Hey Dev Community 👋
I’m Menula De Silva, a 12-year-old developer from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 who loves building full-stack web apps.
Recently, I created my most advanced project yet — LustellaGems.com, a complete e-commerce website for selling premium gemstones online.
This project is extra special to me because it’s inspired by my mom’s real gem business idea 💖
I wanted to turn her dream into a real, working online store — and that’s how Lustella Gems was born.
🧠 The Vision
It all started when my mom shared her idea of creating an online platform to showcase and sell gemstones.
I decided to take on the challenge and build it from scratch — not just as a demo, but as a real e-commerce website.
So I asked myself:
“What would a real gem shop need to run online smoothly?”
That question helped me design and plan every part of the system carefully.
⚙️ Tech Stack I Used
| Area | Technology |
|---|---|
| 🖥️ Frontend | HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery |
| ⚙️ Backend | PHP, MySQL |
| 🧮 Currency Conversion | JavaScript (LKR → USD calculation) |
| 🔐 Authentication | PHP Sessions + MySQL |
| 📦 Hosting | cPanel with a custom domain |
| 🧩 UI/UX Design | Figma |
💎 Core Features I Built
🧍 1. Login, Signup, and Profile Management
Users can create accounts, log in securely, and edit their profile details anytime.
The system uses PHP sessions to manage authentication and prevent unauthorized access.
All user data is stored safely in MySQL, and both frontend and backend validation ensure clean, secure inputs.
🛍️ 2. Dynamic Product System
Products are database-driven, dynamically loaded using PHP and displayed through clean Bootstrap card layouts.
Each product has:
- Name, price, image, and description
- Real-time LKR → USD conversion (using JavaScript)
- A “Request Product” button for customers who want something custom
📨 3. Product Request System
This was one of my favorite features to build.
Users can send special requests for gemstones that aren’t currently listed.
Submissions are handled via AJAX and stored in the database (or emailed to the admin).
It gives the site a more personal, customer-friendly feel.
💬 4. Review and Rating System
Logged-in users can write reviews on products.
If someone tries without logging in, a SweetAlert pop-up gently reminds them to sign in first — just like a professional shop.
🌍 5. LKR → USD Price Conversion
Every product shows both:
LKR. 15000-
USD. 50(automatically calculated and rounded with JavaScript)
It helps international customers easily understand prices, making the store feel global.
📰 6. Blog Section
To make the website more engaging, I built a blog system.
The admin can post articles about:
- Sri Lankan gem history
- Mining and gemstone culture
- Gem categories and fun facts
This turns the site into both an online store and an educational hub for gem lovers.
🎨 UI/UX Design
The design follows a luxurious white, gold, and sapphire blue theme — elegant yet minimal.
I designed the layout in Figma and implemented it with Tailwind + Bootstrap.
All pages are fully responsive and feature smooth animations for a premium experience.
⚔️ Challenges I Faced
- 🔐 Building a secure login & signup system with sessions
- 💾 Structuring the database for users, products, reviews, and requests
- 🎨 Keeping the same premium feel across every page and device
Each challenge helped me understand how real-world e-commerce systems are built from the ground up.
💡 What I Learned
- How to connect PHP with MySQL efficiently
- Using AJAX to update data without page reloads
- Validating user input securely
- Organizing both frontend and backend logic neatly
- The importance of combining creativity with functionality
🚀 What’s Next
I’m currently working on:
- Admin panel for managing blogs
- Email notifications using PHPMailer
- Wishlist and cart system
- Advanced search filters with real-time results
My goal is to make LustellaGems.com a complete online store — professional, scalable, and user-friendly.
❤️ Final Thoughts
Building Lustella Gems wasn’t just a coding project — it was a personal mission to bring my mom’s gem business idea to life.
It taught me how to balance creativity, logic, and real-world requirements as a young developer.
If you’d like to check it out, here’s the live site 👇
👉 LustellaGems.com
Follow Me
LinkedIn - Here
GitHub - Here
Portfolio - Here
Discord - menuladesilva
If you enjoyed this post, please drop a ❤️ or comment your thoughts!
I’d love to hear your feedback and connect with other developers around the world 🙌
Top comments (32)
Wow! What a cool project, launching a full-stack e-commerce site from scratch to make your mum's business idea into reality before you are even out of high school is quite an accomplishment!
The front-end work you did with auth, product listing updates, user reviews, etc.. this job is a great real-world project that solves problems. Really good UX too.
Thank you so much Mr. Adrew Baisden !
😊 I really appreciate your kind words and support. It means a lot and motivates me to keep learning and building more real-world projects!
That’s incredible, Building a full e-commerce platform at 12 with authentication, dynamic content and even currency conversion is no small feat. You didn’t just code, you solved real business problems. Huge respect for turning your mom’s idea into reality.
Thank You Vey Much !
Awesome Work!!
Thank You Mr. Varshith !
This is super inspiring, Menula 👏 Love how you combined real-world purpose with clean technical execution.
I’ve recently analyzed a few professional e-commerce builds, and it’s amazing how much thought goes into structure, conversion flow, and user trust, you’ve already nailed so many of those fundamentals.
Are you planning to integrate a full cart and checkout system next?
Yes , I Am Planning To Integrate New Updates
Thank You Very Much !
There Is A Request Gem Method Instead Of Purchase The Product Online .
Very nice website!
Thank You Very Much !
The UI is Great Boy, Good Work Keep it Up. Suggestion for simpler websites such as ecommerce you can use wordpress with hosting like webaon or hostinger it will reduce your time, for advance websites you can use scratch way with AWS or Azure such as AZUre VMS scale set.
This website is overall good looking make sure even to test for cross site scriptings
Thank You Mrs. Sarah Varghese !
This is a clean and functional site—especially impressive with dynamic product loading and currency conversion. Good luck with the admin panel and upcoming features!
Thank you Mr. Igor Nosatov !
Impressive Work @dmsmenula
Thanks
This Work Is Impressive!
Thank You !
You are Awesome.
Thank you !
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