GlamBehavior: Influencer to Entrepreneur

If your niche on TikTok skews even slightly towards beauty, GlamBehavior has probably graced your “For You Page” (FYP) crafted by the TikTok algorithm. Behind this account is Supriya Shrestha, a 28-year-old content creator who has been making beauty videos for about two years now.

A quick visit to Supriya’s page will reveal countless tips and beauty hack videos that her viewers adore—the account is currently at 58,700 followers and 2.5 million likes. Her journey on TikTok was accidental when one of her skincare videos landed on one too many people’s FYPs. Following this feat, she says, “At the time, I thought maybe if I lean into this a little bit more and take it more seriously, that kind of snowballed into me posting religiously at 4 pm as I picked up the algorithm.”

Supriya’s career as GlamBehavior wasn’t always intended—“I wanted to be a makeup artist when I left the States three years ago, but I slowly realized how competitive the market here was. Gone are the days when there used to be five makeup artists people used to fight over,” she reveals. Wanting to steer clear of this saturated and competitive market as a novice makeup artist with no professional qualifications, she turned her attention to skincare. “Skincare for me was quite a journey—I dealt with it for four to five years and tried everything under the sun. I shared these experiences and what worked for me, which not a lot of people did. People also weren’t comfortable showing their skin when it was that bad, so I kept it very real,” Supriya further elaborates.

True to what she said, many of her viewers indulge in and relate to her content because of her realism, with unfiltered videos her viewers feel less insecure watching. “Something I realized when I completely dived into the skincare world was that as soon as I made a video describing something DIY (Do It Yourself), it automatically got more views and engagements. People lean towards DIY because of how easy it is“, she says, highlighting how her homemade remedy videos get popular.

Recognizing everyone’s skin is different and one recipe may not work for everyone, Supriya is currently on a leave from homemade skincare. The word natural gets thrown around frequently in the world of skincare, hence why there is a misconception that natural is always equal to good. “DIY skincare is best avoided since the same product you buy in stores has a potency of times a hundred, so it seems useless sometimes. Which is why I only share a few remedies nowadays,” she adds.

People often question the sustainability of content creation in Nepal. “If you have responsibilities like rent, electricity, groceries, and food to pay for, it is not sustainable at all. No matter how large your following is, content creators still have to push themselves to be taken seriously,” Supriya answers. “Later, I realized, I am looking around my table and I have 10 different creams and sunscreens but no money. I would end up giving it away, so later I had to put my foot down and not accept barter collaboration anymore,” she elaborates.

Taking her career to the next step, Supriya has recently dabbled in entrepreneurship. Founded in August of 2021, Pretty Please Beauty has debuted itself with lip glosses. Its chic logo stands out in the circular container for its minimalism—with plain font and color. In recent years, the makeup scene has gradually shifted from heavy makeup, and instabrow to accentuating your natural beauty, and a lot of people have started to use lip gloss as opposed to lipsticks. Despite being essential, good lip gloss is seldom found here, which is why she decided to start her brand off with lip gloss.

Glam Behavior found herself in a new territory, especially when a family member called attention to how ironic it was she came out with a lip gloss brand in the pandemic era of masking. “I consider myself a micro-influencer and think it was stupid to start a brand so early on since my follower count is still comparatively low, so it's not like I have the masses at my beckoned call,” she recounts. Fortunately, the demographic Pretty Please targeted remained interested. Against all odds, the brand took off and received overwhelming amounts of love and support to the point the brand is looking to hire new people. “I never imagined a business I started in my own country would take off like this, and it's been very well received,” she remarks.

Majority of brands we find here order wholesale from China and slap their name on them. Although there is nothing wrong with private labeling, having control of the entire process ensures quality. “Steering from private labeling, I wanted to venture out to acquiring really good ingredients you don’t even have to question—whether it's vegan or cruelty-free, “ Supriya comments.

On a more concerning note, she shone light on how easy it is to legally sell makeup in Nepal in the absence of a governmental body that quality tests them. For instance; the Food and Drug Administration in the US protects public health by ensuring the safety of products injected or applied to the body. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to legally sell cosmetics in Nepal. It’s very concerning nothing puts limitations on businesses to sell products with harmful components like mica, or lead,” she informs. This also raises another serious issue about how little people question the ingredients in their makeup, especially considering there are no legal barriers for sellers. Lip products in specific are ingested in the body. Keeping this in mind, Pretty Please tackles these concerns by buying from well-trusted manufacturers and being transparent about the ingredients in their lip gloss. They also set themselves apart by being one of the few International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certified brand around.

At the present, they are looking to expand to a wider shade of lip glosses and launch their website for customer feasibility. Although the recent import ban is concerning, PPB hopes to come out with cream blushes in the future.