An inclusive “We Welcome” sign hangs at the entrance of all Beautycon events.
The massive makeup convention that is Beautycon recently entered the pop-up space. Beautycon POP, which kicked off in Los Angeles, CA Nov. 16 and was recently extended through Jan. 31, is an experiential retail space featuring 20 indie, female-owned beauty brands selling products to underserved audiences.
Because its community of millennial and Gen Z shoppers wouldn’t have it any other way, the brand also created its own version of an Instagram museum, consisting of eight themed galleries, four of which are branded. A community center with mentorship sessions between aspiring artists and creators, periodic panels comprised of beauty industry leaders, and a salon area presented by Macy’s featuring demos and tutorials for a fee round out the pop-up’s offerings.
“We’re always exploring new ways to share trends and create dynamic experiences for our customers and Beautycon POP offers a picture-perfect platform that integrates technology with beauty, making it a natural fit,” says Nata Dvir, evp and general business manager of beauty at Macy’s.
While this is Beautycon’s first foray into the pop-up space, ceo Moj Mahdara expects the experience to move to Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and abroad next year. EM spoke with Beautycon brand marketing director Trish Paik about the story behind the property, the pop-up, the Instagram museum, and the company’s dedication to inclusivity and diversity.
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Trish Paik, brand marketing director at Beautycon
Event Marketer: What’s the inspiration behind the creation of Beautycon POP?
Trish Paik: In our community, content and festivals we’ve seen that our audience is craving more authenticity, in terms of shopping and beauty, specifically. So, we wanted to fill in that white space for both brands and consumers who are tired of being told what they need to buy, what they need to purchase, what they need to wear. Our tagline is, “You don’t need lipstick, lipstick needs you.” So, we played off of that. We curated 20 female-founded brands in our store. Most of them you can’t find at big box retailers, and we’re bringing them into a physical retail space for the first time. They’re direct-to-consumer, small indie brands that our team has been obsessed with for years. We wanted to give them a voice and a way to connect with this millennial/Gen Z audience.
EM: In addition to the retail component, there are eight Instagram galleries in the pop-up, four of which are branded. What was the strategy there?
TP: Four of them are branded, with Lime Crime, Macy’s, Laneige and Mamonde. The other four are our own galleries. We didn’t want all the rooms to be completely branded. We work with our partners [at Beautycon POP] in a different way. At the festival, because we’re working in production with any partner, we’re building something based off of the brand’s creative. Here, we started with our own creative and then found partners whose missions align with the room creative. We were able to integrate the four partners into our rooms that way.
So many pop-ups exist in this space. What makes us different is that we’re driven primarily by mission. You see when you come to the space that each gallery has its own mission statement printed at the front of it. When our partnership team was out in the market with Beautycon POP earlier this year, it was important for us to find partners who bought into those missions. So, for Confidence Runway [in partnership with Macy’s], our mission was take back the runway. It’s a private little space that’s queued off, so users or consumers can come in and walk down this runway in whatever way they feel is going to make them feel beautiful.
EM: What does this pop-up experience provide that Beautycon doesn’t?
TP: It’s a more intimate space and it’s a safe space, first and foremost. But in front of every entrance to every event we do, our festival, now POP, any panel—we have a “We Welcome” sign. Inclusivity is one of our core values as a brand and as a company. We want everyone as soon as they arrive to understand that this is a space for everyone. It’s always a destination, it’s always community-driven, and it just so happens that it’s made very well for socially shareable moments.
Take a Photo Tour of the Beautycon POP Galleries:
