From Bollywood star to beauty mogul: Katrina Kaif opens up on makeup, mindset and building a global beauty brand

She’s been one of Bollywood’s most bankable stars for nearly two decades, but Katrina Kaif is also a force behind the scenes, quietly rewriting the rules of Indian beauty entrepreneurship. As the co-founder of Kay Beauty, Katrina has blended her personal journey with a sharp business vision to create one of the most successful celebrity-backed beauty brands in India. In an exclusive conversation with Entertainment Times, The Times of India, Katrina opened up about her entrepreneurial shift, her lessons from the world’s best makeup artists, and the legacy she hopes to leave in the beauty industry. Here are excerpts from the interview:

You have been in front of the camera for nearly two decades. What was the biggest mental shift you had to make when stepping into the role of an entrepreneur?

Katrina: Being in front of the camera for so many years gave me an instinctive understanding of makeup, but stepping into the role of an entrepreneur required a different mindset. As an actor, so much of your focus is on performance in the moment. With Kay Beauty, it became about long-term vision - building something that could grow beyond me, creating products that would really stand the test of time, and shaping a community around the brand. It has always been about creating something bigger than just myself. It has always been built with the community at its heart. From the very beginning, the vision was to create a brand that feels welcoming, celebratory, and empowering - a space where everyone can see themselves reflected. The spirit of the brand lies in building a collective identity, one that mirrors the vibrancy, individuality, and creativity of the community that interacts with it.


Working with some of the best hair and makeup artists in the world, what behind-the-scenes beauty lessons have stayed with you and shaped your approach to creating products?Katrina: I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the most talented hair and makeup artists in the world, and watching them up close really shaped the way I see beauty. I would often observe their different techniques, and over time, I even began doing most of my own make-up for films and stage shows. That experience taught me that the right formulas make all the difference.

For me, that meant products with highly blendable, buildable pigments, soft textures, and formulas that were long-stay but still felt breathable and lightweight on the skin- especially important in India’s hot, humid climate. Having sensitive skin myself, paying close attention to the ingredients, so that makeup was high-performing, but also kind and gentle on the skin. This is at the core of our innovation. Every formula is created to feel like a second skin- effortless, expressive, and long stay, while delivering the performance that both professionals and everyday consumers can rely on.
In the beauty industry, creativity often has to balance with commercial reality. How have you learned to navigate that fine line?

Katrina: For me, it’s always about balance. Creativity drives the brand, but practicality ensures it reaches people. So, the question is, can this idea excite me creatively, deliver something new to our consumers and be useful in everyday life? That’s the sweet spot.

The beauty market is saturated and competitive. What’s the one piece of advice you would give to a young entrepreneur who wants to launch their own beauty line today?

Katrina: Stay authentic. Consumers today want a brand that comes from a genuine place. If your product and story are true to you, people will connect with it.

What were the biggest surprises for you when you moved from being a beauty consumer to actually building and managing a brand?

Katrina: The scale of it and the continuous scale and volume of the work, our innovation process is always on, and we are always looking for how we can elevate our consumers’ make up routines. Behind every lipstick or a foundation, there are many, many hours that go into the innovation of it - the formulation and the testing etc. From shade-matching for different skin tones, to testing textures in humid weather, to packaging design, logistics, and regulations, it’s a whole universe. So much detail goes into making something feel effortless. But I enjoy the process, and it also makes me even more determined that everything we put out has to come from a genuine place and we are constantly asking ourselves questions like - how will this product help the consumers or fit into their beauty routines?

Your family has seen you through every chapter of your career. How have they supported you in your entrepreneurial journey, especially during the more challenging phases?

Katrina: My family has always been my grounding force. They give me perspective, calmness, and the strength to keep going when things get tough.

Entrepreneurship comes with its share of failures and course corrections. How do you personally deal with moments when things don’t go as planned?

Katrina: I look at them as lessons. You learn from your mistakes, you grow, and you move forward and don’t let it stop you.
Having worked across different eras of Bollywood and seen beauty trends evolve, what shifts in consumer mindset do you think will define the next decade?

Katrina: One of the biggest shifts I’ve seen is that beauty is becoming more and more about celebrating individuality and less about following certain rules and standards. Earlier, trends often dictated how people looked, but now it’s so much more personal, individual and evolving.

