the indigenous seeds farmers. We wanted to bring impact to the farmer's life by giving them employment. Also, bringing back the lost tradition and beauty regime which was practiced by our ancestors was also the aim", she further explained.

In the past year, Louzhi kept expanding her network of farmers. Once her team receives the seeds, they clean them up, sun-dry them for a week, and then, store them in tight containers. After which, they extract the oil and then process it naturally to maintain its purity. From seasonal fruits to flowers, she did extensive research on the natural produce available near Ukhrul.

She has recently introduced a new haircare product made with black sesame seeds, which are popular for their capabilities to prevent and reverse greying of hair. Other than this, Secret Cosmetics is now also selling a range of headbands and honey from different villages of Ukhrul.

Also Read: Meet Sohan Pappu from Vijayawada who makes organic sanitary napkins to distribute to rural women for free

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