LAUNCHING 12 SEPTEMBER

One serum. Nine ingredients. Nothing that needed a marketing name.

Aavaran No.1 is 4% niacinamide and 0.5% bakuchiol in a squalane base. We tested it on 84 people across a Delhi summer and a Bengaluru monsoon, and we are publishing what actually happened — including the 11 who saw nothing.

Pre-order the first batch

Aavaran No.1 amber serum bottle resting on linen

The whole formula, at the percentages

Most brands publish an ingredient list. Almost none publish the concentrations, because that is where the story usually falls apart.

Niacinamide 4%

The evidence for barrier repair is strongest between 2% and 5%. Above that, irritation climbs and the benefit does not.

Bakuchiol 0.5%

A retinol alternative that does not photosensitise. Slower than retinol, and we will say so — expect twelve weeks, not four.

Squalane base

Olive-derived, not shark. Non-comedogenic at 100%, which is why the serum sits under sunscreen without pilling.

The balm and serum, photographed with botanicals

What it will not do

Fade deep pigmentation — that needs a dermatologist, not a serum
Work in two weeks. The 12-week median is the honest number
Replace sunscreen. Nothing in this bottle offers UV protection
Suit everyone — 4% niacinamide stings some people on day one

If it does nothing for you in twelve weeks, email us and keep the bottle. We refund it and we log why — that log is how the second formula gets better.

“Twelve weeks in, the texture on my cheeks is genuinely different. I appreciated being told it might take three months more than I would have appreciated being told four weeks.”

Meher Kapoor

Tester #41, Bengaluru

Before you pre-order

When does the first batch ship?+

12 September 2026. It is 1,400 bottles and it is already made — pre-order is about knowing how big batch two needs to be, not about funding batch one.

Can I use it with vitamin C?+

Yes, though we would put the vitamin C in the morning and this at night. The old "niacinamide cancels vitamin C" claim comes from a 1960s paper about high heat, not about your face.

Is it safe in pregnancy?+

Bakuchiol is generally considered safer than retinol, but we are not your doctor and we will not pretend to be. Ask yours, and show them the 0.5% figure.

Why only one product?+

Because a nine-ingredient serum we can defend is worth more than a six-step routine we cannot. Cleanser is in development for 2027 and will launch the same way.