As college students, it’s normal to ask ourselves, “what are we doing with our lives?” Student, Diamond Holt wondered that this past January, and she was lucky enough to figure it out. Since then, Holt has been working hard to make her dream come true, and next month she is planning on launching her skincare business, Caramelized Beauty.
“At first I was a liberal arts major because I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do,” Holt said. “Next semester, I’m switching my major to business, so I can learn [how] to run my business better. I eventually want to become an esthetician.”
Holt has just begun building her business, but her this passion did not come out of the blue. She has been into skincare for years now.
“When I was 16, I saw a video on YouTube about a girl who started her own lip-gloss business and I thought that would be cool,” Holt said. “[I] just tried to absorb as much information from others and see what they did. I try to do things my own way but also get advice from [YouTubers].”
Starting a business takes a lot of work. It requires time commitment, especially when you’re on your own. Not only does Holt need to consider her flexibility but also the startup costs. Once Holt realized that’s what she wanted to do, she got straight to work.
“I knew I had to save up first to buy the supplies that I need,” Holt said. “I was able to last month and I’ve been trying to work on product labels and figuring out recipes that I can use to make my products. Just getting everything finalized so I can launch next month. [And] by the time I launch I hope to have my website up.”
This launch marks the beginning of Holts business. However, she doesn’t want to cause herself too much stress, so she has decided to start selling only a handful of products. As she gets more comfortable with her launches, Holt is planning to add more to her shelf and hopes to even sell products for men.
“I’m selling body butters, body scrubs, face washes, [and] facial oils,” Holt said. “I really want to do different products in the skincare realm. I want to experiment and do as much as I can in my future… I want to create beard oils and body butters for men too. I want it to be for everyone. I’m trying to not overwhelm myself for the first launch, but as I get used to it, I’m going to add more products.”
When trying to come up with a name for her business, Holt thought of what she loved and how she wanted her customers to feel, and that’s when caramel popped into her head. Her fondness of caramel turned into Caramelized Beauty, and it will also be the signature scent of her products.
“I really love caramel,” Holt said. “When I think of caramel I think of smooth and sweet and that’s how I want my products to feel. For my first launch, I plan on having caramel scented products, and I’m going to always keep them as staple products, so they’ll always be available.”
Things have been going smoothly for Holt. She has already gone so far in just a short time. But even though she’s on the right track, things can feel both scary and exciting at the same time.
“[Starting a business is] a little scary because I’ve never done it before and I’m just hoping I do stuff right; I don’t want to fail,” Holt said. “It’s also exciting because I just enjoy being my own boss. I don’t really like people telling me what to do, so I enjoy making my own rules and doing what makes me happy.”
This year is the start of Caramelized Beauty, and Holt is determined to reach her goals as she continues to grow.
“I want to eventually release my product in the stores; I want to be known globally,” Holt said. “Success, to me, is seeing a lot of different people using my products and enjoying them. That would be the most rewarding because I will be able to see all my hard work pay off.”
If you are interested in keeping up with Holt and Caramelized beauty, follow them at @caramelizedbeautyllc on Instagram, @Caramelized Beauty LLC on Facebook, and @caramelizedbeauty on TikTok.