Garima Ahluwalia sees Ficus as an intersection between nature and science. She believes that nature is also science. Ficus’ hero product, the Super Flower Nourish Cream leans on medicinal botanicals and modern actives.
Ahluwalia has worked in consumer spaces on the e-commerce front. Those companies include Lululemon and Amazon Fashion. She was exposed to fashion and beauty early in her career. Her first internship in business school was at Estee Lauder. That’s where her journey in the beauty industry began. She was completely mesmerized and enamored by the space, and by the beauty industry’s ability to impact how women feel and how they perceive themselves.
It was always in the back of her mind that she wanted to do something bigger in beauty and eventually make something of her own. She just had to find the right idea that excited her. Just before she launched Ficus, she ran beauty strategy for a Fortune 5 company. That role gave her a front row seat into the inner workings of the beauty industry, everything from merchandising to operations and supply chain. She learned how consumers shopped and how brands sold to consumers. She was hearing heavy conversations around research and development and innovation in the skin care space but not as much in the body care space.
“I noticed a lot of how consumers moved around the store and they would stop at the facial care aisle, twist and turn the box to read every little detail they could learn before they decided to purchase it or not. When it came to body care it was like what’s on sale, is there a coupon I could use, what does it smell like. Let me get it,” she said.
That was six or seven years ago. Ahluwalia said since then, there has been a shift happening with consumers becoming more aware of what they put on their body. For her, she saw a void in body care that put skin health at the center. She knew that there would be an increase of consumers who care just as much about what they put on their skin as they did about what they put on their face. She said Ficus is for consumers who are excited about taking care of their entire body.
Ahluwalia doesn’t classify Ficus as a natural body care company. While she uses botanicals, she said that advancement in clinical science has developed amazing clinical actives. She wanted to bring nature and science together. As the Ficus team tested the Super Flower Nourish Cream, they found that the efficacy was maxed and the benefits were optimized when the formulation focused on natural as well as scientific ingredients. She said the medicinal botanicals have been hand-picked to honor the skin’s health.
Having a background in the beauty industry, Ahluwalia wanted to consciously talk about nourishment and the long-term health benefits of Ficus' products. She said people who use the Super Flower Nourish Cream will see their skin health improve over time, with users reporting that their body skin completely transforms within two weeks. People who have used the product for the last four to six weeks have also started to use the product on their face, as a primer for makeup and a moisturizer for daytime and nighttime.
Ahluwalia has a robust product pipeline of three to four products ready for R&D, but Ficus wanted to learn more about its consumer through the launch of the Super Flower Nourish Cream. Ficus was intentional to launch one product that was well made and learn what consumers are looking for to see what the next SKU should be. Ahluwalia said she wants Ficus to be as accessible as it can be, while also making a positive impact on consumers who are looking for body care that has health benefits.
Ahluwalia said she would love for Ficus and the Super Flower Nourish Cream to be in estheticians’ hands. She said it would be validation for the efficacy and accessibility of the product. She has been in conversations with estheticians to stock the products.
