Indian American entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala transformed a viral beauty tutorial into Live Tinted, a Los Angeles brand addressing hyperpigmentation, sun protection, colorism, and the beauty needs of diverse skin tones.
Editorial Note
Minority-Owned Business Spotlight is a recurring New To Education series highlighting businesses with publicly documented minority, immigrant, women, veteran, Indigenous, or historically underrepresented founder and ownership stories.
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, paid promotion, investment recommendation, product review, medical recommendation, or confirmation that the business qualifies for a particular government or private minority-business certification.
Live Tinted publicly identifies Indian American entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala as its founder. The company recently appointed Sherry Jhawar as chief executive officer, while Mutyala continues as founder, visionary, and a member of the board. Readers seeking a formally certified minority-owned supplier should independently verify the company’s current ownership structure and certification status.
A beauty company can sell makeup and skincare while also challenging who the industry traditionally considers when developing those products.
That broader purpose has shaped Live Tinted, a Los Angeles-based beauty brand founded by Indian American entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala.
The company grew from Mutyala’s experience as a South Asian woman who rarely saw her skin tone or beauty concerns represented accurately in mainstream advertising and product development. Instead of beginning with a large product collection, she first built an online community where people could discuss colorism, hyperpigmentation, cultural identity, and the frustration of using products that were not designed with their complexions in mind.
Live Tinted later transformed those conversations into a consumer brand offering makeup, skincare, complexion products, color correctors, and sun protection intended to work across a wide range of skin tones. The company describes its mission as changing the beauty narrative and celebrating people of every “tint.”
Its development offers an important business lesson. Mutyala did not begin by asking how she could persuade customers to purchase a product she had already created. She began by listening to people whose needs were frequently overlooked and then built products around the problems they described.
A Beauty Brand Rooted in Indian American Experience
Deepica Mutyala grew up in Texas in an Indian family.
Her relationship with beauty was influenced by both American and South Asian expectations. She has described wearing kajal and red lipstick as part of cultural traditions while also growing up in an environment where mainstream beauty standards often centered lighter skin, blond hair, and Eurocentric features.
Colorism also existed within the South Asian community. Mutyala has spoken about being encouraged to avoid becoming darker and about the emotional effect of beauty standards that associated lighter skin with greater desirability.
Those experiences later influenced Live Tinted’s emphasis on complexion, hyperpigmentation, and products capable of appearing visibly on deeper skin tones.
The brand’s story is therefore not simply about increasing the number of shades available. It is about recognizing that people approach beauty through culture, family, identity, and years of messages about which features should be celebrated or concealed.
A Viral Red-Lipstick Tutorial Changed Mutyala’s Career
Mutyala gained widespread attention in 2015 after publishing a video demonstrating how red lipstick could help neutralize the appearance of dark under-eye circles on deeper skin.
The color-correction technique was already known among professional makeup artists, but Mutyala presented it to an audience that often struggled to find tutorials and products addressing similar complexions.
The video accumulated more than 10 million views and led to national television appearances.
Its success demonstrated that a large unmet audience existed.
Millions of consumers were not merely looking for another beauty personality. They were searching for practical information that recognized how products behaved on their skin.
Mutyala could have treated the viral moment as a temporary media opportunity. Instead, she used the attention to explore a much larger question: why did people with deeper and varied skin tones need to improvise solutions because the beauty industry had not designed enough products for them?
That question became the foundation of Live Tinted.
Community Came Before the Product Line
Live Tinted initially developed as a digital platform and online community rather than a conventional cosmetics company.
Mutyala used social media to encourage conversations about identity, colorism, beauty standards, and representation. Community members shared concerns that were often missing from mainstream beauty discussions.
This gave the future company something extremely valuable: direct knowledge of its audience.
Traditional market research may involve surveys, focus groups, demographic data, and product testing. Live Tinted’s community provided an ongoing conversation in which potential customers explained their frustrations in their own words.
