COSMETICS entrepreneur Chryseis Tan Sheik Ling who started her skincare products line at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago hopes that one day all Malaysians will use her products.
The founder of the “LUMI Beauty” brand was also hopeful that her brand will go global after this.
“(I hope) one day people around the world will enjoy my hardship and labour of love,” quipped the daughter of Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun in a recent promotional interview with TikTok influencer “sai-cx”.
Sounding a tad ambitious given there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of renowned cosmetic brands in today’s marketplace, one nevertheless has to applause the 10As SPM pupil of Chempaka International School Damansara Heights for her passion-driven entrepreneurship mettle.
Recounting her entrepreneurship journey, Chryseis who’s married to scion of the Naza Group SM Faliq Nasimuddin said she started the cosmetics business in 2020.
The brand’s first product – the Vitamin Glow Super Serum – sold 5,000 units on its first day, and within the first year, her company raked in some RM700,000 in turnover, according to Chryseis.
“I think people trust me for I’ll put the best (ingredients) in my skincare product,” she asserted.
Chryseis further insisted that her father whose Berjaya Group has diverse interests in sectors like hospitality, retail, property, numbers-forecasting and food and beverage (F&B) was not involved at all in her business.
Surely, her father’s entrepreneurship drive must have rubbed off on her for having observed the tycoon built his business empire from a young age while at the same time enabling her to harness her own business instinct.
Asked by the channel host how she sees LUMI Beauty in the future, Chryseis said: “I want every single Malaysian to use Lumi and know our brand. We also plan to go into more categories like supplements and perfumeries.”
A check on LUMI’s official shop on e-commerce platform Shopee shows that this line of cosmetics which tagline is “empowering your glow” can be considered to be on the upper end of the price spectrum. A 50ml SPF50 sunscreen is priced at RM98.
A check on other brands of the same product type shows that the price can be less than RM30.
But probably, the premium pricing is justified given Chryseis takes a hands-on approach to create unique and patented mixes for LUMI Beauty – even to the point of re-writing the product formulae until they are exactly right – alongside her Korean skincare expert lab partner.
“At the end of the day, these are products that my family and I use,” enthused the 34-year-old entrepreneur and accidental social media celebrity (Chryseis has over 538,000 Instagram followers who enjoy seeing snippets of her cheeky daughter and precious family moments).
“It’s critical that they live up to my vision of using botanical-driven ingredients and creating a luminous glow.”
LUMI Beauty has a few ‘firsts’ to its name, including being the first skincare brand in Malaysia to have a vending machine outlet strategically placed at major retail malls and even Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
The vending machine is designed in the brand’s signature lemon sorbet colour scheme and has an image of a joyful Chryseis, bringing natural skincare to the masses. LUMI Beauty was also one of the first Malaysian skincare companies to expand beyond serums and sheet masks.
Chryseis is currently executive director of Berjaya Corporation Bhd. She also sits on the boards of Berjaya Food Bhd, Berjaya Assets Bhd and Berjaya Land Bhd. – April 16, 2024
