How it all began
About 17 years ago, Anastasia Aliaksandrovich started teaching professional makeup artists. In 2013, the company «School of Professional Makeup of Anastasia Aliaksandrovich» was founded — one of the first makeup schools in Belarus.
Makeup artists came from almost all over the world: Western Europe, the USA, Canada, the Middle East, Australia, Asia, and the CIS countries.
The school trained many makeup artists from different countries. Many became successful professionals, opened their own schools and studios, and gained a huge following. Thousands of models also passed through the school — they, too, became part of our cosmetic community. The friendships and professional connections formed in those years are still alive and growing.
The problem that led to creating our own cosmetics
While working, the school constantly faced difficulties in acquiring materials and tools. In Belarus, it was difficult, sometimes impossible, to buy high-quality cosmetics. Most supplies were purchased in the USA and, to a lesser extent, in Europe.
We tried the best professional cosmetics from well-known global brands, but never found one that suited us 100%.
The first problem — color logic. You buy a palette with several shades, but you only use one. That meant buying many palettes and using only 20–30% of the colors.
The second problem — chemical composition. In products from famous brands, we found questionable preservatives, parabens, and potential allergens. With a large flow of models — some of whom might have allergies — this posed a health risk.
Our own research
For many years, Anastasia studied chemistry as well as advanced scientific discoveries in cosmetic ingredients. She conducted her own research and experiments. She set up a laboratory room in her home, where she spent months and years.
Ingredients had to be sourced from around the world — in small laboratory batches. This was extremely difficult: raw material suppliers who work with huge batches did not want to bother shipping a few hundred grams to «some researchers from Belarus.» And yes, it was very expensive.
All this effort and striving for perfection led to the creation of laboratory batches of her own cosmetics. It met the needs of the makeup school: logical color range, harmonious textures, safe formulas. At that time, no one was thinking about global production — the goal was to supply the school.
Natural demand and the birth of the brand
Very quickly, demand arose from our audience — first of all, from models and professional makeup artists who, personally or remotely, knew the products used at the school. Many wanted to buy this cosmetics.
Production needed to be scaled. In early 2020, together with friends from the transport company Beltechnoservice, on their premises in Novopolotsk, the company «Cosmetic Technologies» was founded.
At that time, the StasyAlex brand was a small startup of initiative-driven and passionate people, created to meet the demand for the cosmetics developed by Anastasia.
First production: an MVP nobody planned
Setting up production took about eight months. Starting capabilities were very limited: the company’s capital was $60,000 (a loan). We decided to do as much as possible ourselves (a core team of 5–6 people) and to sell through our own e-commerce websites, which we also built ourselves.
Given limited production capacity, we launched only eyeshadows, pigments, and brushes. By the end of 2020, we launched online stores for the USA, Europe, and CIS countries (except Belarus). We quietly announced on Instagram that we were ready to sell. The first sales happened within minutes — and the process took off. For the first six months, we sold nothing in Belarus: we were focused exclusively on export.
Was this a business? Rather not. It was the MVP stage of a cosmetic startup, although no one on the team thought about it at the time. We simply wanted to create a beautiful, in-demand product for our beloved audience.
What the «do-it-yourself» model gave us
The model where you do everything yourself allowed us to reach profitability quickly and gain a fully controllable process — from raw materials to end customers.
By early 2021, we had broken even, and in 2021 we paid the first dividends to the founders. Also in 2021, with the development of online learning, we closed the offline makeup school and focused on cosmetics development, later integrating e-commerce with an Ed-Tech platform.
The difficulties we faced
The challenges in Belarus were significant. We were the first (and so far the only) company fully focused exclusively on export and only through our own e-commerce platforms.
Payments. Working with hundreds of foreign issuers showed that not all payments to Belarusian banks could go through. After 2022, the situation only worsened. At the end of 2020, we lost about 50% of payments; by 2026, it’s about 90%.
Logistics. Long and expensive postal shipping from Belarus (customers waited 1–2 months) was a serious limiting factor. After 2022, this only got worse.
Due to external factors beyond our control, actual work on developing production of new products (already developed but not released) and expanding e-commerce was halted in 2022.
Our numbers (despite everything)
Despite all these existential challenges, here are our figures.
2020:
- Company founded with a $60,000 loan
- 100 SKUs developed and released
- Purchases from more than 100 countries
E-commerce revenue:
- 2020 (Q4) ≈ $32,800
- 2021 ≈ $266,000
- 2022 ≈ $162,000
- 2023 ≈ $103,000
- 2024 ≈ $47,000
- 2025 ≈ $20,000
- 2026 (Q1) ≈ $6,000
Total: ≈ $636 800
The average transaction value across all years of e-commerce operations was $100–150 USD.
The $60,000 loan was repaid.
Dividends to founders:
- 2021 ≈ $62,952
- 2022 ≈ $42,952
- 2023 ≈ $48,120
- 2024 ≈ $23,620
- 2025 ≈ $11,192
Total dividends: ≈ $188,000
What the MVP stage taught us
The model proposed by Anastasia proved viable even in an extremely inconvenient location — Belarus. The essence: full focus on understanding market demand, logically sound and flawless products that don’t need advertising because they advertise themselves and generate global demand.
If this model had been launched in a country with working payment gateways for e-commerce and fast, cheap logistics, the financial results would be 3–5 times higher. The average transaction value would be at least twice as high. And the presence of venture capital would allow scaling the project to a global level — with high valuation and large net profit.
Where we stand in 2026
We have a large loyal audience around the world waiting for new StasyAlex products.
Anastasia has developed over 1,000 SKUs covering most market needs: eyeshadows, foundations, powders, lipsticks, brushes, and many innovative skincare products.
Separately, at the suggestion of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, a line of cosmetics for the film industry has been developed. Sanjay Dutt sees its potential not only in Bollywood but throughout India.
In recent years, the largest buyers of StasyAlex products have been customers from China.
Our plans and what we need
The most obvious and realistic path now is to launch a cosmetics factory for the Chinese market. In 2026, we have made significant progress in this direction.
However, for other regions, things are not so simple. There is a huge global market. There is demand for our products. There are over 1,000 unique SKUs already developed. But there is no manufacturing capacity. And there are no investment institutions in Belarus.
We also want to continue scaling our own e-commerce by creating dozens of regional online stores around the world, combined with an Ed-Tech educational platform. We could teach makeup art to women worldwide — now it’s easy, we can speak any language using AI translation.
Our invitation
We have proven that our model works even in the most inconvenient conditions. In comfortable conditions, the result will be many times greater.
We have 1,000+ SKUs, a loyal global audience, and interest from China and Bollywood. We are currently launching our first major production facility in China for the local Chinese market, and we are looking for reliable partners and investment to scale the StasyAlex cosmetic brand globally.
If you’re interested — get in touch. Let’s discuss how to take the next step together.
WhatsApp: +375(33)6610500
e-mail: provizage@gmail.com