They discussed dark circles, uneven pigmentation, sunscreen that left a visible white cast, cosmetics that disappeared on deeper complexions, and advertising that treated inclusion as a temporary campaign.
Those conversations helped the company understand that representation had to influence product development, not merely marketing photographs.
The Huestick Turned a Beauty Hack Into a Product
Live Tinted launched its first major beauty product, the Huestick, in 2019.
The multipurpose color-correcting stick built upon the red-lipstick technique that had originally brought Mutyala attention. Instead of asking customers to use a lipstick as an improvised corrector, Live Tinted developed a product intended specifically for correcting discoloration while also functioning on the eyes, lips, and cheeks.
The launch demonstrated how entrepreneurs can convert an informal workaround into a commercial product.
Consumers regularly invent their own solutions when existing products do not meet their needs. They combine items, modify tools, or use a product for a purpose the manufacturer never intended.
Those behaviors can reveal business opportunities.
The entrepreneur’s task is to determine whether the workaround reflects a widespread problem and whether a better-designed solution can offer convenience, safety, consistency, and value.
The Huestick reportedly sold out after its launch and generated a substantial waiting list, showing that the community’s interest could translate into purchasing demand.
Hyperpigmentation Became a Central Business Opportunity
Hyperpigmentation occurs when areas of skin become darker than the surrounding skin. It can follow acne, irritation, inflammation, sun exposure, hormonal changes, injury, or other causes.
Although people across many skin tones experience hyperpigmentation, it can be especially visible and persistent in deeper complexions.
Beauty and skincare companies historically did not always center those customers when designing products, imagery, clinical testing, or educational materials.
Live Tinted positioned hyperpigmentation as a core product-development category rather than an afterthought.
The company now offers products designed to conceal discoloration temporarily, support more even-looking skin over time, and provide sun protection without the obvious residue associated with some mineral sunscreens.
This focus gave the brand a clearer identity.
Instead of attempting to compete in every beauty category immediately, Live Tinted concentrated on a problem closely connected to the founder’s experience and the needs expressed by its community.
The Difference Between Shade Range and Genuine Inclusion
Beauty brands frequently demonstrate inclusion by advertising the number of foundation shades they sell.
A broad shade range can be important, but numbers alone do not guarantee that products work equally well across complexions.
Undertones matter. Pigment intensity matters. Sunscreen residue matters. Photography and lighting matter. Product testing matters.
A company may technically include deeper shades while giving those shades less development, less inventory, or less advertising.
Live Tinted’s approach suggests that inclusion should begin with the problem being solved.
A blush advertised as universal must be visible across different complexions. A color corrector should account for variation in pigmentation. A sunscreen intended for widespread use should be evaluated for the appearance it leaves on deeper skin.
Representation becomes meaningful when it changes formulation, testing, product design, and decision-making.
Hueguard Addressed a Common Sunscreen Problem
Sunscreen has presented a persistent challenge for many consumers with deeper skin tones.
Some mineral formulas can leave a noticeable white, gray, or purple cast. The product may provide protection while making the wearer feel that their complexion has been covered with residue.
This discourages regular use and forces customers to choose between appearance and protection.
Live Tinted developed the Hueguard line to address sun protection while paying attention to how the formula appears across complexions. The company now sells tinted and invisible sunscreen products for the face and body.
From a business perspective, Hueguard illustrates the value of examining why customers abandon an otherwise useful product.
The problem may not be that consumers reject sunscreen. They may reject a specific texture, appearance, smell, packaging design, or interaction with makeup.
A company that identifies the barrier can develop a product that makes the desired behavior easier.
Live Tinted Expanded Beyond Makeup
Live Tinted began with color correction but gradually expanded into a wider hybrid of makeup and skincare.
Its current product assortment includes complexion sticks, bronzing and blush products, liquid highlighters, lip and eye products, hyperpigmentation-focused skincare, and facial and body sunscreens.
Expansion creates opportunity because existing customers may purchase products across several categories.
It also introduces risk.
