Celebrity Skincare Brands in India: Honest Review of Hyphen, 82E, Anomaly, and aKind

The Celebrity Skincare Problem

At some point in the last few years, every Indian celebrity with a sizeable Instagram following decided they needed a skincare brand. The playbook is predictable: launch event, glossy packaging, influencer seeding, claims about "clean" or "science-backed" formulations, and a price tag that sits above drugstore but below luxury. The products are rarely bad. They are rarely exceptional either.

The fundamental issue with celebrity skincare is incentive alignment. The celebrity's primary skill is being famous. The brand exists to monetize that fame. Formulation quality is a secondary concern, not the primary one. That does not mean every celebrity brand is garbage. Some genuinely hire competent cosmetic chemists and create decent products. But the bar for "decent" is not high when you are charging a premium for a name.

We are going to look at four celebrity-backed brands available in India right now. We judge by what is inside the bottle, not who is on the label.

Hyphen (Kriti Sanon)

Hyphen launched in 2023 with a range spanning cleansers, serums, moisturizers, and sunscreens. The price range sits between Rs 349 and Rs 799, positioning it in the mid-market segment. Kriti Sanon has been vocal about being involved in product development, not just lending her face to packaging.

The formulations are genuinely better than most celebrity brands. Hyphen was co-founded with PEP Technologies (Vikas Lachhwani, Mohit Jain, Saurabh Singhal, Tarun Sharma), and someone on that team actually understands cosmetic chemistry. The Barrier Care Cream has ceramides, peptides, squalane, and oatmeal extracts. The sunscreen has a 5% antioxidant blend with niacinamide, plus 4 molecular sizes of hyaluronic acid. On paper, these are legitimate formulations. (We cover Hyphen's full product range on our brands page.)

But there are red flags. Dermatologist Dr. Jushya Bhatia Sarin publicly criticized the sunscreen, alleging that certain ingredients "sound good to attract customers but do not play much role in making a good sunscreen" and that the percentages used "have no skincare benefits." She also pointed out that the ingredient list on the tube and the packaging were different. That is a concerning quality control issue for a brand positioning itself as science-backed.

The pricing carries a celebrity tax. When you compare ingredient-for-ingredient with Minimalist, which offers similar formulations at roughly half the price, the value proposition weakens. The formulations are decent. The pricing is not.

82E (Deepika Padukone)

82E (named after the longitude of India) launched in 2022 with a self-care positioning that blends skincare with wellness. The product range covers cleansers, serums, sunscreen, and body care. Prices sit between Rs 500 and Rs 1,200, making it one of the pricier celebrity brands in the Indian market.

Big news: as of April 2026, Nykaa is in talks to acquire a majority stake in 82E. Deepika would retain a minority stake. The brand was last valued at around Rs 90 crore, but here is the context nobody is reporting: 82E saw a 30% decline in revenue last year. That is not growth struggling; that is a brand losing traction. The Nykaa deal looks less like a strategic acquisition and more like a rescue with better distribution.

The honest take: 82E's positioning is lifestyle, not science. The branding is beautiful. The Ashwagandha Bounce moisturizer has squalane, jojoba oil, hyaluronic acid, and ashwagandha extract. It feels nice. It hydrates. But ashwagandha's topical benefits for skin are not well established in peer-reviewed literature. The ingredient has preliminary research for oral supplementation and stress reduction, but rubbing it on your face is a marketing story, not a clinical one. The moisturizer works because of the squalane and hyaluronic acid, not the ashwagandha. You are paying the Deepika tax for a narrative ingredient.

If barrier care and gentle, effective formulations are what you want, Dr. Sheth's does it better at a lower price point, with ingredients that have stronger clinical backing.

Anomaly (Priyanka Chopra)

Let us get the obvious out of the way: Anomaly is a haircare brand, not skincare. It launched in 2021 with sulfate-free, vegan products in eco-friendly packaging. Prices range from Rs 499 to Rs 899. We include it here because people consistently search for it alongside the other celebrity beauty brands, and it would be strange to leave it out.

The honest take: Anomaly is the most credible celebrity beauty brand on this list. The products are sulfate-free, paraben-free, vegan, and packaged in 100% recycled plastic. That eco-commitment is genuine, not greenwashing. The Hydrating Shampoo uses aloe vera and coconut oil. Users report softer, bouncier, more manageable hair. At Rs 750 for 325ml, the pricing is fair for what you get. Not cheap, but not inflated by celebrity standards either.

Priyanka's approach is different from the others. She launched in the US first (at Target) where the brand had to compete on merit, not fame. It only came to India later via Nykaa. That is a harder path than launching DTC to your own fanbase, and the product quality reflects it. If you are looking at this list specifically for skincare, Anomaly is irrelevant. But as a celebrity beauty brand, it is the one that earned its reputation instead of buying it.

aKind (Mira Kapoor + Isha Ambani / Reliance)

aKind launched in 2024 via Tira Beauty with a "Build, Balance, Defend" approach to barrier care. Prices range from Rs 488 to Rs 803. The brand has the backing of Reliance through Tira, which means serious resources for product development, distribution, and marketing.

The "Build, Balance, Defend" framework organizes 9 products into three ranges. Build (Clean Slate Hydrating Cleanser, On Cloud Nine Moisturiser, Sleep Tight Firming Serum) focuses on barrier repair with probiotics and peptides. Balance (Fresh Start Oil-Free Cleanser, Get Even Multi-Active Serum) targets oil control and tone with polyglutamic acid, licorice root, and niacinamide. Defence includes sun care. Products are vegan, cruelty-free, dermatologically tested, and priced Rs 488-803.

The ingredient choices are reasonable. The Bright Idea Radiance Serum uses Kakadu plum, niacinamide, glycolic acid, vitamin C, and resorcinol. That is a legitimate brightening stack. The barrier care positioning, with probiotics and peptide complexes, is scientifically sound.

But "barrier care" is the most crowded space in Indian skincare right now. CeraVe has been doing this for decades with mountains of clinical data. Dr. Sheth's does it at Indian price points with Indian ingredients. Re'equil has dermatologist loyalty. Even Minimalist's ceramide moisturizer competes directly.

The real concern: aKind products were heavily discounted on Tira on launch day. On Reddit, users noted 30-40% discounts within the first week. That is either aggressive customer acquisition or a sign that organic demand was lower than expected. Early reviews are split. Some users praise the On Cloud Nine Moisturizer for its lightweight texture with probiotics. Others describe the range as "mediocre for the price." When your own retail platform is discounting your product on day one, confidence is not the word that comes to mind.

The Verdict: Should You Buy Celebrity Skincare?

If the ingredients match your skin's needs and the price is fair, the celebrity name on the label does not matter. A good product is a good product regardless of who launched it. The problem is that none of these brands are best-in-class for their price point.

Minimalist consistently offers transparent, well-formulated products at prices that make celebrity brands look overpriced. Deconstruct does the same for targeted treatment serums. Dr. Sheth's beats most of these brands on barrier care and gentle formulations. These are brands built by people whose primary expertise is skincare, not entertainment.

That is not to say celebrity brands are bad. Hyphen makes genuinely decent products. Anomaly is fairly priced haircare. But "decent" and "fairly priced" are not compelling reasons to choose a product when better options exist for less money.

Frequently Asked Questions

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