Luxury On A Budget: Why Young Indian Women Love Minis
27 Jun 2025 6:20 PM IST
India’s beauty market is huge – the country has the sixth largest market in the world. But, our per capita spending on beauty products is still low: only about 15 dollars. That’s 1200 rupees. For context, in the US, per capita spending on beauty is 335 dollars.
That’s also one reason why ‘minis’ of beauty products are particularly popular in India. In the West, people use minis as samples or as travel packs. With more luxury brands like Rare Beauty, Laneige and Innisfree coming to India, Indian consumers prefer to buy 'minis' of these luxury products.
In the latest episode of The Signal Daily, we’ll hear from Indian consumers and learn about why they love buying minis of luxury beauty products. What does that say about aspiration, affordability, and identity among Indian women today?
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
NOTE: A machine transcribed this episode. A human has looked at this text but there might still be errors. Please refer to the audio above, if you need to clarify something. If you want to give us feedback, please write to us at [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT:
Kudrat (Host): The other day, while I was hanging out with a friend at the market in the South Delhi neighborhood of Green Park, we decided to step into a Nykaa showroom there. Now, I just wanted to check out the stuff inside, and not spend any money. But, as the saleswoman gave me a tour of the store – all the Korean, American and upscale Indian beauty brands, I realized that my barebones skincare routine was painfully lacking. The two of us later stepped out with bags full of products that were clearly out of our budget.
Maybe I’m not money-smart–but my example isn’t an aberration in the Indian context either. Right now, India is the sixth largest beauty market in the world. The BPC or beauty and personal care market in India will be worth 34 billion dollars by 2030, according to a recent report by research firm IBDO. But, the per capita spending on beauty in India is still low – at just 15 USD or 1200 rupees per person. That’s behind the per capita spending on beauty in the West, and even in China, the Gulf countries, and Brazil. For context, the global average of this figure is 72 US dollars.
Essentially, what this means is that while we Indians love our beauty products, we are also quite thrifty when it comes to spending on beauty.
And, that’s why minis of products — which in the West people use as samples and little travel packs, are what many Indian consumers also use on a daily basis. As more and more luxury brands — American celebrity Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, or Deepika Padukone’s 82°E, come on the market, Indians aspire to own them. But, since most Indians cannot afford it, we prefer to buy minis of those brands instead.
Kudrat (Host): I’m your host Kudrat Wadhwa and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends.
In this episode, we’ll learn about the ‘mini’ market of luxury beauty products. Why are Indian consumers gravitating towards mini versions of luxury beauty products — and what does that say about aspiration and identity among Indian women today?
Kudrat (Host): The Indian beauty market has seen a boom in the past two decades. The same IBDO report I mentioned earlier said that the organised offline beauty market is growing at a rate of 14%. At the same time, the e-commerce segment is growing much faster, at 25%, thanks to big names like Nykaa – India’s first online-first beauty retail chain.
The experience of consumers also reflects the same growth. Here’s Palak, a 32-year old woman talking about how she got interested in makeup and skincare.
Palak: my name is Palak. Um, I am 32 years and I'm from Bangalore.
I started buying beauty products, especially makeup products, I guess somewhere from Class 11th, so it's been almost 12 years now. The only thing is, initially, it was more of makeup products. Then slowly, slowly I moved on to skincare and you know, as when you are, you are in college, so you try to buy the brands which are more economical, and then slowly, slowly, once you start earning, you go to the higher end brands like.
so when I was in college, I used to prefer L'Oreal, Maybelline, MA and all. Now then, I guess from almost seven years or six years before I've started using brands like, um, UWT Mac, and then you have clinic, you have Forest Essentials, which is very good for your, uh, skincare.
Kudrat (Host): Like Palak, many young women – millennials and Gen Z – are moving beyond the basic brands of our youth. Even companies know that the luxury beauty market is coming up in India. Right now, luxury products hold only about a 4% share in India’s overall beauty market, according to a report by Kearney, a management consulting company. That’s unlike other Asian countries, where luxury has a higher market share.