Every new item requires formulation, safety testing, packaging, manufacturing, inventory, customer education, quality control, marketing, and working capital.
A company can damage its reputation by expanding faster than its systems can support.
Live Tinted’s growth illustrates the challenge of maintaining a clear mission while entering categories already filled with large competitors.
The company must continue explaining why each new product belongs within its approach to inclusive beauty rather than appearing to launch products merely because the category is popular.
Becoming a South Asian-Owned Brand at Ulta Beauty
Live Tinted’s entry into Ulta Beauty represented a significant retail milestone.
Industry profiles have identified it as the first South Asian-owned beauty brand to launch at the retailer.
Retail placement can transform a beauty company.
A direct-to-consumer brand depends heavily on digital advertising, social media, shipping, and customers being willing to purchase products without testing them first.
A national beauty retailer allows consumers to see colors in person, examine textures, ask employees questions, and discover the brand while shopping for other items.
Retail also creates new operational pressure.
The company must produce enough inventory for stores, deliver on time, manage returns, support retail employees, maintain consistent packaging, and compete visually on crowded shelves.
Winning retail placement is therefore not the end of the challenge. It is the beginning of a more complicated stage of business growth.
Physical Retail Tests Whether Online Popularity Can Scale
Digital communities can make a brand appear larger than its actual purchasing base.
People may like, share, or comment without buying. A viral video may create attention that disappears within days.
Physical retail tests whether the company can perform consistently outside the founder’s direct audience.
A shopper may encounter Live Tinted without knowing Mutyala’s history or following her online. The product must communicate its purpose through packaging, placement, price, and performance.
This is a major transition for creator-founded businesses.
The founder’s personality may have attracted the original audience, but the company eventually needs a brand identity that can stand on its own.
Live Tinted’s continued expansion within beauty retail suggests an effort to make that transition from founder-led online community to a broader consumer company.
New Investment Supported the Company’s Expansion
Recent reports indicate that Live Tinted secured additional investment to support retail growth, product development, and expansion in the United States and Canada.
The company’s investors have included funds connected to major beauty and consumer companies, including L’Oréal’s BOLD venture arm and Unilever Ventures.
Outside investment can help a company finance inventory, hire employees, develop products, and enter national retail.
It can also change the pressures facing the founder.
Investors generally expect growth and a future financial return. That can encourage a company to expand more quickly, enter new categories, or pursue markets beyond its original community.
The challenge is using capital without allowing short-term growth expectations to weaken the reason the company attracted customers in the first place.
For Live Tinted, that means maintaining its commitment to complexion inclusivity and community-informed product development while operating at a larger commercial scale.
A New CEO Marks a Significant Leadership Transition
In June 2026, Live Tinted appointed Sherry Jhawar as chief executive officer.
Reports described Jhawar as a longtime adviser and board member with previous beauty-industry leadership experience. Mutyala is continuing as founder, visionary, and board member, while co-founder and chief operating officer Neilesh Mutyala remains in his operational role.
This leadership change is important because it reflects a stage many founder-led companies eventually reach.
The skills required to identify an unmet need and create a brand are not identical to those required to manage a growing retail organization.
A professional CEO may focus on operations, finance, distribution, hiring, retail partnerships, and long-term scaling. The founder can remain deeply involved in mission, product vision, community, and creative direction.
The arrangement can succeed when responsibilities are clear and both leaders respect the value the other brings.
It can fail when the founder feels removed from the company’s identity or when professional management treats the original mission as only a marketing device.
Founder and CEO Are Not Always the Same Role
Entrepreneurship stories often present the founder as the permanent chief executive.
That is not the only successful leadership model.
A founder may be strongest at storytelling, product development, community building, innovation, or creative strategy. Another executive may have greater experience managing supply chains, retail expansion, budgets, and organizational structure.
Bringing in a CEO does not automatically mean the founder has failed or lost influence.
It can indicate that the company is developing beyond one person’s ability to manage every function.
