The 37-year-old Sabahan said hard work, patience and positive vibes along the journey from scratch made his dream become a reality.
Passionate about making women look their best, Jameson started doing research and development on lipsticks after graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2011.
“I wanted to study make-up and learn about the techniques… later on I was working for Stila (make-up brand) and then I furthered my studies in marketing communication to learn about branding and creating my own products,” said the graduate of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Advertising and Marketing Communications from University of Greenwich, United Kingdom.
The idea to create his own brand was mooted from his studies and working experience with some famous brands, including Smashbox, he told Bernama in an exclusive interview here.
Jameson said advice from his three sisters, who had joined beauty pageants in Sabah a few years ago, and his mother on the importance of lipstick, also pushed him in coming up with the beauty product.
“I went through a lot of procedures and processes to meet European Standards in order to get approved by UK laboratories. It wasn’t easy at all,” he said, adding that in 2013, he started to market his products online and at a pharmacy in London.
Coming from a big family with six siblings, and with his father working as a teacher and his mother a housewife who sometimes works at a paddy field, he had to work hard to fend for himself.
He made his way to London in 2003 to find better opportunities, and after a decade, he managed to set up MYJ Beauty.
He said the lipsticks cater for both European and Asian skin tones and that 16 vibrant colours were available, of which eight are lipsticks the others lip glosses.
In appreciation of London, which had in a way assisted his dreams to come true, Jameson named each of his lipsticks and lip glosses after popular streets and bridges in the city, such as Albert Bridge, London Bridge, Regent Street and Carnaby Street.
The products were also made available in Malaysia since last December at the Parkson chain and three other shopping malls, namely MyTown Shopping Centre, Sunway Velocity Mall and IOI City mall.
The products were launched on Friday at NU Sentral Mall here and are slated for another launch at Gurney Plaza in George Town, Penang, next week.
“Malaysians like Western brands and the response has been very positive. People feel that it’s good, too. So far, we have brought in more than 5,000 lipsticks and lip glosses to Malaysia since late last year, and we are hoping to reach at least 50 stockists by end of this year,” he said.
Jameson said his lipsticks, which were of the same quality as imported brands, were sold at RM45 each, which was very affordable for Malaysians.
“The specialty of my products is the mineral ingredients used… we use vitamin E and titanium dioxide to help prevent lips from drying and causing pigmentation,” he said.
Sharing his struggle, the soft-spoken entrepreneur said creating a brand would be easy, but not the process and financial part as it took time and hard work to make it a success.
“Money is very very important… While the process is going on, sometimes you tend to overlook certain budgets. That’s where you get stuck and cannot progress.
“If you have extra savings and a family which can support you, then it’s okay or else your progress will stop half way,” he added.
Experiencing schemers along his journey to create MYJ Beauty, Jameson claimed he had been cheated of £3,000 by a China-based company in UK during the process of laboratory testing.
“Every morning, I wake up and check if there is anything in my account but nothing… I was traumatised because it was my hard-earned money.
“I kept myself calm, I did not want to tell my family because I didn’t want them to worry,” said Jameson.