Live Tinted’s Deepica Mutyala Makes the Beauty Products Her Followers Can’t Find — Interview

Deepica Mutyala is a member of The A List, which honors individuals who are driving and shaping the future of beauty.

Red lipstick often makes an impact. But in Deepica Mutyala’s 2015 viral YouTube video — where she covered her dark circles with the help of a crimson-colored bullet — its effect was arguably life-changing. 

“I saw an opportunity to create a platform where people could come together and talk about issues that the beauty industry wasn’t addressing — like the colorism that I felt growing up and wished somebody had talked about,” says Mutyala, who is of South Asian descent. She created an Instagram account as a forum for this dialogue and called it “Live Tinted.”

What did she learn from the passionate conversations that developed there? “We have way more in common than we realize,” says Mutyala. “We all had shared experiences growing up where we were embarrassed by our skin tone or didn’t embrace our skin color.” In 2019, she was ready to take that connection further and introduced Live Tinted, the makeup brand.

“It didn’t require much market research. It was as simple as talking to our community and creating based on my own lived experiences,” says Mutyala. Her first product, Huestick, was a more refined version of her famous lipstick trick, in pigments that could be worn on lips, cheeks, and eyes (yes, including the area under them).

Since then, every Live Tinted launch has been solution-driven. But the brand’s scope has evolved. “Our first slogan was ‘Every shade in between,'” says Mutyala. “But the word ‘tinted’ doesn’t have to be specific to the South Asian community. I thought I was going to be unifying people who were brown across different spectrums, but then people with freckles and vitiligo opened my eyes that this could be so much bigger.” Live Tinted’s slogan is now “Every shade has a story.”

“The more you tell people’s stories, the more educated we are about people, the better we are able to understand each other,” says Mutyala. “This is a human thing, not just a beauty thing. My goal is to make the world better for the next generation of brown girls.”

Made with love — and a ton of feedback 

Mutyala shares what inspired some of her greatest hits.

Huestick

“Ninety-eight percent of our community said that hyperpigmentation and dark circles were their top two concerns. This stick addresses both.”

Hueguard

“Like most people of color, I grew up having to use sunscreens that would leave a white cast on my skin. I have always wanted to create sunscreen so we could confidently enjoy the sun while also protecting our skin — without looking ashy.”

Superhue

“People were yearning for a long-term solution for hyperpigmentation. [This serum stick] has niacinamide and bakuchiol to gently help fade dark spots.”