Makeup Entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala Embraces All Hues

When Live Tinted CEO and founder Deepica Mutyala first set eyes on Backdrop’s new limited-edition Speed Yellow paint inspired by Porsche, she loved the hue so much she immediately reached out to Backdrop founder Natalie Ebel, her longtime friend. "That yellow needs to be in our office!" she said, emphatically.

Deepica was attracted to the color not just because of the rich vibrancy of the hue, but because it serendipitously aligned with her beauty brand Live Tinted. Live Tinted’s bold signature color—an orange-yellow marigold—made a splash in a sea of millennial pink when the brand debuted in 2018. "In beauty, so many people use cool tones," shares Deepica. "​​I just wanted our brand to be the exact opposite of that. Have warm undertones to it; be a really warm, rich, and culturally-vibrant brand."

Live Tinted was born from a passion for makeup Deepica had since her teenage years. "This is what I wanted to do since I was 16 years old," she says. Part of what drove that desire was growing up in a less inclusive environment—without products that fit her skin tone. "When I grew up, there weren’t products that had colors and pigments that actually worked on my skin," she shares. "I would have to put on lipstick as a blush."

Not feeling seen or represented by the beauty industry, Deepica went to extremes to fit in. "I dyed my hair blonde, I got blue contacts, and I thought I had to do that to be accepted," she says. "I remember telling my family, at 16, ‘No, I am not going to be a part of this, and one day I’m going to create a brand to change this narrative.’" Change the narrative she did in 2018 when she founded Live Tinted, an inclusive take on clean beauty. "We called it Tinted, which goes back to the idea of colors and hues and tints of skin, because everybody has a tint," she says. "I wanted to create a brand that connected people, and so really, color is at the center of the brand."

As a founder and entrepreneur, Deepica diligently grew Live Tinted—and celebrated successes along the way. "Porsche was my first car I bought myself," she recalls, a moment made even more significant given the mindset of practicality inherited from her immigrant parents. "I feel like as a woman, a woman of color, I don’t feel like treating myself," she says. "I feel guilty." Putting herself first, Deepica sprung for the distinctive and dynamic Porsche Macan. "To me, it marked a milestone of, ‘I’ve made it,’" she shares. "I didn’t want to have any guilt about it. I wanted to be proud about it and own the fact that I bought myself a Porsche," says Deepica, who would later gift the prized possession to her parents, knowing they would never buy a new car for themselves.

Today, Deepica finds fulfillment in optimizing beauty and skin products for all skin tones, while providing a sense of belonging to Live Tinted’s diverse community. "For me, I think the idea of self-expression and seeing yourself—and being able to express yourself through color—is so deeply important," Deepica says. "Our whole thing is to make people feel seen," she continues. "Live your hues. Embrace your hues. Embrace your color."

Each of the four, limited-edition Porsche x Backdrop paints are available in custom-designed, co-branded collectible paint cans. Full gallons are $75. 

Shop the colors at backdrophome.com/porsche.

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