Two young women from Gujarat are changing how India looks at beauty. Sheil Jain, founder of Gush Beauty, and Yushika Jolly, founder of Paradyes, have built brands that reflect confidence, creativity, and community. Both started with a clear idea: make beauty more accessible, honest and joyful for young people. Today have followers and customers all over India.
Their success shows how young Gujarati founders are leading the new age of beauty. One reel, one product, and one bold idea at a time.
Yushika Jolly – Paradyes: Colour without apology
Yushika Jolly, founder of Paradyes, wanted to break the fear around colouring hair. Born and raised in Ahmedabad, and a graduate from NIFT Gandhinagar, she combined her creative skills with her family’s chemical business knowledge to launch Paradyes in 2021. The brand offers semi-permanent, vegan, and cruelty-free hair colours that let people experiment safely and boldly.
The journey.
Paradyes started small but filled a gap in the Indian market: semipermanent, bold shades that don’t demand a salon visit or lifetime commitment. Their colours are vegan, cruelty-free, free of harsh chemicals like PPD, parabens, and ammonia.
The brand’s early traction culminated in a highvisibility appearance on Shark Tank India, which amplified sales, shopper curiosity and national conversations.
Milestones.
Paradyes’ appearance on Shark Tank, an equity deal with investor, and rapid online orders from across India moved the brand from niche to national notice. The company broadened its range by launching products related to hair colouring: conditioners, hair butters, temporary colours, pre-lightening / bleaching kits, grey coverage tints etc. They also started appearing in offline retail to make sampling easier.
Marketing moves.
Paradyes’ playbook is centred on bold visual storytelling:
• Show, don’t tell: colour transformations, before/after posts and honest fadetests create trust while showcasing vibrancy.
• Founderled authenticity: Yushika’s handson presence on Instagram and candid interviews helped the brand weather online controversy and convert attention into customers.
• Channel mix: D2C plus listings on big market places and selective retail presence gave customers multiple pathways to discover and buy.
Sheil Jain – Gush Beauty: Makeup that’s ‘fun, functional & fussfree’
Sheil Jain launched Gush in 2020 with a simple brief: uncomplicate makeup. Based in Ahmedabad, Sheil’s brand is a very Gujarati story, resourceful, designminded and built for scale from day one. Instead of chasing every trending product, Gush focused on doing more with less: multi-use products that save time, look natural, and make you feel good.
The journey
Sheil crowd sourced ideas from friends, bloggers and test groups, built a tight initial SKU set , and leaned hard on social proof. The brand’s voice is playful, approachable and unabashedly GenZ, made it relatable at first scroll and memorable at first use.
Each product has a smart design like the cult-favourite “Stacked in Your Favour” palette that combines blush, contour, and highlighter in one stack, or the “Glow Getter”that works as both a primer and moisturizer. All their products are vegan, cruelty-free, and skin-friendly, made to save time and make makeup simple.
Milestones
Gush grew fast through social media. Its reels showed everyday users trying makeup in under a minute – quick, honest, and real. Collaborations with popular influencers helped the brand reach Gen Z and millennial audiences who prefer authenticity over glamour.
Marketing moves
3Gush’s success is driven by three moves that any modern beauty founder should study:
• Smart campaigns: The “#NoRulesJustGush” campaign inspired people to wear makeup their way – no pressure, no rules.
• UGC & microinfluencer loops: Gush amplifies customer reels, shadeswatches and honest reviews instead of overproduced ads, which builds credibility fast.
• Playful identity: From stickers in parcels to a conversational copy voice, the brand feels like a friend rather than a corporation.
How these Gujarati founders are winning India – social media & beyond
Both Sheil and Yushika show how strong ideas, digital storytelling, and social connection can build national brands. Their social media is more than marketing, it’s community building.
• Visual first: short reels, swatch carousels and influencer GRWM formats make discovery effortless for the scroll generation.
• Community over campaign: Both brands treat customers as collaborators, asking for feedback, reposting UGC, and Co creating limited run shades or drops.
• Product → Story → Repeat: They launch one great idea, turn it into social content, then use that content to sell and iterate.
• Regional roots, national reach: Being Gujarati hasn’t been a limitation, it’s part of their story. Ahmedabad functions as a creative, costefficient hub that fuels national distribution and marketing.
Why it matters for Gujarat.
These stories show a new Gujarat – young, creative and digitally native. Instead of leaving for metro cities, founders are building national brands from Ahmedabad, celebrating local networks, and proving that D2C beauty and designled products can come from anywhere.
Two brands, shared DNA
Sheil and Yushika’s journeys are different in products. One simplifies makeup, the other democratizes colour; but both are tied together by the same Gujarati DNA. A pragmatic hustle, design sensibility and an appetite for growth. They are proof that a strong idea, a socialfirst marketing rhythm, and a founder who’s willing to be visible can turn a small startup into a national conversation.
Stay connected to Gujpreneur for more inspiring stories of young Gujarati founders who are shaping India’s future with creativity, innovation, and courage.
