How Live Tinted Founder Deepika Mutyala Is Redefining Beauty for People of Color

Nowadays, you can flip through almost any beauty or fashion magazine and see all sorts of people scattered across the pages. But back in the early 2000s, when Deepika Mutyala growing up in Houston, Texas, this was not the case. However, instead of lamenting the underrepresentation, she began to set the wheels in motion to change the narrative for herself and other swarthy girls around the world. 

Starting her career in the beauty industry, she posted video instructions how the right color with red lipstick and it quickly gained millions of views. This video was the catalyst for her mission to make beauty more accessible to people of color, which soon led to the launch Live toning. 

What started as inclusive beauty Since then, the community council has evolved into an award-winning cosmetics and skincare brand with no intention of slowing down. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Mutyala as she prepares to expand Live Tinted into a new skincare category next year. Below, she shares how her culture has shaped every aspect of the brand and what steps she thinks the beauty industry needs to take to become even more inclusive.

Basically, did your viral video lead you to create the Live Tinted community?

Yes and no. I would say my viral video is what really kickstarted my journey as an influencer, but creating Live Tinted as a community platform was actually the result of my entire career in the beauty industry. Starting on the corporate side and then becoming an influencer, I really realized that there was no centralized place where people could come and discuss topics that were taboo in the industry — things like coloring and facial hair, for example. I think threads like this are more standard now, but it was 2017 when I just didn't feel like it mattered. So launching Live Tinted as a community platform was very important to me. Now we've turned it into a community and a brand that feels very, very cool. 

Was the goal from the very beginning to turn this community into a full-fledged beauty brand?

When I was 16 years old, I lived in Houston, Texas and always told my parents that I was going to start my own cosmetics brand. This desire arose from the fact that I walked the aisles between beauty salons and did not see anyone like me, and never saw any products that would work for me. I always told myself that I would change that. So every step in my career kind of led me to this moment. The fact that all of this is happening is very surreal and a dream come true for sure.

What was the inspiration behind the name Live Tinted?

Growing up, I always thought I'd name my own beauty brand something like "deep beauty" - a play on my name - but also because I wanted it to be known for deeper skin tones so that the brand is really all about us [ people with deeper skin tones]. But I really didn't want this brand to be about me, and just using the word "deep" felt that way.

I was experiencing all this revelation and I knew that I wanted the brand to be collective. So I felt like the word tinted really brings us together because we all have skin tones and I wanted to normalize deeper skin tones as part of a larger story. I think "live tinted" is like a mantra: by living in tinted, you truly live and embrace your skin tone and your undertones; and be proud of their identity and culture. 

At what point did you decide to start creating products after launching the community site?

Well, in the early days of the community platform, we conducted surveys and asked questions to get to know the community members and understand what they wanted to see from us. One of the surveys we conducted was: “What is most important to you in the field of beauty?” An overwhelming number of the population stated that their number one beauty problem is hyperpigmentation and dark circles. So, you know, my dark circle color correction video went viral in 2015 and we asked this question in early 2018; so three years later people were still facing the same problem. Three years later, I thought that the industry had corrected course and corrected the situation. Hearing this from this loyal community of people of color just made me feel like we needed to find a solution. Enter HueStickwhich launched in 2019.

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I think the smartest thing we've done is take lessons from my life as an influencer and work in the industry and recognize that color correction is an artist-friendly tool. We made it consumer-friendly by making it an everyday multistick, but in shades that explored color correction. It is very important to me to be a brand that stands for innovation, simply because I have been in the industry for so long. I want it to be an outdated brand that will outlive me. So we're really taking our time building quality products that our community is proud of. 

Within two years, Live Tinted was bought by Ulta - what did it mean to you to be the first South Asian brand to be sold there?

It meant the whole world, and it still feels like a “pinch me” moment. I am proud that we can do this for the South Asian community, but I also hope that I am not the last one. I hope this is just the beginning for many other brands because we need to normalize this. For me, it's about normalizing tinted skin and making every swarthy girl see herself in character. Therefore, working in the largest cosmetics store seems like the right way to continue our mission. 

How does your culture influence the decisions you make regarding Live Tinted?

It plays a role in every decision I make, from hiring, to fundraising and investor decisions, to developing our product. I always try to find ways to include my culture. When we launched HueStick's vibrant, rich berry color, we called it "free" because for the first time, I felt free to wear a vibrant color on my skin tone. We celebrated it with Holi, the festival of colors in my culture. 

I never want to just become a product brand that doesn't care about the community. This way you will see that every little detail of our products comes from my culture. For example, our packaging is copper. This color is widely used not only in the culture of South Asia, but also in many other cultures. I really like the idea of ​​bringing people from different cultures together through beauty. That's really my goal with this brand is that in every detail you kind of see a piece of where you come from.

Tell me about your latest product, HueGuard.

HueGuard it is a mineral SPF primer and moisturizer that does not leave a white residue on the skin. It took us a very long time to get this formula to where it is. It has a beautiful shade of marigold, because from the very beginning I did not want us to create a feeling of spreading whiteness on our skin, because this is what we have been told all our lives was considered beautiful. So I'm really proud of even the little detail that it starts off as a nail shade and then blends seamlessly into your skin. 

He had a waiting list of 10,000 people even before we launched the product because we created hype. We knew our community would love it because we were looking forward to it too. We've been waiting for a brand to come up with SPF so we can address specific issues for us. I'll tell you, a lot of people have told me that this won't work - and it's just another reminder to go with your intuition because they were wrong. 

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Stepping away from Live Tinted for a moment, why do you think the beauty industry has been so slow to adjust to people of color?

I don't think they were forced to. So when you see demand coming from one part of your business, you will continue to create supply for that demand. It's really ironic, because how can you expect there to be demand if you don't have products built for that audience? When you look at the purchasing power of people of color, the amount of dollars they spend is in the trillions. So it's really disappointing that he wasn't satisfied, but at the same time I'm hopeful for what's to come in the future. It's really great to see how many changes have taken place in the last five years. I have a hope and a dream (and I think it will become a reality) that there is a whole generation of people who will not even have these conversations. This is really exciting for me. So I try to focus on the positive, but unfortunately it took so long.

What successes do you still hope to see in the industry?

Diversity should be at every level of business. It can't be something one-off in campaigns. I think that the more brands diversify their employees, the more they diversify their views and the way they think every day. And so I personally think that we are very lucky to have a super diverse team, and it was really helpful. I mean it's not high math, hire different talent to create diversity in your brand. I hope more brands realize the power of this in the future.

What advice would you give to those who want to create their own brand?

There are entrepreneurs who find gaps in the market, but not all of them find those gaps through their own experience. Finding white space, which also connects with me on a personal level, has helped me get through the really tough days of entrepreneurship because I understand that this brand is bigger than myself. When you're an entrepreneur, it's a roller coaster - you can have a minimum on the same day that you have a maximum. If you create a brand based on a personal mission and there is a purpose behind it, you will wake up every day in awe of your work. 

Finally, what is your favorite beauty trend right now?

People who accept things that we used to consider flaws. For example, even though we have a color correcting HueStick, there are many days when I rock my dark circles. I think the more we see people doing this, the more they feel confident and comfortable in their skin. I am very glad that today beauty is also treated according to the principle “less is better”. 

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