A Gen Z Beauty Brand Founder Shares The Beauty Mistakes She Committed—And What She Learned From Them
Aleah Sia, the Gen Z founder of Filipino beauty brand Popique, shares beauty lessons she learned the hard way.
I grew up in an era where beauty content creators were starting to build audiences on social media, specifically on Youtube. However, even after watching countless makeup tutorials, I only began to feel confident with my makeup skills when I started putting on makeup every day as part of my morning routine for school. But starting a beauty routine also meant committing a lot of beauty faux pas—from wearing a foundation shade too light for my skin tone, being too heavy-handed with my blush (now excusable with the blush blindness trend), to even having my brows threaded too thinly that it changed my whole appearance. Even so, those experiences taught me that the only way to get better with makeup is to just keep doing it.
For Gen Z beauty brand founder Aleah Sia of Popique, beauty has always been about the journey of constantly learning and getting better. In an exclusive one-on-one interview with Allure Philippines, the young entrepreneur shares how her relationship with beauty has changed through time—plus the beauty mistakes she made along the way, and the beauty upgrades she invested in for herself too.
Mistake 1: Not wearing sunscreen regularly
Sia admitted to previously not being a fan of wearing sunscreen daily. “I would only wear sunscreen when I’d go outdoors and didn’t realize the overall health benefits of wearing it. But there’s so much sunscreen can do for the overall long-term health of your skin,” she says. “It helps with premature skin, uneven skin tone, and pigmentation.”
Mistake 2: Not understanding personal facial structure
Aside from skipping sun protection, Sia was also candid about not being aware of her facial structure. “How I learned makeup was through YouTube tutorials. But I think I would copy exactly how the person behind the camera would put makeup on her skin, instead of understanding my own face structure and bone shape. It’s really about trial and error when it comes to beauty,” she says.
“I would tell my beginner self to not be afraid to explore and really understand what suits your face,” she adds.
Mistake 3: Not using color correctors properly
For Sia, color correctors were something she only learned how to use later on. “Before, I’d be really intimidated by looking at color correcting palettes with the green, purple, and peach products. But there’s so much it can do to your face in terms of helping neutralize discoloration,” she says.
Sia says that proper color correcting can help to achieve a fresh, glowing makeup finish with just a little amount of product.
Mistake 4: Mimicking tutorials without adapting to your face
She also shares how she was uncomfortable doing makeup for a while because she was imitating makeup tutorials too much. “One thing I would never do again is applying techniques I wasn’t comfortable with, just because I’d see another person doing it,” she says. “I would contour literally everywhere in my face, including my nose and eyes, even though I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was literally just copying what professionals were doing,” she continues.
Mistake 5: Being afraid to explore more on skin care
Sia also advised on how beginners can try various skin care products to find what suits them. “Exploration is really important to understand what suits your skin, because not only do you have to think about the short run, but also like the long-term consequences on your skin,” she says.
On her big beauty upgrades
She also shares how it was in her college days when she wore makeup daily that she was able to expand her relationship with beauty. “ I was able to study abroad. I really got to see how different makeup suits different skin. I was also lucky enough to have a Sephora close by. That’s where I really got to explore different makeup brands, tools, and products,” she says.
Sia was also open about her beauty upgrades. “My biggest beauty upgrade would definitely be investing in better skin prep. Before, I would never skin prep my face. So I have dry skin, and I wouldn’t really cleanse and moisturize my face before actually putting on makeup,” she adds.
Aside from products, she also invested in a color analysis session to better understand her undertone in relation to different color stories.
For Sia, beauty is not just about jumping on the latest trend—it’s also about moving with more intention to better understand what works for us best.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Common mistakes include wearing foundation shades too light for their skin tone, skipping sunscreen unless outdoors, and copying YouTube tutorials without adapting techniques to their own facial structure. Aleah Sia, founder of Filipino brand Popique, cites all three as part of her own early beauty learning curve.
Daily sunscreen use protects against premature skin aging, uneven skin tone, and pigmentation — benefits that accumulate over the long term regardless of direct sun exposure. Many people apply SPF only when going outside, which limits these protective effects and allows UV-related skin damage to build gradually.
Color correctors — in green, purple, and peach tones — work by neutralizing specific types of discoloration before foundation. Green counteracts redness, peach corrects darker pigmentation common in Filipino and morena skin tones. Applied correctly, a small amount creates a more even base and a fresher, more luminous makeup finish.
YouTube tutorials are a useful starting point, but replicating them exactly without adapting to your own face shape and bone structure often produces misapplied results. Makeup artists and founders like Aleah Sia recommend using tutorials as reference only — then adjusting placement, blending, and product amount to your individual facial structure.
A color analysis session identifies your skin’s undertone — warm, cool, or neutral — in relation to different color stories. It helps inform choices around foundation shade, blush tone, eyeshadow palette, and clothing color, making beauty product selection more precise and reducing trial-and-error costs for everyday makeup and skincare.
