First of all, I am very thrilled and proud to be a part of London College of Fashion and IISF course, everything I imagined came true and I am very delighted to study at University of Arts London. Moreover, I would like to say thank you to everyone who came into my life since I applied to college.

Overall, all my thoughts were positive from the start, I knew that I am capable to pass this course and with this mindset I studied all year long, this helped me to stay strong and work as hard as I can. To be honest, I haven’t expected that IISF course will be quite hard for me. One of the most challenging moments were the fashion design part and the Adobe sessions with Sing, but I figured it out and it worked. Design was quite difficult for me because I knew from the start that I would like to do Fashion Business and work that is not related to making things by hands. In addition to this, I was extremely happy and cheerful when we were divided into the groups that fit our interests, for me personally it was a business pathway. Personally, I enjoyed every session related to business, it was an absorbing process to do everything step by step and than see the result of a hard work. One of my biggest achievements was the capability to experiment and not be afraid that it will not be appreciated, because in London College of Fashion there are no limits to art and each work will be valuable in its own way. I loved to combine mathematics and art, thereby creating something special of my own. This discovery for me was my final business project, where I created my beauty brand “Opal”. Maybe someday in the future I will turn this business idea into reality and actually create my own cosmetics brand according to the final assessment. There are also some things that I want to improve above all others, it is the time management and the fashion illustrations, during the summertime I will practice those skills and work on myself. 

To conclude, I can not imagine that this academic year has gone by so quickly. I’ve gained a lot of useful knowledge that will help me at the BSc (Hons) Fashion Management. As I said previously, it was a very great pleasure to be a part of London College of Fashion and I am very thankful for the opportunities that IISF course gave me. 

As I’ve been an influencer in the past, it was very gripping to make an Instagram page and kind of promote my beauty brand “Opal”. I adored this task and made it with great pleasure. Talking about the process, I did a separate Instagram account for the “Opal” brand that contains basic information in the BIO and the range of the products on the Instagram feed.

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In the BIO of the profile, you can clearly see the most important things about the brand such as location – London, United Kingdom, the main purpose of the brand – sustainability, vegan, organic, etc, the main point that it is not tested on animals and the detailed about delivery.

On the profile pic, I decided to put a brand logo, so people will understand what is the brand about. And on the Instagram feed, I’ve posted the picture of our products that are available to buy.

Talking about our influencer, this is my friend, a famous Russian model and photographer Anastasia Krivosheeva. She fits our brand perfectly because she is already working in the fashion industry and she is a vegetarian. So, it is a perfect match!

Moreover, we have our own hashtags that help us to promote and advertise better. There are some of the most popular :

#opalbeautybrand #fashiontrends #beautyproducts #beautytrends #vegancosmetics #organiccosmetics #sustainableproducts #crueltyfree #opalbeauty #fashionwithopal #createyouropal #ecofriendlycosmetics

To start with, It was very absorbing to discover the Sketch Up website, I really enjoyed exploring something new for me. Also, I really liked the Adobe class with Sing, he explained to us everything step by step and this strategy really helped me to do everything on time and create this outcome.

As I am talking about the process I am not afraid to show my first attempt. It is not very good and needs to develop, still, I want to show it.

After the session, I spend quite a big amount of time to get the hang of it and did a final outcome of the beauty salon where a customer could make his own product according to his interests and hobbies. And the main beauty shop, where we will have a wide range of products.

This is a 3D model online model design of the main office, I tried to do my best and I really enjoy how it looks.

This is my second attempt at doing the beauty salon. I think that there are a lot of improvements comparing with the first image on the top of the page. I also added some colours and the logo of the brand.

I wanted to experiment and did another model just in case to have different choices. I’ve changed the clothes of the assistant it was also not an easy moment for me, but I tried and really loved the result.

And finally, this is my end result, my final outcome for the presentation. I am very proud of myself that I achieved this result, as I think it turned out very well!

From my point of view, the finance part of the project is one of the most vital from all. The reason is because the business should pay off. To be honest, it was quite hard for me to manage how to use properly the Excel, but I figured it out and it worked.

