A little over a year ago, Mikayla Nogueira was wrapping up her senior year at Bryant University when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and changed the world. She hunkered down at home outside of Boston and in between virtual classes, decided to have some fun posting wildly creative makeup videos on TikTok. Almost instantly, the 23-year-old's content blew up on the platform leaving her followers wanting to see more of her candid product reviews, mesmerizing artistry and authentic personality.
Nogueira's TikTok page continued to explode and by summer, she decided to pursue a career in content creation full-time by utilizing the platform. Now, she's garnered over 5.7 million followers on TikTok alone and gets millions of views and hundreds of comments on all of the videos she posts.
"I am going to be honest I still have not fully grasped that I am a 'beauty guru' loved by over 5 million people. It is just a little difficult to wrap my head around it," Nogueira tells PEOPLE exclusively. "It's surreal."
It's no surprise that after many of her product recommendations led to sell-out viral makeup moments, offers from beauty brand started rolling in. But for Nogueira, the decision to collaborate with Glamlite Cosmetics, the Black-founded, indie makeup brand, was an easy one.
"There was nothing more important to me than working with an indie brand, rather than the large mass-produced companies that receive all the love. I wanted a true indie brand to be given the spotlight," she shares, adding that she also wanted the collection to be cruelty-free and vegan. "Glamlite Cosmetics is a brand that cares for their customers, their products, how they treat their employees and would give me the opportunity to bring my exact vision to life."
Launching today, Nogueira's Glamlite collection includes a rainbow-hued 30-pan eyeshadow palette, lip glosses, highlighter and false lashes. Read on for our full conversation with Nogueira to get all the details about her makeup collab debut and find out what's next for the glam guru.
Source: People.com