Teak is an NYC-based beauty brand that develops lip products for South Asians. It was developed remotely between London and Brooklyn by Telugu sisters Nupoora Reddy and Pooja Reddy. They named the brand Teak in homage to the beautifully carved Teak wood doors that adorn homes all over South Asia.

While we focus all of our resources like R&D, user testing, photography, and marketing towards helping South Asians find the best lipstick possible, we welcome all races, ethnicities, and colors of people to enjoy our products as it works for them.

Hello,

When we first discussed creating Teak, we asked ourselves, “Would it be weird if we created a beauty brand focused just on South Asians?” We’d seen South Asian-led brands before, but one that catered exclusively to this ethnic group? That was certainly new. To most people, the term “South Asian” evokes an image of a person in a single shade of medium brown. In reality, South Asians come in an unquantifiable number of skin and lip tone combinations – ranging from milky white to deep brown skin to lips in pinks, purples, and browns. With so many different complexions, South Asians rarely, if ever, see models who actually look like them modeling makeup that actually works for them.

We decided to create Teak to give South Asians a beauty experience they've never been afforded before, and the way to do it was to cater to the physical & cultural characteristics of this global majority (with 1.9 billion South Asians worldwide, making up 25% of the world population). So we got to work. While living across the Pond, with Pooja in Brooklyn and Nupoora in London, we started to develop our first collection of lipsticks.

We believe our brand will pave a new way for the beauty industry to think about supporting beauty needs. Yes, inclusivity matters; but in some cases, the way to be most inclusive is actually to exclusively put your focus on a one or a few. We believe it’s more than okay to serve the beauty needs of specific types of people really, really well, rather than trying to serve the beauty needs of everyone, all at once, not as well. We hope to see a future of beauty brands that are highly focused – whether that be for freckled gingers struggling to find foundation, East Asians searching for that perfect yellow-based concealer, or those with mixed-race skin looking for blush. For us, we are starting by helping South Asians find that perfect lipstick. 

While all of our R&D and marketing efforts focus on South Asians, we welcome all races, colors, and ethnicities to buy and enjoy our products. If the shoe fits for you too, by all means, wear it! :)

-Nupoora Reddy & Pooja Reddy

Want to chat with us?

Get in touch with us at hello@teakbeauty.com :)