Mikayla Nogueira shares her Point of View

Armed with colorful makeup palettes and a Boston accent, Mikayla Nogueira has built her personal brand on being memorable.

The beauty influencer has amassed more than 16 million followers on TikTok and 3 million on Instagram since she began posting in 2020—a following she attributes not only to the makeup and skin-care content she’s become known for, but also to more vulnerable posts where she discusses topics like dating, mental health, and family struggles.

“There’s such a sense of loyalty,” Nogueira told us. “I really appreciate the people who have stuck by me in the last five years.”

Now, she’s hoping to establish an even more memorable beauty line. On March 26, Nogueira released her skin-care brand, Point of View, the newest entry in the growing world of celebrity- and influencer-backed beauty brands.

“Launching a brand is terrifying, especially when you’re a 26-year-old,” Nogueira said. With that said, she is optimistic that the products—which are designed to moisturize and prep the skin for makeup and feature simple, no-frills packaging—will stand out.

The brand is rolling out with a social-first, DTC strategy to appeal to her followers, Ani Hadjinian, co-founder and CEO of Point of View, told us. Hadjinian, who has also worked at brands like Bobbi Brown and Augustinus Bader, said the response so far has been “unlike anything [she’s] seen,” with “astronomical” site traffic leading up to the release. The brand already has more than 500,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, and a TikTok Shop, she said, is on the horizon.

Nogueira, who worked at Ulta prior to becoming a full-time creator, is no stranger to brand work, with some of her brand sponsorships prompting controversies in the last five years. Owning her own brand will impact her external partnership strategy, she told us, but it won’t limit it altogether.

We spoke with Nogueira about the marketing strategy behind Point of View and how she plans to balance being both an influencer and a new brand owner.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tell me about what inspired you to create your own makeup line and the gaps that you wanted to fill in the market.

When I worked at Ulta, customers were coming in all the time asking, “Why does my makeup not look its best? How can I make it look better?” And it always came down to, “Well, what are you doing to prep your skin?” And typically the answer was, “I don’t.” That was the first light-bulb moment for me that I could do something to fill this gap. When I got on social media, I noticed that with all the educational content I was creating with tutorials, that same question was being asked all the time: “Why does my makeup not look good? What am I doing wrong?”...At Ulta, I would have to hop around the store and go to different brands to put together the serum, the moisturizer, the essence, the primer, and it would be like a smorgasbord of products, whereas this…allows people to have it in a simple line.

From a branding perspective, how did you land on the name “Point of View” and decide to go for a minimalistic, black-and-white look?

The first thing I said was, “I do not want this brand to be Mikayla Nogueira Beauty or Mikayla Jane Beauty, or anything to do with my name.” I didn’t want the brand to feel individualistic and like it was all about me…We went through so, so many names, and I was so picky and said no to so many because it needed to be perfect and it needed to make sense. When I heard Point of View, I loved how that brought in my point of view in the products and packaging design, but also allows other people’s points of view to be brought in. It’s a name that opens a door and allows for conversation.

I knew I was definitely gonna turn some heads when I saw the packaging, because over the years, previous collections I’ve launched with other brands have been extravagant, bright, crazy, colorful collections. But with this brand, I wanted the ingredients to be the star of the show…There’s not tons of text on the packaging, and the names [of the products]... Drench It, Drip It, Whip It, Glaze It, Amp It, I did that so you could memorize that really easily, and you’re never wondering, “What’s the order I’m supposed to use this in?”

You have nearly 20 million followers across Instagram and TikTok. How do you plan to continue utilizing that following as you promote your brand beyond its release?

I’m planning on doing a video bringing my community in and asking them, “What do you want to see from Point of View? What products would you love for me to develop? What products do you think are missing in the beauty industry? What’s the white space?” I truly think the value of the community and the feedback they can provide is really, really powerful and should be used. I’ve already been seeing in recent posts, “We need an SPF,” “We need a cleanser,” “We need this or that.” People are already giving me options for names I could do on products and different ingredients they want to see. And I think that’s really, really cool.

In a recent video, you announced you’ll send 10 customers PR mailers over the next year. Tell me about that and how you’re rewarding the people in your community.

There’s always that question of, “How do you truly give back to 16 million people?” Because it’s a lot, right? But anytime I can do something to give back, I will, and I do, and I love it. I get so much joy out of it. We have more giveaways to come. I’m doing a huge giveaway around my fifth anniversary on social media…There are also future events coming that will involve my community. I would love to do meet and greets with the brand, maybe pop-ups one day—anywhere I can meet the people supporting me, I’m all for it.

You’ve said you don’t want this to be just another influencer brand. As other influencers and celebrities develop their own makeup and skincare lines, what are you doing to differentiate Point of View?

When we were sitting at the roundtable discussing the brand, one of the big things I said was, “I never, ever want this to be an influencer brand.” I understand that I’m an influencer and I am the face of it, and yes, it technically is an influencer brand…in 10 to 20 years, I want this to be a legacy brand—a true, genuine legacy brand that’s been around forever and continues to evolve and bring innovation…When I come out with a blush, I want it to be really, really unique in the packaging, in the formula, in the finish, in the application, and be different in that sense…Listening to my community is going to be huge, because they’re right there in front of my face, telling me exactly what they want to see.

As you balance being both a content creator and a business owner, how will you merge the two? Will we be seeing a lot more Point of View in your tutorials moving forward?

That was one of my biggest fears when coming out with a brand, because I am such a beauty enthusiast. I try thousands of products every month, it seems, and I love makeup, and I never wanted to feel restricted…But I love how I can apply Point of View and then go in with all the other brands I love, like Rare Beauty, Nars…I want Point of View to be more collaborative in that aspect—I don’t just want to be [all] Point of View all the time. I want to show you that you can use it with all the other makeup products you love in your routine. So going forward, I’ll be using Point of View, obviously…but if I’m doing a get-ready-with-me video, you’ll see me use it in the beginning, then continue going on with the video to talk about whatever I’m doing that day.

For anyone who’s where you were five years ago, just starting to post content and dreaming of starting their own brand, what is your advice?

I have two answers to this, one with my business cap and one with my human cap. The business cap is, you have to be consistent. If you’re not posting three to five times a day, you need to. In the beginning, you need to establish yourself and your platform. For the first three years of my platform, I was posting every single day, three to five times a day, and every single post was totally different. Maybe I did a transition video, maybe I did a makeup tutorial, maybe I threw in a food video, a lifestyle video, a travel vlog. That allowed me to see what my audience wanted to see. And then over the course of time, I’ve evolved my content to give my community exactly what they want to see.

The other thing is, it is good to have a niche. Mine’s obviously beauty, but the more important piece of that is you have to be willing to basically give your life to your community in the sense of, share your vulnerabilities, talk about yourself. People want to know who you are. If you’re creating beauty content, but I know nothing about you, I may watch a couple videos, but I’m not going to stick around. I think that’s the biggest thing: treat your audience like they’re your friends, because you may be talking to yourself, but you’re impacting someone on the other side of the screen.