Buyer Persona: Sophie (Young Professional Beginner) & Camila (College Explorer)
Buyer’s Journey Stage: Awareness
Keywords: STEPS Beauty brand story, makeup for beginners, step by step makeup, confidence building beauty, easy makeup routine, educational beauty brand, Los Angeles beauty brand
This content is part of a student project at UCLA Extension. Any logos used might be slightly changed to indicate that this document is NOT a communication from the company represented by the changed logo. Any statements made in this content are the statements of the UCLA student and not of any company. This statement is made so that any reader will understand this document is part of a UCLA student project and NOT a communication from any existing company.
I had just come home with a new makeup product I was excited about. I remember placing it carefully on the counter, opening it, explaining what it did and why I liked it. For me, makeup had always felt creative — something expressive and empowering.
My mom watched me quietly. Then she said something that stayed with me:
“I wish I could use that too… but it just feels like too much.”
She didn’t say she didn’t like makeup.
She didn’t say she wasn’t interested.
She said it felt like too much.
At the time, I didn’t fully understand the weight of that sentence. But the more I reflected on it, the more I realized she wasn’t talking about that specific product. She was describing the entire experience of modern beauty.
And that realization became the beginning of STEPS.
Makeup is marketed as empowerment. It promises confidence, self-expression, and transformation. But empowerment requires understanding. And for many women, understanding is exactly what’s missing.
As I paid more attention to conversations around me, I started noticing a pattern. Women loved buying makeup. They loved how it looked on others. They admired beauty influencers and editorial campaigns. But when it came time to apply it themselves, hesitation appeared.
There was confusion about product order. Uncertainty about what was necessary. Fear of “doing it wrong.” And often, quiet embarrassment about not knowing what seemed like something everyone else had already figured out.
The industry moves fast. It celebrates artistry, innovation, and complexity. Tutorials get more advanced. Product launches get more frequent. Techniques become more layered.
But rarely does it slow down.
Rarely does it say: Start here.
That gap — between desire and clarity — is where STEPS was born.
For me, beauty felt natural. I enjoyed experimenting. I liked watching tutorials and trying new techniques. But my experience wasn’t universal.
My mom’s words forced me to look at beauty from a different perspective — not as someone who had grown up immersed in it, but as someone approaching it later, without guidance.
Why did something that felt intuitive to me feel inaccessible to her?
The answer wasn’t ability. It wasn’t intelligence. It wasn’t interest.
It was structure.
The beauty industry often assumes a baseline of knowledge. It assumes you understand undertones, finishes, layering, blending techniques, and product sequencing. But if you’ve never been formally taught, that assumption creates distance.
From a strategic perspective, I began to see something clearly: there was a market saturated with products, but underserved in education designed specifically for beginners.
That wasn’t just an emotional observation.
It was a structural opportunity.
Very few compete on clarity.
The emotional insight from that moment with my mom revealed something bigger: confusion is a barrier to entry. And barriers reduce participation.
If women feel intimidated, they delay purchasing. If they feel uncertain, they overspend trying to “figure it out.” If they feel embarrassed, they disengage.
From a business perspective, clarity increases confidence. And confidence increases loyalty.
That shift in thinking changed everything for me.
Instead of asking, “What product should we create?”
I started asking, “How should this experience be structured?”
And that question became the foundation of STEPS Beauty.
The name STEPS wasn’t aesthetic first. It was intentional.
If makeup felt overwhelming because it seemed chaotic, then the solution wasn’t more innovation: it was sequence.
What if makeup was organized the way people naturally learn?
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Clear progression. Clear purpose. Clear order.
When something is broken down into manageable parts, it becomes accessible. That principle applies to education, fitness, business — and beauty.
Instead of asking consumers to decode the industry, STEPS decodes it for them.
Instead of overwhelming with choice, it guides with intention.
And that guidance transforms the emotional experience of beauty.
Launching in a city deeply connected to beauty culture was symbolic. Los Angeles represents aspiration, innovation, and visual storytelling. But it can also amplify the pressure to “keep up.”
The intention behind STEPS wasn’t to add to that pressure.
It was to remove it.
The brand was built around three core beliefs:
From packaging to messaging, everything was designed with beginners in mind. Not in a condescending way. Not in a simplified way. But in a structured way.
There is a difference.
Behind my mom’s sentence was a deeper question that many women carry quietly:
How do I choose makeup products if I don’t even know how to use them?
The answer isn’t to buy more. It isn’t to copy trends. It isn’t to wait until you “learn enough.”
The answer is structure.
When products are designed within a system, selection becomes intuitive. When education is embedded, uncertainty decreases. When guidance is clear, experimentation feels safe.
STEPS was created to provide that starting point.
Not to replace creativity.
Not to limit expression.
But to build a foundation strong enough to support both.
That moment at the counter with my mom didn’t just inspire empathy. It created direction.
If makeup felt like “too much” to someone I love, then it likely felt like too much to millions of others.
And instead of dismissing that feeling, I chose to build around it.
STEPS Beauty exists because beauty should feel inclusive. It should feel educational. It should feel empowering at every stage — not just once you’ve mastered it.
The brand was born from vulnerability, but it was built with strategy.
Emotion revealed the problem.
Structure became the solution.
And that combination continues to define STEPS today.
Trends will continue evolving. Techniques will continue advancing. The beauty industry will continue innovating.
But STEPS will always return to its origin: a simple sentence that revealed a universal truth.
“It just feels like too much.”
STEPS was created to make it feel simple instead.
One clear step at a time.