The important questions are whether the leadership transition protects the company’s mission, whether decision-making remains accountable, and whether the organization becomes more capable.
Live Tinted’s next phase will show how effectively it can combine Mutyala’s cultural and creative leadership with Jhawar’s executive management.
Creator-Led Brands Have an Advantage and a Vulnerability
Mutyala built trust before Live Tinted became a large product company.
Her audience understood her personal experience with colorism, under-eye pigmentation, South Asian representation, and the beauty industry.
That credibility reduced the distance between the founder and customer.
Creator-led brands can move quickly because the founder has direct access to feedback and a platform for introducing products.
They are also vulnerable when the company becomes too dependent on one person.
A founder’s public controversy, exhaustion, reduced visibility, or changing career interests can affect the entire business.
The company therefore needs institutional trust in addition to personal trust.
Customers should continue valuing Live Tinted’s products and mission even when Mutyala is not personally explaining every launch.
Representation Can Become Product Intelligence
Live Tinted shows why diverse leadership can improve business decision-making.
People who have experienced an overlooked problem may identify opportunities that established companies fail to recognize.
Mutyala understood that deeper skin tones were not simply additional shades at the end of a product range. They could involve different concerns about pigmentation, undertones, visible residue, and how strongly a color appears.
Her cultural experience gave her information.
That information became a product strategy.
This does not mean every founder can represent everyone who shares a racial or cultural background. South Asian communities include enormous variation in skin tone, nationality, religion, language, income, and personal preference.
It means lived experience can reveal questions that a less diverse product team may never think to ask.
Colorism Is Both Cultural and Commercial
Colorism refers to unequal treatment or preference based on skin tone, often favoring lighter skin within the same racial or ethnic group.
It has influenced beauty standards across many societies, including South Asian communities.
Beauty companies have historically profited from these pressures through skin-lightening products, advertising, and imagery that treated lighter complexions as more desirable.
A brand challenging colorism enters a complicated industry.
It must sell products without suggesting that every natural variation needs correction. It must address hyperpigmentation without implying that darker skin itself is a flaw.
Live Tinted attempts to distinguish between helping customers address specific concerns and encouraging them to reject their natural complexion.
The company’s name and mission emphasize celebrating different tints rather than pushing everyone toward one standard.
That distinction should remain central as the brand grows.
Inclusive Marketing Must Be Matched by Inclusive Operations
A company can feature a diverse group of models while maintaining leadership, investment, suppliers, and product testing that do not reflect the same inclusion.
Consumers have become more skeptical of brands that adopt representation only when it is commercially fashionable.
Live Tinted’s founder story gives it credibility, but credibility must be maintained through operations.
The company should continue evaluating who participates in product development, who receives contracts, whose feedback shapes decisions, and whether employees have real opportunities to advance.
A minority-founded business is not automatically perfect.
Its significance comes partly from expanding ownership and leadership, but it should still be evaluated through product quality, employee treatment, environmental responsibility, customer service, and honest communication.
Beauty Products Must Avoid Overstating Health Claims
Live Tinted operates across makeup, skincare, and sun protection.
These categories can involve claims about appearance, pigmentation, protection, and skin condition.
Companies must communicate carefully.
A cosmetic product may reduce the visible appearance of discoloration without treating an underlying medical condition. Sunscreen can reduce exposure when used correctly, but no product eliminates all risk.
Hyperpigmentation can also have multiple causes, and persistent or changing skin concerns may require professional evaluation.
Responsible beauty marketing should explain what a product is designed to do without creating unrealistic expectations.
Customers deserve clear information about ingredients, directions, limitations, and testing.
A brand built around underserved consumers carries an especially important responsibility not to exploit their frustration with exaggerated promises.
Indian American Identity Is Central but Not Limiting
Live Tinted emerged from Mutyala’s Indian American experience, but the company does not market its products only to South Asian customers.
Concerns involving discoloration, undertones, visible sunscreen residue, and insufficient pigmentation affect people across multiple backgrounds.
