Mehrbano Sethi's Luscious Cosmetics goes global with a presence at Sephora

Makeup junkies make a beeline for this store whenever they're travelling outside Pakistan — which store are we talking about?

Sephora, of course!

And now, in a big boost for Pakistani products, home-grown brand Luscious Cosmetics is going to be stocking at the giant beauty retailer.

When it comes to makeup in Pakistan, the founder of Luscious Cosmetics, Mehrbano Sethi, is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. In recent years the nine-year-old brand has become more and more popular among the South Asian communities.

“Luscious is popular within the South Asian expat diaspora. Everyone in the Asia Pacific region responds positively to the product because it settles smoothly with their skin types. Since the climate and the type of skin remains predominantly similar in the region, the product responds extremely well,” says Sethi of Luscious products.

Having stocked with Singapore's beauty store Luxola (the fastest growing makeup retailer in Asia) for almost two years, It makes sense that Luscious would make the leap to Sephora, especially since Luxola was recently acquired by the French makeup giant.

“It was always in the cards to take the product international and this has been a great breakthrough for the company,” Sethi shares.

“Since the news came to us, our primary agenda has become to not only develop new products for the international market but also develop new ways to set it apart,” she adds.

What has Sethi most excited are the Camera Stick and Camera Powder by Luscious. These new products have a built-in photo filter technology that evens out the skin for photographs without making it look caked.

We live in the world of selfies and Instagram... our new products Camera Stick and Camera Powder are made just for this purpose, says Sethi

“We live in the world of selfies and Instagram. These two products are made just for this purpose so that your makeup looks on point in person, as well as in pictures,” says Sethi.

The opportunity to be stocking with Sephora has got the wheel churning at the Luscious headquarters, as the brand gears up to re-launch their liquid lipsticks in 10 matte shades and 6 glossy shades, which they originally launched way ahead of their time.

“Liquid lipsticks are all the rage these days and what we are trying to do is put the fun back in makeup. Makeup is supposed to be enjoyed so we've designed and patented a dress shaped lipstick holder, something to set us apart and add an element of surprise to an everyday product," reveals the CEO.

With massive debates going on around the world about animal cruelty, Luscious Cosmetics prides itself in being a cruelty-free brand and talks about its range of synthetic beauty tools.

“The prevalent notion that synthetic fibers do not have the same finesse in application as animal hair is being debunked now. Such technology exists that creates synthetic fibers which are very much like animal hair, giving the consumer the same application quality.”

Along with this the brand is launching makeup planner bags and train cases. While custom made palettes are becoming popular, Sethi disagrees and argues that premade palettes are designed to work in harmony and that composition cannot be achieved when the customer is given the option of creating their own palette.

As the brand prepares to open their offices in New York and slowly expand from there, Luscious Cosmetics aspires to share retail space with brands such as Urban Decay, Two Faced and Kat Von D.

“That is the space we want to be in eventually because I truly feel our products fall in the same category," says Sethi.