I want to start from the very beginning to show the process how did I manage it. First of all, we started to explore financials on a face to face business session. Our teacher Sara gave us an example of how to make simple charts, after that, we had an individual task, where we had to experiment with a dress comparison and fill in the chart which contained five parts: Place of Goods, Description, Costs Per Metre, Meterage Required and the Cost. I haven’t finished my work, but still want to share.

That was my first attempt at doing financials. I shared this experience because I think that the process is crucial, so after that attempt, I did the Cash Flow for my own beauty brand “Opal”.

This is the Cash Flow chart for the “Opal”. This chart contains ten parts:

• Brought Forward
• Income
• Funds Available
• Expenses
• Set up business
• Purchase of goods
• Sales and Marketing
• Delivery to store
• Total expanses
• Closing Statement

So, I’ve counted the summary according to my budget and put the evidence.

The conclusion is : Overall, according to this cash flow table all of the investments would be paid off. Moreover, outflow will increase on 81% per year.

Emerging beauty brand “Opal” has announced a great opening in London, United Kingdom. This brand is based on the concept of producing products that are 100% vegan, not tested on animals and bio means that it was made of biological and renewable products based on sustainable manufacture. Opal brand is an upcoming beauty brand based in London with the most creative and healthy cosmetics products. The creator focuses on the issue of animal testing in the cosmetic industry, animal slaughter and the healthy lifestyle overall. A beauty brand “Opal” offers a huge choice of cosmetics products. Moreover, we are providing a lot of great opportunities such as creating “special” products as the customer wants depends on his interests, for example, eyeshadows based on a client’s favourite vegetable. This is a great opportunity to promote sustainability in fashion and make it trendy for everyone. Opal has an individual approach to each client because customer interests are foremost. It is crucial for us to have employees that are passionate about their work and having enthusiasm for the beauty and fashion industry.  

Additional information,  in case a customer who wants to buy this product will not be able to come to the shop in person and see the item in detail, in which case it will be possible to an online shopping and the virtual product reference. The virtual product reference gives an opportunity to explore the product as much as possible with a full overview, photos and videos which will be taken from all angles. This will help our customers to stay up to date with new items and sales. Nevertheless, Opal beauty brand is always very responsive to our customers and strives to do everything to the highest standard. 

To start with, the marketing Mix is a very important part of the whole project. It contains seven parts that are talking about your product development and the marketing strategy. I personally adored the process and got a “clearer picture” of what and how my brand will look. I’ve decided to make it as a chart for the same reason as I said previously, it will be much easier to read and it will look more beautiful visually.

As I already mention earlier, the Marketing Mix chart contain seven parts. I prefer to look more detailed into the process.

Talking about Product and Purpose :

A beauty brand “Opal” offers a huge choice of cosmetics products. The main purpose is to struggle with animal testing in the cosmetic industry and promote sustainability in fashion thus make it trendy and desirable for everyone. 

Considering the Price and Positioning :

The price depends on the client’s interest choices. They are different ranges such as premium, middle-market and low market products (from 7 – 85) ( more detailed information about the price range you can find in the range plan)

The Place and Partnerships :

Our beauty shop “Opal” is located in central London, but there is also an opportunity to order online. We are working with ethnic and environmental companies and collaborate with other cosmetics brands that are vegan. 

Promotion and Personalization :

We are promoting our products by providing them to famous influencers/beauty bloggers. Opal brand has active social media campaigns and quality advertising (Instagram, til tok, youtube, Twitter, etc.)

The Physical Evidence :

Recycled, original, low waste packaging. Beautiful and simple interior. 

The process :

Physical creating of “special” products as the customer wants, for example, a lipstick based on a customer’s favourite fruit or an eyeshadow palette based on a client’s favourite dish. Online store/online booking from the website. 

And the last one is People :

Individual approach to each client. Employees that are passionate about their work, enthusiasm for beauty and fashion industry. 

To conclude, it was really useful for me and also it helped me to make my brand more developed and successful.

To start with, I would like to say that packaging and branding development is extremely important. The reasons are because when the customer is looking at the package and likes it he probably will buy more. In case the packaging is very eye-catching and creative there will be a higher probability that this product will be sold as fast as possible. In addition to this, I made a wide range of different packaging ideas.

