As Indian shoppers grow tired of ingredient lists they can’t understand, one Pune-born skincare brand is betting that plain honesty, not clever marketing, is what keeps a customer coming back.
Take a look at CITTA’s Instagram page, and you’ll notice a clear pattern. Instead of relying on heavy filters or flashy visuals, the brand focuses on its product formulas and ingredients. Their recent posts and reels are all about showing people what’s actually inside the bottle, so they can make informed choices for themselves. It may seem like a simple approach, but in an industry often driven by big claims and attractive packaging, it stands out for its honesty and transparency.
This shift has been building for some time now. Skincare buyers in India are no longer satisfied with words like “glow” or “radiance” printed on a box. They want to know what’s in the product, whether it’s been tested properly, and why it works the way it claims to. CITTA has built its entire identity around this idea. The brand calls it “dadi-nanikenuskhe” – the home remedies grandmothers have passed down for generations – but reworked with the help of dermatologists and kept free of parabens, sulphates, and other harsh chemicals, according to the company’s own website.
At the heart of CITTA is its Co-founder and CEO, Akanksha Sharma, who built the brand alongside her mother, Monisha Sharma, and brother, Tanay Sharma. The idea for CITTA didn’t begin as a business opportunity – it grew from a personal experience. While studying in Los Angeles, Akanksha struggled to find skincare products that suited her skin and reflected the ingredients she trusted growing up. She missed the familiarity of neem, turmeric, and rosewater, and realised there was a gap in the market for skincare that combined traditional Indian wisdom with modern science. That realisation eventually became the foundation of CITTA.
Under Akanksha’s leadership, CITTA has focused on making skincare simple, transparent, and trustworthy. Rather than relying on marketing buzzwords, the brand clearly explains what goes into each product and why those ingredients are used. She has also strengthened the brand’s credibility by working closely with paediatricians and dermatologists, ensuring that expert guidance is part of the conversation. For Akanksha, trust isn’t built through catchy claims or attractive packaging – it’s earned through honesty, scientific backing, and products that genuinely deliver on their promise.
What makes the brand’s approach interesting isn’t that it’s flashy or new. It’s the opposite. The same careful, barrier-first thinking applies whether the customer is a new parent picking a baby balm or an adult trying to figure out where retinol fits into their night routine. Over time, this kind of consistency changes how people think about skincare altogether. It stops being about chasing the next big trend and starts becoming a habit – reading the label, understanding what an ingredient does, and expecting a brand to explain itself rather than simply sell to you. For a market that has long rewarded shortcuts, that alone feels like the more meaningful shift.
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