Selected for the Sephora Accelerate program before it even launched in 2021, the boldly expressive makeup brand Kulfi has enjoyed the backing of the behemoth beauty retailer almost from its inception. “Sephora loved our brand vision, and they were able to see the gap in the market Kulfi was addressing in a unique way,” says founder Priyanka Ganjoo. “At the time, there wasn’t a brand centering South Asian beauty and people with our ‘loud and proud’ messaging in makeup.”Clearly the retailer’s early imprimatur worked; this month, the brand will expand to all North American Sephora doors in the US and Canada.Launched on Sephora.com in September 2022 as the retailer’s first South Asian owned and inspired makeup brand, Kulfi expanded to 281 US and 59 Canadian doors by September 2023, under the auspices of Sephora’s “Next Big Thing” endcap display promo. Products like Underlined Kajal Eyeliner, which the brand considers a “re-imagining” of the South Asian beauty staple and offers in seven shades, gained instant traction, quickly becoming the seventh best-selling eyeliner pencil collection at the store. Another hit from the jump has been Kulfi’s Main Match Concealer, which the brand gifted to the retailer’s beauty advisors (BA)—a move Ganjoo describes as a “significant investment on our end.” The freebie tactic paid off. “Now, when I walk into a Sephora store and share that I’m the founder of Kulfi, the first thing I hear is how much they love the concealer,” she says. “Recently, we were looking at our top stores list, and we noticed Sephora University Place in Orem, Utah, pop up.