This creates a useful expansion model for culturally rooted businesses.
The founder can begin with a specific community and problem while developing products that serve a wider audience.
The company does not need to remove its South Asian identity to become broadly relevant.
Its specificity can be an advantage.
Customers often respond more strongly to a company with a genuine point of view than to one attempting to present itself as universally relevant from the beginning.
From Representation to Business Infrastructure
Mutyala’s visibility is an important part of Live Tinted, but the company’s long-term success will depend on less visible systems.
Products must be manufactured consistently. Retail inventory must arrive on schedule. Customer concerns must be addressed. Financial controls must guide spending. Formulas must comply with applicable standards.
Employees need leadership and clear responsibilities.
Many founder profiles focus on inspiration because inspiration is easier to communicate than operations.
The less glamorous work is what determines whether a business survives.
Live Tinted’s executive transition and new investment suggest that it is strengthening the infrastructure required to operate beyond its startup phase.
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Live Tinted
The first lesson is to study workarounds.
Mutyala’s red-lipstick tutorial became popular because consumers were solving a real problem with a product that had not been designed for that purpose. The Huestick created a more direct solution.
The second lesson is to build listening into the company.
Live Tinted’s community helped identify product needs before the brand launched a wide collection.
The third lesson is to begin with a focused problem.
Hyperpigmentation, visible sunscreen residue, and makeup performance on varied skin tones gave the company a clearer purpose than simply announcing another inclusive beauty line.
The fourth lesson is that retail expansion requires operational preparation.
National placement can increase revenue and awareness, but it also creates inventory, logistics, staffing, and financial demands.
The final lesson is that founders should not assume they must personally lead every business function forever.
Hiring experienced executives can protect the founder’s vision when leadership responsibilities are designed thoughtfully.
Why Live Tinted Fits This Spotlight Series
Live Tinted adds a different type of Indian American company to New To Education’s spotlight series.
You have already covered Indian-owned businesses connected to food, chai, restaurants, spices, and desserts. Live Tinted introduces readers to beauty technology, product development, creator entrepreneurship, venture investment, retail distribution, and representation within the cosmetics industry.
The company is also located in California, meeting the geographic focus of the series.
Its story demonstrates how an Indian American founder converted a personal and cultural challenge into a commercially recognizable brand.
It also shows that minority-owned businesses can identify markets that larger corporations overlooked, not because the markets were too small, but because decision-makers did not fully understand the consumers within them.
Supporting Indian American-Owned Businesses Responsibly
Customers can support Indian American-owned companies by purchasing products, sharing accurate information, and learning about businesses beyond familiar restaurant and hospitality categories.
Indian American entrepreneurs operate in beauty, medicine, engineering, technology, finance, education, design, manufacturing, law, media, and many other industries.
Support should not require uncritical praise.
Consumers can appreciate the importance of representation while still evaluating price, product performance, customer service, labor practices, and environmental claims.
That form of support treats minority-owned companies as serious businesses rather than charitable projects.
It allows them to earn loyalty through value while receiving fair recognition for the cultural and economic barriers their founders have navigated.
How New To Education Approaches Minority-Owned Business Spotlights
New To Education publishes Minority-Owned Business Spotlights to introduce readers to entrepreneurs whose companies connect ownership with innovation, education, culture, employment, and economic opportunity.
These articles do not rank businesses or guarantee the quality of their products and services.
They examine publicly documented stories that may provide useful lessons for students, educators, aspiring entrepreneurs, professionals, and consumers.
Live Tinted provides a valuable case study in community research, inclusive design, social-media entrepreneurship, retail growth, beauty standards, leadership transition, and the commercial importance of developing products for populations historically overlooked by major industries.
Key Takeaways
Live Tinted is a Los Angeles-based beauty brand founded by Indian American entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala.
Mutyala gained widespread attention in 2015 through a viral tutorial demonstrating how red lipstick could help color-correct dark under-eye circles on deeper skin.