Kearney predicts that as disposable incomes in India rise, and the middle class expands to reach 50% of the population by 2030, this luxury market will grow, at a CAGR of 14%.
It’s not that the middle class can necessarily afford to buy luxury but that this class is aspirational. The younger lot among them especially, so that’s people between the ages of 15 to 45, tend to spend rather than save.
Kudrat (Host): While our incomes are increasing, they’re not high enough for us to afford a 4,000 rupees Charlotte Tilbury lipstick or a 5,000 rupee Laneige moisturiser. But, consumers can buy a mini version of the same products at 1000 rupees. A lot of instagram influencers have been buying minis and later making videos of themselves.
Kudrat (Host): Minis are big in India – you’ll find minis of several brands on Nykaa’s website. There’s even websites that just sell sample-sized products. So, there’s smytten and trymefirst, yotobox. Smytten has actually gamified the process of buying – you earn trial points when you buy something and can later trade them.
Nishreen: Mini versions I buy when it is an expensive product. Like recently I bought, uh, minminis of this, the pickup brand, um, a 82 East.
I think that's what we say. Uh, so yeah, I mostly buy minis in the event there's uh, uh, there's a brand that's quite expensive, so it doesn't make sense to, in invest 3000, 4,000 or even more than that for a product only to realize it doesn't suit your skin.
Kudrat (Host): That was Nishreen, a 32-year-old woman who works at a government bank. Nishreen told The Signal Daily that when you see an instagram influencer recommend a product, you feel FOMO, so you want it too.
Nishreen: currently there's uh, this du Indian brand and everybody has been raving about it and mostly everybody speaks some good things about it. So the is basically like I.
I, I hear people speaking about it and also there's a thought that you want to try it, but it, it too expensive. 3000, 4,000, or even maybe more than that to invest in something like that. Or, or there's this, um, uh, ES A NRC down that costs like a, I think 7,000, 7,500 bucks for a small, uh, eight ml, eight ml bottle, I think.
So in cases of this, there is. Curiosity or wonder that why is it so expensive and why, despite being expensive, why do people still keep on the people who can, who buy it regularly, keep on purchasing it despite its high price?
So there's all, there's an expectation maybe that, you know, maybe it is worth it.
So I just want to try it, not just, you know, if there's an option to try it in a mini, mini, so why not?
Kudrat (Host): Palak said the same thing, that minis are good when you want to try a new product without shelling out thousands of rupees over something that could just be a hype..
Palak: So now, if you will see Mac Max lipstick, five years before used to be the full size lipstick, used to be a thousand rupees.
Now the same lipstick is around 2,500, but to consider the clientele who is currently new and who want to try out new shades or some shades, which you will not use on daily basis. The uh, mini version is now coming up into the a thousand rupees. So that is something which is really helpful for me. One.
Yes it does. Uh, save cost.
The second thing is if I am using something which I will not be using on daily purpose, and you know, might be, uh, it is for occasional use or some, uh, limited purpose, that time also the uh, minute thing comes up. If you want to try something new, you are not sure to buy the full size product there.
Also, it helps and obviously in travel it does help.
Like say if I know that I am using same, uh, there's one shade of meher, which is almost the best selling for Mac.
I guess all the girls of my age, they must be knowing. So they will go and buy the full size, but if they will come up with some new shades, which I don't know, how will it will suit on my skin. Especially so that with you and the, um, minis, uh, helps you a lot in gifting also, like if you want to give something some or something like this.
Kudrat (Host): In addition to minis being a good entryway into beauty, they’re also cute and make for good gifts. And of course, they’re nice if you’re traveling and don’t want to carry a heavy bag of products.
Minis make for nice gifts and are appropriate for travel. That’s what people in the West use them for. But, in India, consumers use minis for daily usage too. There’s some people who buy minis once, and then keep buying minis of the same products.
That’s despite the fact that this choice doesn’t make sense from a unit economics perspective. That’s bcoz a mini might be half the size of a regular size product, but its price will likely still be 2/3rds, since a lot of the money, especially with luxury products is in the packaging. So, why is that?
