Gen Z Beauty Is What This Filipino Brand Is All About

“Everyone always asks that,” Aleah Sia says, leaning in as if she’s about to share a secret, or make an inside joke. “It’s ‘Pop-ik.’ An easy way to remember it is ‘pop plus unique.’”

Popique it is. Sia is the founder of Popique, a local makeup and skin care brand founded only in 2025, that has come to be known for its use of bright colors and beachy images—a love song to the very generation that Sia belongs to, Gen Z. “We’re actually a clean girl beauty brand, but we celebrate colors,” Sia shares. “It’s all about living life under the sun, embracing your skin, being you.”

If there was indeed a poster girl for Popique—the beach-loving, color-splashing, clean beauty-leaning member of Gen Z—it’s Sia, aged 25. “Yes,” she answers, smiling, when asked if she is truly the Popique girl. “I love the beach,” she says candidly, “but I wouldn’t say I get the privilege of going all the time, because of the realities of life. And that’s where I built Popique, really. It’s about letting girls celebrate that [feeling] while embracing reality.”

Kieran Punay

But Popique isn’t just about transporting its customers to the shore—it’s about showing how far the Filipino beauty industry has come, as well.

Back in post-pandemic 2022, Sia was in Canada, having just completed her master’s in business at the University of British Columbia, and was having trouble finding a job. A product of a family of entrepreneurs, she decided it was time to follow in the footsteps of her family. “I thought, ‘Why not start now with my entrepreneurship journey?’ I definitely wanted to do something related to fashion or beauty, and I saw that there’s so much potential in the Philippines. That’s where I really wanted to start.”

Sia came back to the Philippines, and spent the next two years starting Popique, which debuted in the Philippine market in 2025. “We wanted to show that local beauty in the Philippines is really progressing,” Sia explains. “Usually when a makeup brand releases, it’s just a lip or a blush, but we released a full-on makeup collection. We weren’t afraid to release a concealer that focused on three undertone at 18 shades. It was really showing how advanced we were, and how we understand the Philippine market.”

When you meet Sia, she’s joyful and effervescent, bubbling over with the energy that youth brings. It’s this energy that Sia, as founder, has infused into her brand. Popique brims with zest and possibility, very much in sync with the generation it was created for.

Allure Philippines sat down with Sia for a chat about her brand, her journey as an entrepreneur, and what Gen Z beauty is really all about.

How did you start Popique, and who did you start it for?

We actually have close ties with Joel Andrade of Issy, who is very much known to be the creative director of Gen Z. He definitely helped us start Popique, as a dear friend and consultant, helping us with product development.

I’m Gen Z myself, and I think I saw a gap in the local beauty market. Everyone was very minimalist in their packaging, celebrating like pinks, gold, and I thought, ‘There are so many [foreign] L.A. brands out there that celebrate color in their packaging. And that’s something I really wanted to bring to the Philippine market, because we are a tropical country who really loves colors.

Popique actually celebrates five distinct colors, but there’s actually like a story or a purpose to each of them. So even though the brand looks overwhelming at first, it all makes sense.

We’re both skin care and makeup. The yellow products represent our skin products, the complexion products. The pink one are our color cosmetics. The purple is for moisture. The green one is for cleansing. And this orange one is for any products related to SPF. Color is a huge thing in Popique.

How much has Popique grown in its first year?

A lot, a lot. The launch wasn’t as easy as I thought. We built everything, a good assortment of products, the right campaign to invoke the brand image, but people were overwhelmed by the collection. It really took time to, like, build this community and let them understand the products.

For example, our complexion pot. It can be overwhelming at first, but there’s really three categories to it—contour, conceal, and the peach corrector. The peach corrector is now our hero item. People love it, and it really took time for people to understand, how do we use this, you know?

Our concealer is extremely creamy, which makes it easy to apply with fingers and make it blend.

People didn’t like it at first. They thought it was too oily. So we had to develop products on top of that, like loose powder and setting spray to help mattify it. So, it’s really been all about, like, listening to the customers, evolving. For example, one of our packaging had a defect—the cleansing balm. But people love the formulation. What we did is we sold the item marked down.

It’s really all trial and error. I like to tell young entrepreneurs, you will not get it right on the first launch day.

Kieran Punay

Have you always leaned towards entrepreneurship?

I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so this is something I’ve always wanted to do. I grew up in Canada, actually, and that’s where I studied. I think that’s where really I got a lot of experience or sense of what makeup standards are like in the Western country.

What are the challenges of running a company at such a young age?

We’re around 15 to 20 [in the company] now, plus in our stores, our business associates, so we’re a lot, around a hundred.

I think first, people might underestimate you, especially those [who’ve been] in the industry longer, but I like to believe charisma and confidence can be your breakthrough.

Honest feedback is really good. That’s something I learned in [the] beauty [industry]. I would say in beauty, people are really good at giving you honest feedback. People’s knowledge in makeup and skin care is very vast, very specific, because everyone has different skin types, right? So I really value honest feedback, because that also helps push the brand further.

Since you have a target market of Gen Z, what is Gen Z beauty about for you?

Gen Z beauty, it’s about like, it should be buildable.

Gen Z embraces a lot of things, and they’re not afraid to embrace it, right? People are into color. So I wanted to build a brand that goes both ways. Like, yes, we can do clean girl beauty and we take care of our skin, but we can also celebrate life and color and expression. That’s what’s really important for me.

Popique is a young brand that is really expanding its presence via physical kiosks. Why did you choose to take this route?

The reason why we have kiosks is that it allows people the opportunity to test, to try the products before purchasing online. Because it’s only so much—looking at a TikTok video. They want to actually try, to understand undertones.

We have around 20 plus stores right now, but we’re currently expanding in Visayas and Mindanao. Right now, now our focus is in Visayas and Mindanao. I think there’s a lot of potential to push make up there.

What advice you can give other Gen Z entrepreneurs?

If you see an opportunity, just grab it.

Because people are always welcome in new things, new ideas. And if you see a gap in the market and you want to address it, just do it now. Like, don’t wait. Because you could really build something amazing if you’re not afraid.

Kieran Punay

Art direction and beauty direction by Nicole Almero. Photography by Kieran Punay. Makeup by Dave Quiambao. Hair by Patty Inojales. Styling by Jones Palteng.