• Beauty

This Homegrown Beauty Brand Cares About Science and Your Skin

Friday Feeling, a young Indian brand, prioritises suncare, skincare, and self-care.
  • ByMeghna Sharma

Friday Feeling Golden Hour and Second Nature Sunscreens

India is in the midst of a big beauty wave, with not only international brands bee-lining to hit Indian shores, but there is also a surge in homegrown brands claiming to offer the best lotions and potions.

And it can get challenging for an average consumer, nay, even seasoned beauty enthusiasts, to wade through this sea of skincare. Friday Feeling, a young brand with select offerings, aims to break the clutter in the homegrown beauty market through their science-backed formulations.

Co-founders and sisters Kavya Rai and Divya Rai were inspired by their equestrian brother—who trained in the sun for hours daily—to kickstart their entrepreneurial journey. “We were determined to make a difference, so we developed a sunscreen so effective and enjoyable to use that our brother began applying it religiously without any reminders. This was our eureka moment—we knew we had something special,” Divya tells The Word.

Kavya Rai and Divya Rai, co-founders of Friday Feeling
Divya Rai and Kavya Rai, Co-Founders of Friday Feeling

The inspiration behind Friday Feeling is simple yet powerful: “We wanted to create a skincare brand that combines the best of science, and, at the same time, was fun. In a market where products are either science-based and boring, or fun but not rooted in science, we saw a unique opportunity to bridge the gap with Friday Feeling,” adds Divya.

Most of Friday Feeling’s ingredients are proprietary blends, owned by some of the top laboratories around the world, including BASF and Bayer. “We source high quality ingredients required for these blends, and since our products are manufactured in India, we are able to sell them at a reasonably low price,” Kavya tells us.

When conceptualising Friday Feeling, Kavya and Divya consciously wanted to stay away from buzzwords homegrown beauty brands tend to use loosely. “Instead, we are redefining what it means to be an Indian brand: we are not ‘Ayurvedic’, we are not cheap, and we are not manufactured outside of India. As a modern Indian brand, we wanted to place our trust in local talent and create value beyond discounts,” says Kavya. “We view ourselves as a luxury brand by the products and experiences we create, not our prices. Our goal was to offer one of the most innovative sun protection formulas in the market and create awareness about skincare and self-care.”

Instagram will load in the frontend.

Friday Feeling debuted with Second Nature Sunscreen. Packed with SPF 50+ PA+++, the formula offers protection from sun damage (duh!), blue light, and pollution. True to its name, Second Nature forms an invisible veil, leaving a non-sticky, velvety finish. Some key ingredients in the formula include sunflower extract, tara spinosa, polysaccharide, phospholipids, alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, among others, that lend this sunscreen the ability to protect and reverse damage caused by sun exposure.

Kavya and Divya added another sunscreen to the mix for those who love chasing that perfect sunset vibe. And that’s how the Golden Hour Sunscreen was born. Along with sun protection, Golden Hour offers blemish-blurring and light-diffusing properties. The tinted formula, just like its cousin (Second Skin) is lightweight and feels weightless on skin. It is also packed with humectants and antioxidants, and it is water- and sweat-resistant…

Friday Feeling Siriusly Brightening Serum

For all those seeking clear, radiant skin, Friday Feeling’s latest offering—Siriusly Brightening Serum—might interest you. Housed in a tiny bottle with a roll-on applicator, this serum packs a big punch. It promises gentle exfoliation with the help of glycolic and Mandelic acid. It hydrates the skin and boosts the barrier as it is infused with hyaluronic acid and aloe vera extract. It also brightens the skin with the help of Vitamin C, tranexamic acid, niacinamide, and licorice extract. This formula also features a groundbreaking blend of papaya and guava extract, which claims to be three times as effective as kojic acid, but doesn’t leave the skin irritated or inflamed.

Instagram will load in the frontend.

Divya and Kavya also care about sustainability, but their approach is more realistic. “Sustainability is more complex than just choosing to use glass or recyclable packaging,” Kavya tells us. “In skincare, glass or metal packaging might not be an option, especially for sunscreen that needs to be protected from environmental degradation. That’s why, as a brand, our approach to sustainability is realistic and honest. For instance, when our first batches of the Second Nature tubes were printed with a lack of legibility—despite our vendor’s reassurances that it’d turn out perfect—instead of throwing all of those out we chose to use them and be upfront with our customers.”

The co-founders care deeply about building a community and use their social media platforms mindfully towards that—and cute, branded merch is a part of that.. “We’re very careful about how we use our platforms to interact with our community. It might yield slow results, but it is certainly worth it in the long run.”

Both Kavya and Divya believe in skin neutrality, aka forgoing the pressure to love your skin all the time, yet, at the same time, not use any negative terms to describe it. With Friday Feeling, they aimed to create a brand that feels like ‘Friday’, easy and fun, and foster a thriving skincare community.

Friday Feeling also offers its community cute merch