She developed Live Tinted first as a community discussing beauty, colorism, identity, and representation before launching its initial products.
The company’s first major product, the Huestick, transformed an improvised beauty technique into a dedicated color-correcting and multipurpose product.
Live Tinted later expanded into complexion products, skincare, highlighters, lip and eye products, and sun protection designed to work across varied skin tones.
The brand reached a major milestone by entering Ulta Beauty and has expanded its physical retail presence.
In June 2026, Live Tinted appointed Sherry Jhawar as CEO. Mutyala remains involved as founder, visionary, and board member.
The company’s growth demonstrates how lived experience and community feedback can become valuable sources of product and market intelligence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Live Tinted?
Live Tinted is a California beauty brand offering makeup, skincare, complexion, color-correcting, and sun-protection products designed with varied skin tones in mind.
Who founded Live Tinted?
The company was founded by Indian American entrepreneur and beauty creator Deepica Mutyala.
Where is Live Tinted based?
Public business records and company profiles place Live Tinted in Los Angeles, California.
What made Deepica Mutyala famous?
She gained widespread attention through a 2015 video showing how red lipstick could be used to help neutralize the appearance of dark under-eye circles.
What was Live Tinted’s first major product?
The Huestick was its first major beauty product. It was developed as a multipurpose color-correcting stick that could also be worn on the eyes, lips, and cheeks.
Does Live Tinted make only makeup?
No. Its product range now includes makeup, complexion products, hyperpigmentation-focused skincare, and facial and body sunscreens.
Who is the current CEO?
Sherry Jhawar was appointed chief executive officer in June 2026. Deepica Mutyala continues as founder, visionary, and a member of the board.
Is Live Tinted formally certified as minority-owned?
Public sources document Mutyala’s Indian American identity and role as founder. This article does not claim that Live Tinted holds a specific government or private minority-business certification.
Is the brand only for South Asian customers?
No. The company’s origin is strongly connected to South Asian representation, but its products are marketed for customers across a wide range of complexions and backgrounds.
Final Thoughts
Live Tinted began with a frustration that millions of people understood.
Beauty products and tutorials did not consistently reflect the needs of consumers with deeper, varied, or frequently overlooked skin tones.
Deepica Mutyala turned that frustration into content, community, and eventually a company.
The brand’s strength came from treating representation as product information. The experiences of people who had been overlooked helped identify what products should be created, how they should perform, and which problems required more thoughtful solutions.
Live Tinted is now entering a new phase.
Outside investment, retail expansion, a broader product line, and a new chief executive bring opportunities to reach more consumers. They also create pressure to grow without weakening the community-centered identity that distinguished the company.
The next measure of success will not be visibility alone.
It will be whether Live Tinted can continue developing products that solve real problems, maintain customer trust, build a durable organization, and show that inclusive beauty is not a temporary marketing trend.
It is a serious business strategy built around consumers who should never have been overlooked in the first place.
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Sources
Live Tinted — About Us
https://www.livetinted.com/pages/about
Live Tinted — Official Website
Deepica Mutyala — Founder Profile
Allure — Deepica Mutyala Makes the Beauty Products Her Followers Couldn’t Find
https://www.allure.com/story/deepica-mutyala-live-tinted-interview
InStyle — How Deepica Mutyala Created an Inclusive Beauty Brand With One Product
https://www.instyle.com/beauty/makeup/deepica-mutyala-live-tinted-interview
Teen Vogue — Live Tinted, Deepica Mutyala, and South Asian Representation
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/live-tinted-deepica-mutyala-phenomenal-collaboration
TIME — Deepica Mutyala Is a Beauty Influencer for Every Skin Tone
https://time.com/6174937/deepica-mutyala-2/
Cosmetics Business — Live Tinted Appoints Sherry Jhawar as CEO
https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/live-tinted-poaches-sherry-jhawar-as-ceo
Forbes — Deepica Mutyala Built Live Tinted as a Brand and Community
