From products to business, members of Aurum Cosmetics know beauty is more than skin deep.

Founded in 2022, UCLA Aurum Cosmetics serves as a social and professional development space for beauty industry aspirants and casual beauty enthusiasts alike. The chapter organizes guest speaker events, brand collaborations and networking opportunities with companies such as L’Oréal and e.l.f. Aurum Cosmetics is the only student organization on campus that offers exposure to all beauty-related career paths, said incoming club president Nicole Guan.

“The beauty industry is open to anyone who can be interested in it,” said Guan, a rising fourth-year chemical engineering student. “The members that come into our organization and the members that join my executive board – we’re so diverse that we can hopefully be a reflection of what the beauty industry can look like down the line as we’re building the next generation of beauty leaders.”

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Aurum Cosmetics comprises about 50 to 60 active members and aims to meet weekly, Guan said. She added that its Spring Into Beauty event, which she spearheaded spring quarter, was UCLA’s first beauty-centered networking event that introduced students to over 15 professionals from the beauty industry, including cosmetic scientist Rebecca Gadberry, who has formulated thousands of beauty products. Incoming vice president of external outreach and rising fourth-year economics student Bhavya Batra said other events unique to Aurum include its tour of L’Oréal’s West Coast headquarters, its Black Voices in Beauty speaker panel and its Ulta Beauty scavenger hunt.

Batra said the club’s diverse range of industry panels helps students build meaningful connections that outlast their four years at UCLA. She added that Aurum Cosmetics emphasizes one-on-one conversations at its networking events rather than centring on resume reviews.

Jasmine Floro, the organization’s incoming internal vice president, said she enjoys the club’s formulation workshops, where members can create custom lip glosses. New members are typically enamored by the abundance of freebies the club receives from brands like NYX and Drunk Elephant, the rising third-year biochemistry student said.

Floro added that she felt pride witnessing the club’s membership increase threefold since her first year as a member. While she initially joined Aurum Cosmetics to meet new people, Floro said the club encourages students to consider the beauty industry as a potential career path.

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“Cosmetics isn’t a very traditional path for chemical engineers,” Guan said. “I had acne, and I was really fascinated about the science behind the products I was using in my skincare and how it could help people alleviate their acne while also making them feel more confident. And I realized that there is a role for chemical engineers in the beauty space.”

Floro said her interest in beauty stemmed from the dolls and makeup kits she had growing up, eventually merging with her love of science through Aurum Cosmetics. Batra said watching her mother’s makeup routine for work and taking monthly Sephora trips with her family sparked her passion for discovering new products.

“When I see it from a business perspective, the beauty industry is growing at a massive scale,” Batra said. “There are so many different products, which are so supportive to every skin type, every problem that you’re currently facing.”

As social media influencers and consumer culture continue to shape beauty standards, Floro said she plans for the club to highlight mental health awareness in relation to beauty. She said as a longtime beauty enthusiast, she has experienced how social media can damage self-esteem through comparison.

“Sometimes I can feel really confident, and makeup is a means of self-expression and a means of empowerment,” Floro said. “But sometimes if you get caught up in what everyone else is doing, or all the trends, it can be very damaging.”

Batra said one of Aurum Cosmetics’ major goals is to create a supportive, collaborative and diverse community for students, regardless of their background and major. Guan said she looks forward to organizing more events that represent the beauty industry’s cultural diversity, particularly as consumers gain access to makeup and skincare products from communities around the globe.

Batra said she has felt empowered at Aurum Cosmetics’ events as an international student from India. The diversity of professionals and enthusiasts has made her feel connected to the beauty world at large, she added.

“I’ve become more confident in how I present my views because of how open the industry is, how open our club is and how diverse it is,” Batra said. “The different opportunities that you can pursue in the beauty industry are amazing to see, and in that sense, I feel like I have expanded professionally the way I think.”