TO THE MOUNTAINS, with love

A slew of beauty brands are dedicated to sustaining livelihoods & empowering women in the Himalayan belt, reports Hasina Jeelani

- 

As the first gilded ray of dawn slices across the Himalayan sky, Jessica Jayne's eyes drift open to the lilting notes of birdsong. Breathing in the crisp mountain air, she sips on fresh milk courtesy of her neighbour's cow. Farm-to-table is not a novel concept in the idyllic hill station of Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, where she lives, but rather, a manner of living. “Everyone has a smile and a nod for you as they go about their day. I never miss a sunset, and each one is more magical than the other,” she says.

It is this magical alchemy of the Himalayas that Jayne attempted to bottle with her brand Pahadi Local, which she founded in 2012. Enchanted by the wonders that gutti ka tel or apricot oil worked for her skin during the winters, she found herself collecting apricots and deshelling the kernels in the back of a truck, birthing the brand's signature apricot kernel oil range. “As a founder, I believe that the key to authenticity is to connect with the source, so I can tell the product story firsthand,” she shares.