one on my path to becoming a believer,
and her story was the nudge I needed.
“I grew up in Chennai, seeing beauti-
ful, dusky South Indian women with
stunning skin; their answer to every-
thing is haldi and coconut. Growing up
I never really saw my mother use a lot
of make-up—it was always fresh ingre-
dients freshly ground, kept in the
bathroom. You just used them,” she
tells me. And the bathroom is ironical-
ly where the brand began...PLANTING A SEED
It all started with a simple soap. Back
in the day, good-quality soaps were as
rare as French perfume—you either
begged your aunt abroad to bring some
or had to pinch your nose while your
mother scrubbed you with those that
excelled at sensorial attacks (the moss-
coloured neem one was the worst!).
Ever the modern traditionalist,
Kulkarni felt the gap a little more
strongly and decided to do something
DERXWLW³VKHFUHDWHGKHUÀUVWEDWFKRI
handmade soaps made according to
strict Ayurvedic standards and infused
them with organic ingredients and
scented oils. Each soap came simply
wrapped in brown paper with a white
label listing all the ingredients that
went in it (handwritten, no less) and
WLHG ZLWK D UXVWLF UDIÀD ULEERQ ́7KH
ÀUVW WKLQJ ZH HYHU GLG ZDV D EDWFK RI
$\XUYHGLFVRDS7KH\GLGQ·WHYHQKDYH
DQDPH,GLGQ·WZDQWDQ\WKLQJKHUEDO
or clichéd, and a close friend, Kiran Na-
der, suggested Forest Essentials. I in-
stantly loved it! But then everything
had to have a logo. So I drew a tree and
scribbled something around it and it
EHFDPH RXU ORJR 7KDW·V KRZ LWbegan,”
UHFDOOV .XONDUQL 7KLV ZDV \HDUV
DJR DQG WKH ÀUVW EDWFK VROG RXW LQ OHVV
than a month—it smelled of roses.A FAMILY AFFAIR
$URXQGWKHVDPHWLPH.XONDUQL·VVRQ
returned to India after a stint abroad
with big dreams of joining the family
business, which were almost dashed by
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Sam to join the brand at all. I told him
, FRXOGQ·W DIIRUG KLP DQG WKDW KH
should have a proper job. We fought
about it a bit but he was adamant. He
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says Kulkarni.
6DPUDWK%HGLWKHEUDQG·VH[HFXWLYH
director, could not understand why the
best skincare products always came
from out of the country and everyone
struggled with identifying a good Indi-
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out why all the best products were not
Indian when all the secrets were lying
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to use high-quality ingredients and
turn Ayurveda into a modern, easy-to-
use method and package it in a way
that would appeal to audiences any-
where in the world. I rose to the chal-
lenge,” he recalls.
)RU 'LYL\D &KDZOD .XONDUQL·V
GDXJKWHUDQGWKHEUDQG·VFUHDWLYHGLrector, the inculcation into the brand
started in her childhood. “Ubtan was
like a ritual in the house every Sun-
day. My mother was always advocat-
ing using natural, home-made reme-
dies. Instead of a face wash, she
handed us a mix of dried orange peel
and urad dal to cleanse our faces.” As
Kulkarni recalls, “Diviya initially
joined just to help out. She was the
SHUVRQ ZKR ÀOOHG LQ WKH JDSV 6XG
denly I realised that my workforce
was my family.”
For the newest entrant in the fami-
ly, former Sephora India country man-
ager .DULVKPD0DQJD%HGL6DPUDWK·V
marriage proposal meant a lifetime
supply of free Forest Essentials prod-
ucts. “I think that when Sam proposed,
saying yes meant ¶,·PQRWEX\LQJ\RXU
products anymore·μ MRNHV 0DQJD
Bedi, who pulls double duty as daugh-
ter-in-law and willing guinea pig for all
new formulations. “For me, using a
product has a lot to do with emotions. I
think that you need to feel happy with
ZKDW\RX·UHXVLQJ7KHUHDUHVRPDQ\
different emotions as you go through
different products—how they make
you feel, what memories they evoke.
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else. All our initial samples come in dif-
ferent versions. For example, for a
scrub, the coarseness levels are differ-
ent—the base is a little thinner in
some, thicker in others—and the fra-
grance could be lighter in some and aSTAR KID... THE DATE
AND LITCHI CREAM
Both date and litchi are full of natural glycolic acid and together are a
potent force against skin ageing. A 19-century formulation, the cream was
originally handmade in ashrams in a serene, untouched environment and made
available to a privileged few. The fruits are mashed with their skin on and soaked in
rose water, and various herbs and root infusions are added to the mix. The fruit pulp
is then put in wooden pots (with a covering of clay) and buried under a banyan tree.
The banyan tree is the chosen medium for three reasons—it aids in the fermentation
process of the formula, the leaves fi lter the sunrays that reach the pots, and the roots
give out nitrogen, which is crucial to the recipe. The tree ensures that the
fermentation process is not accelerated beyond what the recipe needs. The
pots are then taken out and the juice extracted and mixed with
various butters and infusions. The formula is stirred by hand and
soaked for a month. It takes about 45-60 days to create one
batch of these velvety creams. The highlight—the men and
women who make this cream chant sacred mantras to infuse
positivity into the product. The end result—asoulé-like
pale cream that melts into the skin and works overnight
to breathe new life into your complexion.Kulkarni (left)
with a cousinA two-year-old
Kulkarni with
her motherForest Essentials
Eternal Youth Formula,
Date & Litchi, 3,600192 VOGUE INDIA JULY 2016 http://www.vogue.in