Behind The Beauty with Avantika Ahuja
- Apr 29
- 5 min read
Chocolate, beauty and good taste — Avantika Ahuja blends it all effortlessly. As Vice President of Marketing at CocoCart, India’s top retailer and distributor for imported chocolates, she is responsible for bringing the brand to life both online and offline with curated experiences that are joyful, elevated and underscore her love for chocolate. That love has also led to her co-founding the Rhine Valley brand with her husband that represents the best European chocolate making artistry at state-of-the-art facilities in India.
So amidst work and as a mother of two, how does she make time for herself?
“My life has me pulled in twenty different directions: the kids, my work, home (anyone running their home knows), husband, parents and brother — I owe each of these people and items my time and attention; but the start of my day always features time to myself and for myself in a gym,” she says. “All I need is one hour and I am a better mother, wife, daughter, sister and team leader for it. And now that I’ve started running, I don’t even need a gym!”
That, and a beauty routine that works with her. Below, more on the products that allow her to feel her best, and the simple philosophy that defines her everyday.
Your favorite way to start your day.
A cold shower, a foamy cappuccino and my children and husband happy and excited for the day ahead.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
No two days of my life are ever the same! On weekdays, my alarm typically goes off at 6:35 AM and I rush through a ten minute window to get dressed before I get my babies ready for school. I take turns dropping one of them off and head off to a workout of some sort. If it’s a day centred around my children, I also get the gift of thirty minutes post workout to spend on recovery, twenty minutes doom-scrolling in the sauna, followed by an ice bath! Else it’s straight to office, where I only come up for breath for lunch at our cafe — I tell myself it’s for QC but I’m generally battling my team to get to our favourite items first!
Once I’m home, my time belongs just to my children and my husband. We all come together to eat an indulgent evening nashta. Coffee, dark chocolate (70% dark, always!) of some sort, nuts and seeds — it’s the perfect mix of salty and sweet (the Gujarati blood in Karan run strong and he’s passing these little traditions on to our children).
What does your beauty routine look like?
My beauty routine honestly depends on how much time I have at hand, but I’ve found my tricks to ensuring I feel good. I think groomed hair and smelling nice are very key to me feeling ‘beautiful’ or ‘ready’ to take on my day so I invest accordingly — a membership at a salon for a blow-dry twice a week (I use heatless curlers at night to make them last), Salt & Stone deodorants and a Le Labo fragrance that my father-in-law gifted me.
Before my workout it’s very simple — just a splash of water on my face and sunscreen. I’ve recently come to be religious with my Vitamin C ever since I spent a pretty penny on the one from SkinCeuticals! The most consistent combination for after my workout is the SkinCeuticals Vitamin C E Ferulic® and sunscreen (either ISDIN or Nivea). If I’m feeling fancy and I have the time, I slap on the Mini Climax Mascara by Nars (I get the mini version because it is easy to swipe when I’m on the go and for when I need to pull up looking a bit more presentable) and blend two shades of the Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil — Wherever Walnut and Anywhere Caffeine.
A beauty philosophy or lesson you grew up with that still lives with you (and that you would want to pass on to your kids).
I grew up with a very minimal approach to beauty, and I’ve stuck by keeping it simple. I want my children to understand that it’s worth doing the little things that make you feel beautiful. Outer beauty doesn’t matter, but feeling beautiful does — and how you get there is entirely upto you.
How has working in the world of chocolate impacted how you think of pleasure, indulgence and what it means to treat yourself?
Life has come to teach me that I alone am responsible for my own happiness—not my children, not my husband; although they of course are the greatest sources. It is an active choice to be happy. It is therefore important that we develop rituals centred around living a life that makes you happy. Chocolate, and consistent movement generally feature in healthy definitions of this, and those always resonate well with me. It’s not a ‘treat’ if it’s a lifestyle.
A ritual that you turn to at the end of a long day as a way of coming back to yourself.
Bedtime with my kids and husband where we lie in their bed and discuss our favourite part of the day. Karan and I fight to be featured in our children’s favourite parts of the day, but it’s such a beautiful feeling to watch them grow and hear about the other people in their lives that made them happy.
An item from the Cococart menu that you would recommend to everyone.
The Rhine Valley 70% dark mocha. This has a shot of our hot chocolate in it, and I get it without the added sugar because the chocolate hits the spot enough. Trust me — you won’t ever get anything else!
A beauty splurge that you’ll never regret.
I think it’s the Dyson Airstrait Hair Straightener. It’s wireless and always tames any frizzy flyaways.
A chocolate you’ll always stock at home.
The Butler’s 70% dark chocolate truffles. They are incredible. I’m constantly ignoring Karan’s glares because it is what he gets specially for the children in the extra large sizes from the Mumbai duty free shop.
If you were given the opportunity to create a product what would that be and why?
This one’s an easy one! Hermione Granger’s time turner that allows me to be in multiple places all at once. On the beauty spectrum of things, a serum that gives you blow-dry ready hair with zero heat-damage. A towel that both dries and moisturises you. Topical botox. If any of these launch, I want credit!
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