Shahnaz Husain: The OG beauty influencer

Never have I ever been asked to cut a cake iced with the words "Welcome Home" after I've finished an interview.

- Pooja Singh

But at Shahnaz Husain's mansion in Delhi, it's a ritual for first-time guests. "Now you can't forget me," Husain says, as an in-house photographer takes pictures.

It is difficult to forget her. She doesn't look like she's aged a day since I first saw her in the lobby of Delhi's Oberoi hotel 20 years ago. With her henna-coloured billowy hair, pea-sized diamond nose pin and peach-red lipstick, she's the original beauty influencer who started a herbal cosmetics revolution in India in the 1970s by putting kitchen remedies in plastic jars and her face and name on the label.

When we meet, she's dressed in an electric-blue kurta-shirt with matching pants, a long black jacket, pale-gold leather gloves with cut-out detailing to reveal just her red nails, and a bright blue scarf with multi-coloured LV logos. Her kohl-lined eyes are hidden behind Louis Vuitton sunglasses. "You know, I am here because of you," she says while settling into a chair that resembles a golden throne. She's referring to the press. "If you guys had not written about me all these years, I would have not reached here."

KEEPING IT REAL

Since starting her eponymous brand in 1971, Husain, who turns 81 this year, has built a business selling 5,000-year-old Ayurvedic formulations in modern packaging well before terms like "clean beauty" and "organic beauty" were conceived. At present, the brand, which is also managed by her daughter Nelofar Currimbhoy, has over 150,000 stores across 138 countries. They sell 300 formulations, some with 24-carat gold, oxygen, pearl and plant stem cells. It recently launched Marrdd, a skincare line for men. While Husain refuses to talk numbers, estimates put "her peak revenues at about $375 million", according to a 2024 Mint report.