From my point of view, one of the most crucial things is to put the logo on every packaging object. This is very important because we should catch the attention of our potential customer. On this slide (this is my final outcome), it is clearly seen that I’ve made the paper bags, gift card, beauty boxes and the “thank you” cards.

This is my beauty brand logo that I have put on every item that we sell. From my perspective, it is very stylish and translates the whole idea of the brand. I was in love to make the branding especially the thank you cards. It was a very gripping process to choose the right font, the right colour palette, etc. Moreover, I think that it will be a great present to your friend if you will get him/her our gift card that gives an opportunity to create your own cosmetic product according to your hobbies/interests. Or the second option is to get an anti-ageing set for free. I personally had been very happy if someone will get me such a present.

On another business session during the face to face studying that I really enjoyed we did a Brand Positioning Map. The Brand Positioning Map is a chart where you can see the evidence of a brand career, so there are four categories : prestige price, mass market, exclusivity and a affordability. According to the task, I needed to put the brands according to their price and segment into the right place.

So, I made my Brand Positioning Map according to my business idea. I’ve chosen the most popular cosmetics brands that are suitable for each category. I was very happy to explore each of these brands, that was a very gripping process.

To start with, let’s look at the Prestige Price: for that category, I have chosen MAC Cosmetics and Charlotte Tilbury. From my perspective, those beauty brand are very successful but have a prestige price.

Talking about the Exclusivity : I thought that it would be great to put Benefit cosmetics, Clinique cosmetics, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna ( you can find more detailed information in the primary research via shop reports) and the Huda Beauty cosmetics.

The third part is Affordability: I’ve decided to put there a Clarins Paris Cosmetics and a Too Faced Cosmetics. From my point of view, they have a similar marketing strategy and those brand are affordable.

And the last part is a Mass-Market: in this category, I’ve put Maybelline New York Cosmetics, NYX Cosmetics and L’oreal Paris Cosmetics. Those brands are in the middle with normal quality and an affordable price.

During our business session in class we’ve got an assignment to make an STP slide, first of all what is STP? STP is an abbreviation of Segment, Target and Position. Those three cafeterias makes your brand more detailed and help to find the right marketing structure. I made mine according to my business idea and the cosmetics brand “Opal”.

So, let’s absorb those aspects. I would like to start from the

Segment part: Sustainable products only, cruelty-free, 100% vegan, eco-friendly, organic, natural, big segment choice.

Target : The current customers are people from 18-35 years old that are interested in beauty, having a healthy lifestyle, love animals, doing sports and following fashion trends.

(those aspects have been also mentioned more detailed in my customer profile)

And the final is Position : The main point (USP = Unique selling Proposition) is to promote sustainability in fashion thus make it trendy and desirable to everyone.

To conclude, that was a very useful session for me personally, it helped me to make a clear business plan so I can understand the main points.

According to my previous post I made this one and they are not the same how it can shoe at a glance. It is very needful to make a competitor SWOT analysis to compare and see what should be improved, what is better or even worse. So, I’ve chose as my competitor – Benefit Cosmetics. Actually, I am a huge fan of their products. From my perspective, they are making the best brow products from all of the world, but they also have some negative sides. Let’s absorb!

Let’s start from their strengths :

1. Global beauty authorities
2. DOES NOT test on animals
3. Only high-quality products
4. Available in more than 59 countries
5. More than 85 boutiques worldwide
6. Successful models & makeup artists only

Now, let’s move to the weaknesses :

1. High prices, not affordable 
2. Copies / fake replicas taking up the attention
3. Sometimes advertising is too simple

Opportunities :

1. Collaborations with celebrities/companies
2. Selling products in huge shops f. ex. Sephora
3. Different magazines/platforms to advertise 
4. Creating a mobile app to gain more online customers

And the final is threats :

1. Loss of sales because of the COVID-19 epidemic
2. Competition with other beauty brands
3. Plagiarism, fake items/products
4. Negative feedback from customers 

To conclude, that was a very good experience to explore the other beauty brand history and marketing strategies, I really enjoyed this task and it helped me to develop my brand also.