Skincare that can explain itself.
DavaniQ is a dermatology-led skincare company, formulating for the sun, heat and humidity Indian skin actually lives in, and saying plainly what each formula will and won't do.
Why we started
Indian skincare has never lacked products. What it has lacked is products willing to be specific, about what's inside, at what dose, and how long it will honestly take. In their place we've had fairness promises, unlabelled steroid creams sold over the counter, and global formulations tested on skin that lives in a different climate to ours.
DavaniQ began in a dermatology practice, from the same conversation repeated hundreds of times: someone had been using something strong, briefly and hopefully, and their skin was worse. Not because the ingredient was wrong, but because nobody had explained the dose, the timeline, or the one step that made the rest work.
What we make, and what we don't
Ten products. We're regularly asked why not more. There are obvious gaps a competent contract manufacturer could fill in a quarter. The answer is that we haven't yet found a formulation in those categories we could defend at the dose that matters, at a price we'd consider honest.
We don't make fairness creams. We don't use prescription-only depigmenting agents or steroids, both of which work quickly and cause real, documented harm through the unsupervised long-term use that is exactly how they get used here. We don't sell injectable glutathione or endorse it. And we don't put an active on the front of a box in a quantity that will do nothing.
Formulated for this climate
A ceramide cream designed for a heated flat in a cold country behaves differently on a face in Chennai in May. Sebum output rises with heat. UV exposure here is high across all twelve months rather than seasonally. Humidity means the common failure is over-cleansing, not under-moisturising. Every texture decision we make is downstream of those facts.
Dermatologist prescribed, and openly explained
Our formulations are dermatologist tested and made in facilities working to Indian regulatory standards. Just as importantly, the reasoning is in the open: every active we use has its own page on this site, with the dose, the evidence, what it pairs with, and where we'd tell you to be careful. A claim you can't check is just an advertisement.
Four things we won't trade.
Effective doses only
If we can't include an active at a concentration the evidence supports, it doesn't go in at all.
Honest timelines
Six weeks is six weeks. We'd rather lose a sale than promise a fortnight and lose your trust.
Built for Indian skin
Tested on the skin tones and in the conditions the product will actually be used in.
Priced without theatre
No inflated MRP to discount from. The price is the price, and it reflects what's inside.
Skin notes, four times a year.
No countdown timers, no restock panic. Four considered letters a year on formulation, ingredients and what the evidence actually supports, plus first word on anything new.
See how we formulate.
Our full standards (what goes in, what never does, and how we decide) are published in the open.