For South Asian consumers especially, there’s such a rich cultural influence - from the colours of our festivals, to the beauty looks we’ve grown up with in cinema, and I see people embracing that heritage with pride. At the same time, they want products that are high-performance, shades that complement their undertones and makeup that is easy to use in everyday life.

So, the future of beauty, to me, is about celebrating that balance: authenticity and self-expression, rooted in culture but relevant for a modern, global audience.

In today’s climate of conscious consumerism, how important is it for beauty brands to have a strong ethical stance and how should founders approach that from day one?

Katrina: It’s non-negotiable. People today don’t just buy a product; they observe and notice your values. Being cruelty free and skin-loving was important to us from day one when we started building the brand.
What would you like your legacy to be in the beauty world, something beyond just products or profits?

Katrina: For me, legacy is about creating something lasting and meaningful. It was always important that the brand stood for more than just our products. From the beginning, I wanted it to be a space where individuality is celebrated, and there is inclusive representation of all the diversity in beauty. That’s how the Kay Kommunity came alive, through our campaigns and through our storytelling, where we spotlight voices, stories and talent that inspire us and offer a platform to support aspiring make-up artists aiming to enter into the industry. What matters most to me is that the brand continues to inspire confidence and creativity. I’d love for its legacy to be about more than makeup - about building a space where people feel celebrated, supported, and free to express themselves in their own unique way.

With the brand debuting internationally through Space NK in the UK, what does this expansion represent for the brand’s identity, and how do you envision connecting with a global audience that may perceive beauty through a different cultural lens?

Katrina: The UK launch is a really proud moment for us. The South Asian community there is so vibrant, and so many people have grown up with Hindi cinema, where beauty is expressive, emotional, and deeply tied to our culture. That same spirit is what inspired the brand, it comes from my own journey of discovering makeup on film sets and realising how empowering it can be in real life.

Every product is created with our undertones, our climate, and our lifestyles in mind, and inspired by the richness of our beauty culture. Each formula is lightweight, enriched with care ingredients, and crafted to feel effortless, whether you’re getting ready for your day, celebrating a festival, or dressing for a special occasion. It’s beauty that’s rooted in South Asian culture.

To now see the brand at Space NK, and to be the first India-founded brand on their shelves, feels very special. For me, it’s about sharing our story in an authentic way. Beauty may be seen differently in different cultures, but at the core it’s about individuality, self-expression, and having fun with makeup - a universal feeling. We hope that people in the UK will connect with that thought, while also experiencing the vibrancy and colour that are such an integral part of our culture and of the brand.

Your recently launched foundation has quickly become a breakout success. In your view, what does its popularity reveal about the evolving beauty preferences of Indian consumers and how are you looking to shape future innovations?

Katrina: I think it says a lot about how Indian beauty preferences are evolving. Makeup has often been associated with heavy coverage, and while that still has its place on some occasions, consumers today also want comfort, breathability, and a more skin-like finish. The foundation brings together both worlds: it gives you coverage and radiance and has SPF 40 to ensure your skin remains protected from the sun, but it feels incredibly lightweight, which is perfect for the Indian climate. To me, this shift reflects a larger mindset change - Moving away from wanting to “cover up” our skin, and instead wanting to enhance it. People are also looking for products that are easy to use, portable, and practical for everyday life. That’s something we really kept in mind while creating it. For the future, it encourages us that we need to keep innovating in this space, creating products that are not only high-performing and skin-loving, but also multi-tasking, and effortless. Beauty today is about freedom, ease, and authenticity. And I think our cushion foundation is a perfect example of where Indian beauty is headed, and the brand will continue to push forward with all our innovations.

What comes through in this conversation is just how deeply personal the brand is to Katrina Kaif. It isn’t a vanity project, it’s a carefully thought-out brand born from her lived experience as both a global star and a beauty consumer. From talking about her family’s support system to championing inclusivity, she positions the brand as more than just a line of products, it’s a community-driven space that celebrates individuality. As she takes the brand global with its UK launch, Katrina makes it clear that her vision isn’t only about beauty routines, but also about creating a cultural bridge, one that proudly carries South Asian identity into the world of modern beauty.