Ask a room of South Asian, African or Middle Eastern women about their lips and many will describe the same thing. Two tones. A darker outer edge. Lips that sit a shade or two deeper than the rest of their face, and lipstick that never looks quite like the swatch.
It is one of the most common differences of melanin-rich skin, and one of the least served. Most lip products are designed for one kind of lip, with everyone else left to adapt.
Melbourne brand Proud of Colour, better known as POC Beauty, set out to change that. The promise is simple: pigmentation, undertone and performance are where formulation begins, not something added at the end.
From Chennai to the stage to the lab
Founder Deepa Mani grew up in Chennai in the 1980s, sneaking into her mother’s makeup and watching her pair tangerine lips with an orange sari. Her mother, a doctor, remains her biggest inspiration.
It was also an era when fair skin was sold as the ideal, and brightening creams were everywhere. Deepa says the message at home was different: her skin was perfect as it was. That idea sits at the heart of the brand and so it should.
As a South Asian classical dancer, she has spent years in stage and camera makeup, which taught her how differently products behave on darker skin. Her own struggle with lip pigmentation was the spark. She left a corporate career to build POC Beauty around one question: why was melanin-rich skin still being considered only after the formula and shades were already decided?
A lip ritual built for deeper tones
Rather than launching a sprawling range, POC Beauty started with lips and does them properly.
- The Brightening Lip Scrub ($42.95). The hero product. It combines coconut shell powder for microplastic-free exfoliation with papaya ferment, vitamin C and beetroot extract, aimed squarely at uneven and two-tone lips. Mango seed butter keeps it nourishing rather than harsh, and it comes with a silicone applicator.
- The Brightening Lip Mask ($29.95). The overnight follow-up, designed to hydrate and condition while you sleep.
- The Lip & Cheek Tint ($44.95). A skincare-infused cream tint in three shades chosen for deeper skin: Inya, a mauve; Kani, a berry; and Urvi, a terracotta. Soft and buildable, it works on lips and cheeks, and reviewers say eyes too.
- The Kabuki Brush ($24.95). A compact brush for blending cream colour across cheeks and complexion, made to pair with the tint. [
The idea is a ritual: exfoliate, brighten, then colour. The Complete Lip Brightening Ritual ($64.95) pairs the scrub and mask, while the Complete Ritual Kit ($115) adds the tint for all three steps in one set. [Image: Complete Ritual Kit]
Small brand, serious credentials
POC Beauty is Australian made, cruelty free and South Asian female founded, and its lip scrub is vegan. In 2026 it won Best Inclusive Makeup Brand at the Beauty Shortlist Awards, with the Lip & Cheek Tint named Best Inclusive Makeup Product. The Brightening Lip Scrub and the Kabuki Brush were both finalists in the Clean + Conscious Awards, and was a finalist in the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
Customer reviews tell a similar story, with buyers describing softer lips within days and visibly more even tone over a few weeks of regular use. The brand now ships to the United States, New Zealand and India as well as across Australia.
The range slots neatly into stocking-filler and Secret Santa budgets, with a set for every price point.
Why it matters
Inclusive beauty is often measured by how many foundation shades a brand offers. POC Beauty makes a quieter but sharper point: inclusion is about which problems you choose to solve first, and whose skin you design for from day one – with POC choosing melanin rich skin vs it being an add on in terms of tint.
It rooted the brand in the rituals Deepa grew up with and paired them with modern formulation. The result is a small, focused range that asks nothing of its customers except to show up as they are. Or, as the brand puts it, beauty should never ask you to fit the mould.
Shop the range at pocbeauty.com.au.
