India: Travels With My Legs

Legology took us to Mumbai at the beginning of December – a new adventure for me, and a country I’ve longed to visit for many years.  Nothing can prepare you for your first experience, everyone will tell you that, and it’s true.  Every sense – sight, sound, smell – is bombarded with newness, and it’s impossible to take the riot in.  So you end your first day in India dreaming of vivid colours, images and aromas.  And then you wake up, go out and get another hit, and so it goes on day after day. 

The beauty landscape is opening in India with new retail destinations like Sephora, Nykaa and Tira popping up across the major cities.  It’s a huge step for a country set for 100 years in the self-sufficient village economy philosophy inspired by Ghandi.   

Coming out of that mindset, Indian people are eyeing the newness of global brands with interest – you’ll find most of the core brands in these retailers along with a good smattering of K brands – while still remaining faithful to ‘khadi’, the love of home spun, with Indian brands like Forest Essentials, Lakme and Ruby’s Organics.  Into this mix, the Department of Trade want to bring smaller British beauty brands, like Legology, so off we went to Mumbai to see what opportunities we might find. 

Thinking local inspired me on product development too.  What would my Indian counterpart want from a leg care brand?  I know, from the many women I talked to, that products which deliver the Legology premise to contour, care and comfort will be well received.  The heat and humidity in India does its worst to legs that suffer with puffiness – I noticed that, and pollution is to be reckoned with in the cities.  So yes to deep drainage and lymphatic support.  And to aromatherapy – the practice is well understand here (our refined Cellu-Lite blend and Exfo-Lite salts will certainly find a welcome home in India) as is ayurvedic-based wellbeing and beauty.   

I’m thinking stretch mark and hair removal and an ice-cold foot cream – all with high functioning properties like turmeric, vitamin E, argan and coconut oils to deliver the fast, effective solutions Legology is already well known for – and will soon be in India.