Nishreen: I don't think there's a very logical or valid justification except the fact that. Mostly, I think it is the, it is the moment of having like, okay, for a small product you still get to try a luxury brand. Hmm. So it is more of the curiosity. I don't think I have been able to really logically justify it.
Nishreen: I mean, it does make me feel good at least because, you know, you get that whole skincare, um, um, mostly the luxury brands when you buy it, they don't just send, uh, just deliver you the product.
They have this entire packaging. Okay? There's one brand, which I don't think is now very much in the news, but listen, skincare. Listen, science, skincare, something like that, had launched their products, which I think costed around like a sunscreen costed 1600. Not that expensive. But when I bought it, I remember it came in a box, which also had a good booklet and you know, it had stories about, about the brand, all the different kind of products it had in a very fan, in a very fancy, it wasn't just some cheap booklet.
It, I mean, they had invested in the marketing too. You could see that. So it wasn't some brown dba, which, uh, you open with a cell tape and you throw it away. It goes, it's, it's everything. The, they come in very nice packaging the way, um, even 82 ebox quite good. Mm. So there's also, they give you this entire experience of when the product gets delivered, how you open the packaging, all the different, maybe notes, maybe a, um, a, a sticker in that case, a booklet, and then you use the product.
Kudrat (Host): Buying a luxury brand is not just about utility or the fact that they have great ingredients. It’s also about the experience of it. Their presentation is a class apart. Starting from marketing – they usually work with big name celebs to what arrives in the mailbox – a gorgeous, classy box, with booklets that tell a story about the brand.
Even if someone cannot afford to buy a full-size skincare regimen from Laneige, at least they can get a taste for it, using their minis. The allure for women is a bit like their allure for skincare and having a beauty regimen too. It’s not just about what has clear results, but also about the feelings it evokes in you.
Nishreen: It actually means, I, I have to say this has skincare has actually quite been a learning experience. Like I said, I was someone who used to use back think that, oh, vanity and Ana everything.
But since I, I think I saw my friend and I realized if I'm working so hard and everything, so why cannot I also, why does working hard only mean that I have to do stuff for others, not for myself? Yeah, so I just started skincare when I saw my friend doing skincare. To be honest, I saw her house laden with every, every product we name, every brand new name, and I thought.
Why not me? At least let me do something. So I started slow. I I was roped into the whole 10 care skincare routine. Yeah. But overall, I think after learning everything, I do realize that when I look good, I feel good. I get compliments occasionally, what do I do? Everything. And more than that, feeling good is also, I think it is also instilled discipline in me when.
Remembering to do it regularly, even at, especially at nights when you're tired, finding a routine that works for you. Mm-hmm. It has actually made me in a, in a weird way, I don't know how to put into words, but it has made me believe that it is okay to take care of myself in any way I want. And it does not mean I am overspending or something like that.
It is alright to take care of me once in a while. And it's okay to invest in stuff that makes me feel good. Hmm. Got it. Got it. So thank you so much.
Kudrat (Host): Beauty isn’t just about looking good — it’s also about feeling seen.
A lot of our grandmothers and mothers are thrifty and never really did any self-care. I don’t think the older women in my family ever used moisturizer either.
But, for today’s young consumers, skincare and makeup are small but powerful acts of self-expression. And while full-size luxury products may be out of reach for most, minis offer a way in — a little piece of aspiration, wrapped in elegant packaging.
They’re not just travel-sized bottles or trial packs. They’re tokens of ambition. Of curiosity. Of wanting more — not just from a product, but from life.
So yes, maybe it’s not the most money-smart choice. But for a generation trying to balance dreams with budgets, minis are a compromise — and a statement. That we may be thrifty, but we still want luxury.
That’s all for today. You just heard The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we’ll bring you deep dives into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ on consumer trends.
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
If you have feedback, we’d love to hear from you. Write to us @[email protected].
Thank you for listening.
