In a first for Indian beauty, next-gen brand un:fltrd hosted a one-of-a-kind shade matching workshop in Mumbai, bringing together over 150 women across age groups, skin tones, and undertones not for a campaign shoot, but to co-create their debut product: a foundation made for Indian skin from the ground up.

With its upcoming launch in August 2025, un:fltrd is setting a radically different precedent for product development in the Indian beauty space, one where formulation starts with community input, not a global shade chart. The workshop was built as a data-backed, empathy-led event designed to decode the undertones, preferences, and pain points of Indian consumers long underserved by standard 12-shade “universal” launches.

“This was us bringing the lab to the brown girls. We were testing real people’s real struggles with skin tones, undertones and frustrations around foundations and finding their shade match,” said Ghazal Gupta, 23-year-old founder and CEO of un:fltrd. “I’ve always been the girl who never found her foundation. I didn’t want to launch until I could say: we built this together.”

The workshop had over 50+ foundation shades, and over 6 colour correctors so each participant could swatch multiple shade iterations to find their match. They also shared feedback on shade gaps, product texture, finish, and application: which all acted as real-time data to refine the final formulations of un:fltrd’s upcoming Almost Ready™ Cushion Foundation.

While the global beauty market has embraced inclusive branding, research shows that only 12% of Indian consumers feel that foundations currently available in India adequately match their skin tone (Mintel, 2024). Despite the country’s immense skin tone diversity, brands often import shade ranges designed for Western markets leaving millions to “make it work” through mixing, layering, or skipping base makeup altogether.

“We had to do something like this because how else would we know true Indian skin tones? Or how would we truly claim we’re made for Indian skin?” Ghazal adds. “This event wasn’t a launch stunt, we did not even have a product to sell at the moment, it was pre-launch R&D, out in the open. Real women, real undertones, real numbers and absolutely real data. We are not a brand building a community, we are a brand being built by a community, and that makes all the difference!”

The workshop marked a major deviation from the legacy model of closed-door product labs and one-size-fits-all solutions. It also reflects a wider shift in how Indian Gen Z consumers now one of the largest beauty-buying cohorts engage with brands. According to a 2025 Kantar study, Gen Z values “collaboration over perfection”, and trusts brands that “build in public” with transparency and feedback loops.

Set to debut in August, un:fltrd’s first product drop is already gaining quiet momentum not from ads or influencers, but from the women who helped create it.

Because when Indian skin is finally the starting point not the afterthought makeup becomes more than wearable. It becomes personal.