Nykaa Cosmetics has collaborated with cult Indian hot sauce brand Naagin to launch the Nykaa Cosmetics × Naagin Hot Sauce Plumping Gloss, a limited-edition product that blends beauty with flavour-inspired storytelling. The collaboration brings together a high-shine, volumising lip gloss with a campaign rooted in nostalgia, humour and India’s cultural affinity for spice.
The launch is supported by a campaign film featuring Urvashi Dholakia, positioned as one of Indian television’s most recognisable ‘teekhi’ personas. Reimagined in a contemporary avatar, Dholakia anchors the film with a tongue-in-cheek performance that references her pop culture legacy while aligning with modern beauty trends. The campaign uses sharp dialogue, stylised visuals and close-up beauty shots to merge drama with product storytelling.
The film opens with Dholakia’s dramatic entry, marked by thunder and a confident expression, as she delivers the line, “Tum sabko lagta tha main chali gayi? Galatfehmi thi.” The narrative then leans into her familiar on-screen attitude through deliberate glances, hair flicks and direct delivery. She responds to a series of rhetorical questions, including “Tumhara kaam kya hai?”, before answering with “Mera kaam hai kalesh karna,” reinforcing the film’s self-aware tone.
As the storyline progresses, Dholakia addresses the idea of her ‘teekhi zubaan’, commenting on how today’s women are bold and expressive, suggesting her role is nearly redundant. The film then shifts focus to the product reveal, introducing the Nykaa Cosmetics × Naagin Plumping Gloss as the centrepiece. The camera lingers on a sensorial lip application moment as she remarks, “Itna teekha… par phir bhi tasty,” drawing a parallel between the gloss’s plumping sensation and Naagin’s signature heat.
The narrative continues with a humorous reference to beauty trends, as Dholakia jokes about fillers being popular today, adding that “mere time mein toh laal mirch hi kaafi thi.” The film concludes with a familiar sign-off, “Garmi toh ab badhegi,” ending on a close-up of her glossed lips, reinforcing both the product benefit and campaign tone.
The collaboration positions the gloss as more than a cosmetic item, framing it as a performative product designed for expression and conversation. By combining Naagin’s flavour-led brand identity with Nykaa Cosmetics’ beauty expertise, the launch bridges two categories through cultural cues and personality-driven storytelling.
For the advertising and marketing industry, the campaign demonstrates how cross-category collaborations can leverage nostalgia and humour to drive engagement. The use of a well-known television figure alongside a cult food brand creates a format suited to social sharing and short-form video consumption. The campaign also reflects a broader trend of beauty brands experimenting with sensory narratives and culturally resonant partnerships to stand out in a crowded market.
With this collaboration, Nykaa Cosmetics continues to explore playful, culture-forward marketing approaches, positioning beauty products within broader conversations around identity, entertainment and digital-first engagement.