Overview

Aura Beauty is an e-commerce platform designed for a growing cosmetics and beauty brand seeking a modern, elegant digital presence.

The client provided a custom UI/UX design and needed a full technical implementation - from backend to frontend - that captured their vision while maintaining performance, scalability, and reliability.

Our small two-developer team worked hand in hand with the design team to bring the brand’s aesthetic to life and deliver a full-featured, production-ready MVP.

The Goal

The Aura Beauty project aimed to:

• Develop a fully customized e-commerce platform aligned with the client’s brand and design.
• Implement secure, modern login and user verification flows.
• Deliver a feature-rich dashboard for admins and staff to manage products, orders, and analytics.
• Ensure the platform is fast, responsive, and cost-efficient, fitting within a lean MVP budget.
• Create maintainable backend and frontend foundations for future scalability.

My Role

As the full-stack developer, I was responsible for:

• Architecting both the backend (Strapi) and frontend (Next.js) applications.
• Setting up API integrations using Axios and defining shared communication models.
• Developing reusable components and building a responsive interface with Tailwind CSS.
• Writing custom Bash scripts to automate server setup, dependency installation, and deployment.
• Configuring and maintaining deployment on a DigitalOcean droplet.
• Collaborating with the UI/UX designer to ensure design fidelity and functional precision.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Axios, React Libraries for analytics and graphs
• Backend: Strapi (with extended custom features and APIs)
• Deployment: DigitalOcean Droplet (separate repos for frontend & backend)
• Automation: Bash scripts for environment setup and deployment
• Email Service: Custom REST-based SMTP relay using Next.js + Nodemailer hosted on Vercel

Key Features

• OAuth Authentication: Login with Google or Facebook.
• Phone Login with OTP: Seamless account confirmation via Email or WhatsApp.
• Order Status Notifications: Automatic updates sent to customers via email or phone when order status changes.
• Dynamic Admin Dashboard: Manage products, orders, and analytics through a clean and responsive interface.
• RBAC (Role-Based Access Control): Custom user roles and permissions for Admins, Staff, and Managers.
• Dynamic Content Management: Edit banners, contact details, and media directly from the dashboard.
• Full Product Search: Fast, intuitive search across categories and attributes.

Challenges & Solutions

1. Budget-Constrained Hosting & SMTP Restrictions

The project’s MVP phase had a limited budget, requiring hosting on a DigitalOcean Basic Droplet.

However, this plan blocks all outgoing SMTP ports by default - preventing email notifications unless upgraded or using third-party paid APIs.

Instead of either option, I engineered a custom SMTP-over-REST API using Next.js and Nodemailer, hosted for free on Vercel.

By refactoring the backend’s Email Service to send payloads to this API endpoint, we re-enabled full email functionality (e.g., order confirmations, status updates) without any additional cost — all while maintaining strict security and privacy constraints.

This solution allowed us to deliver enterprise-level functionality on an MVP budget.

3. Unified Deployment Automation

Managing separate repositories for backend and frontend required a reliable, repeatable setup.

I developed custom Bash scripts that prepared the droplet by automatically installing dependencies, setting up environments, and running build commands for both repositories - ensuring seamless deployment and reduced manual intervention.

Outcome

Aura Beauty’s platform launched successfully with:

• A fully functional e-commerce system reflecting the brand’s aesthetic.
• Robust authentication and communication workflows.
• Cost-effective infrastructure with custom-built optimizations.
• High client satisfaction and improved engagement metrics.

The project stood out not only for its user-facing polish but also for the engineering ingenuity that made premium functionality possible on a lean budget.

Final Thoughts

Aura Beauty was a masterclass in building beautiful and functional technology within real-world constraints.

It demonstrated how thoughtful engineering, creative problem-solving, and collaboration can bring a client’s vision to life - efficiently, elegantly, and sustainably.

Gallery

1. Dashboard

Here we provide some screenshots that shows the Aura Beauty Dashboard.