Remember that scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts walks into a high-end department store ready to spend an obscene amount of money but she can’t get the help she needs?

The Allofus Cosmetics story is exactly like that…except different.

This story stars Christina Wang, the Asian-American cofounder of Allofus Cosmetics. It begins with Wang visiting a well-regarded department store and asking the beauty specialists to point her in the direction of their very best liquid foundation.

Wang, who has sensitive skin, was looking for the very best money could buy; cost wasn’t a concern.

She was taken to the makeup counter of what some consider the crème de la crème of the makeup industry. However, once there, she found the brand didn’t have any shades for women with yellow undertones. So, she settled and bought foundation from a different line, which caused her to breakout

Three people in that value chain lost out that day – the customer, the department store, and the cosmetic brands.

This was a problem.

Three people in that value chain lost out that day
…this was a problem

Wang had computer science and literature degrees and minored in film. She’d worked as a VFX artist on Hollywood blockbusters like Alice in Wonderland, Amazing Spiderman, and Watchmen. She had also led international teams of engineers as a lead software engineer. Therefore, Wang felt she possessed the expertise in both science and artistry to solve the problem.

But don’t think that AllOfUs Cosmetics is ‘just another makeup brand’.

The company has created a “color bff” (blend friendly foundation) photo booth that allows customers to select their desired price point and foundation characteristics, then receive a custom-blended bottle of foundation in under 3 minutes. Here’s how it works:

• Foundation seekers step into an ambient light-free photo booth
• Using a touch screen, customers use a select tool to choose a spot on their face to color match
• Next, they select the brand they’d like to be matched with
• And three minutes later – custom-blended cosmetic magic!

Armed with experience, along with a $15k Wolfen Fellowship for a feasibility study from the UCLA Price Center (a scholarship her cofounder, AJ Ezzour says she won by a landslide), Wang has infused science and technology into her company.

There’s always a way to be defensible and to succeed despite the opposition. You just have to figure out how to strategically calculate your next moves

I was super impressed by what she was doing,” says fellow UCLA student, Ezzour. “I asked how I could help. A few weeks later she came to me looking for a team. As a strong champion of her idea, I readily agreed to come onboard.”

Ezzour, a self-described opportunity identifier who studied neuroscience in undergrad, says he came into his MBA program knowing he had a lot to learn. Strategy and marketing were the best classes for him as he feels they allowed him to view opportunity like a chess game.

“There’s always a way to be defensible and to succeed despite the opposition. You just have to figure out how to strategically calculate your next moves.”

Ezzour’s moves included an internship with Tech Coast Angels and working with UCLA’s Price Center. Essentially, he surrounded himself with top entrepreneurial-focused organizations in order to spot emerging opportunities and learn good business tactics.

AllOfUs Cosmetics is an emerging opportunity he sees as having a lot of promise.

He goes on to talk about the social missions he and his cofounder are exploring with their company, including partnerships with organizations that assist burn survivors.

AllOfUs Cosmetics will be launching a Kickstarter campaign October 22 through November 18. To learn more about this company and connect with its founders, visit the AllOfUs Cosmetics idea page on the Ideator platform. If you want help innovating faster, smarter, and easier, sign up for Ideator today.

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