Beauty And The Geek

You are at the perfect place if skincare and makeup products give you the willies. Nidhima Kohli's creation Beauty Tribe is worth the buzz and has become a game-changer in the world of beauty tech

There are two main groups of beauty fanatics, according to what I've observed: those who stick to a set of fundamentals and those who are always experimenting with new items. I occupy the middle ground, sticking to my go-to beauty products every day and experimenting with new things when I'm feeling creative.

Recently, I discovered Beauty Tribe, which fit my make-up-geek mood. This attractive platform summarizes everything a person will need. Beauty Tribe establishes itself as a haven for make-up enthusiasts by offering everything from haircare to skincare and sparkling eye palettes.

Nidhima Kohli's brainchild, Beauty Tribe is the region’s only online beauty store where products are hand-picked by a team of salon experts and delivered in just three hours.

Kohli was born in Luxembourg and raised there by parents of Indian descent. Before settling in the UAE in 2022, she lived and worked in London, Paris, and New York. A true beauty industry expert, Nidhima became an internationally qualified beautician at the London College of Beauty, a course that she studied as a hobby that would further help her in launching her platform.

Redefining beauty horizons

Beauty Tribe kicked off during Covid-19 to empower women and also help them boost their mood. Kohli speaks about her aim to grasp the beauty algorithms for women in the UAE market in the early days. "We aimed to help empower women to make better and more well-informed decisions to help them feel more confident. During Covid-19, I was in UAE and we quickly saw that women needed a trusted source to learn about all the products, how to use them, learn about the ingredients, receive tips and talk to a consultant for free whilst buying products with no hidden fees and receive them the same day."

Over the past ten years, the culture of male pampering has undergone a significant change. Shaving cream, deodorant, and shampoo used to be the extent of men's toiletries. But bathroom cabinets in middle-class households today overflow with moisturisers, face cleansers, eye serums, bronzers, concealers, anti-agers, and even mud treatments that are all specially made for guys. Keeping that in mind, Kohli has extended the platform for a further men's grooming segment. "We have now expanded into the rest of the Emirates, in Arabic too and for men too," adds Kohli.

My Beauty Matches and Beauty Matching Engine are both highly acclaimed online beauty platforms founded and created by Kohli after she noticed a lack of advice for her own skincare needs from beauty experts at various department stores.

Kohli keeps technology at the centre of her platforms for beauty. In her 2023 forecasts for the state of the beauty industry, she emphasised the need for personalisation. "Customers are becoming less loyal as more businesses enter the market, and the expense of digital advertising is rising. Being able to communicate with customers personally at scale will be a game changer and help brands develop a loyal customer base. Unveil Perso, the world's first AI-powered device to produce customised skincare and cosmetics formulae, is one example of smart skin care and hair care equipment."

The Game Changer

The likes of Vogue, Allure, Glamour, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, and many more international publications have all covered Kohli. Numerous prestigious industry awards and honours have been bestowed upon her, including 'Startup of the Year' by The Guardian UK, 'Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs' by Vogue, 'Best Use of Data Science and AI for Customer Experience' by the Data Science Awards, and 'Top 50 EU-India Beauty Leaders Award', which was presented at the UK Parliament, to name a few.

Aspired to effectively expand Beauty Tribe in the beauty sector over the next five years, Kohli shares her goals to take her company global. "I consider us to be the GCC's leading expert on beauty and the only website that men and women can rely on to acquire authentic goods, get reliable advice, and feel more certain about the things they purchase. Of course, it's possible to go global as well. Given my team and my skills, we are thinking BIG for sure. I have built two prior firms in Europe and the US in beauty, tech, and AI."

According to Kohli, she is a tech early adopter. Speaking about her early days in the beauty industry, Kohli gives us a brief overview of how technology has advanced too far. "I'm eager to use cutting-edge technology to run the website as the CEO of Beauty Tribe. Thoughts and views, in my opinion, are quite subjective, and evidence will show what works and what has or has not gone too far.

For instance, when I started my first business, everyone predicted that the category of beauty would do the worst online, but it did the best."

She further added: "I love the idea of using AI for personalisation or influencers or stock management or anything else possible as long as it is combined with a human touch. When Beauty NFTs launched it was a great buzz and a great solution for a PR campaign, for companies. However, the ROI from it has not been great. Data will soon reveal if customers like AI influencers or not. As for now, it is too soon to tell."

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