In a world of no-makeup makeup and slicked back buns, TikTok mega-influencer Mikayla Nogueira has fought a half-decade battle to keep bold beauty alive. Now, as she launches her own makeup line, she’s declaring the end of the clean-girl era.
“It’s almost dead,” she said of the minimalist makeup trend to The Business of Beauty, describing the fresh-faced, blush-heavy, eyeshadow-free look that became a dominant beauty ideal of the 2020s. After launching her brand POV Beauty in March with a skincare range, her first makeup offering — a lip kit called Amp (K)it with heavily pigmented shades of lip liner and gloss — goes on sale Tuesday.
“I always knew from the first thought of Point of View that it would be a makeup brand,” she said.
For the makeup debut, Nogueira is relying on direct-to-consumer e-commerce and TikTok Shop, kicking off sales with a multi-hour livestream on TikTok to demonstrate the six-colour lineup that ranges from the mauve pink Strawberry Shortcake to the deep brown Rich Cocoa.
She sees the sales power in the shoppable TikTok livestream format that she’s previously used for POV skincare sales. Livestreams appeal to audiences for their candid nature and connection with the audience, she said.
“If they’re watching a TikTok video, maybe there’s a little skepticism that there was an edit, or a cut,” she said. “People just like the relatability of a live.” In addition, her followers want to “feel [like they’re] a part of something.”
“Testing time has been an incredible success, because we’ve done it at three hours. We’ve done it at four hours. They stay with us the entire time frame,” said POV Beauty co-founder and chief executive Ani Hadjinian. After debuting on TikTok Shop in July, the brand has sold 28,600 units across its product listings.
The Full Beat’s Comeback
Nogueira is confident that now is the moment for POV to strike into colour.
“People want to wear makeup again,” she said. “With the products that we come out with, my goal is that it is truly makeup.”
With over 20 million combined followers on TikTok and Instagram, Nogueira has long been known as perhaps the only other influencer with beauty sales-driving power on par with that of Rhode founder and clean girl beauty’s number one purveyor Hailey Bieber.
While POV, like Rhode, started with skincare, Nogueira’s new lip kits reveal her full-glam goals for the brand. Unlike Rhode’s lightly tinted lip glosses, POV’s makeup is following the unabashedly maximalist aesthetic Nogueira has championed.
“We went to the lab in Korea, and when we were trying it on at first, it just gave that sheer pigment,” she said. Not satisfied, she asked for more drama. “They came back with a new sample that had maxed out the pigment.”
The lip kit, first popularised by Kylie Jenner nearly a decade ago, is having a moment again driven in part by Nogueira herself, who previously sold out a lip kit collaboration with beauty brand Glamlite three years ago. In October, crowds lined up around the block in Los Angeles for a Kylie Cosmetics pop-up celebrating the nostalgic “King Kylie” lip kit collection launch, which kicked off with an Oct. 17 party attended by Nogueira. Two days earlier, she announced the Amp (K)it at her own LA dinner, keeping the news heavily embargoed until last week.
“2026 is going to be the 10-year anniversary of 2016 makeup, which people just have this insane nostalgia and craving for,” said Nogueira. More makeup is on the way for POV, as she describes the lip launch as the “dessert” of the product lineup served first.
Also betting on the comeback is the brand’s investor Imaginary Ventures, co-founded by Natalie Massenet and known for its portfolio of heavy-hitting brands including Skims and the original no-makeup-makeup label Glossier.
“The next couple years is when you’ll really see the ‘entrée’ of the brand,” Nogueira continued. “You’ll really see how we’re developing makeup, and how we’re, in my opinion, going to be the next big makeup brand.”
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