NEW YORK and PARIS — “I’m like a kid in a candy shop,” said Christina, an Upper East Sider standing in line outside of New York’s Skylight at Essex Crossing on Saturday morning.
It was Christina’s first time at Sephoria, the beauty festival hosted by Sephora that debuted in Los Angeles in 2018 and, after two years of being held virtually, made its in-person return last weekend in New York.
Originally intended as a two-day festival, Sephoria’s two Friday sessions were canceled when heavy rain caused flooding in regions across the city, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency.
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Sephora reimbursed Friday ticket holders with full refunds and offered to mail them the gift bags associated with the ticket tier they purchased. While some would-be attendees took to the retailer’s Instagram comment section to express their disappointment, hopeful Saturday ticket holders awaited updates regarding their sessions. The following morning, Sephoria Day Two would go on as planned.
“I’m most excited about Natasha Denona and Patrick Ta,” continued Christina. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one: a few feet away, a teenage girl on crutches pressed her face to the exterior of the venue’s floor-to-ceiling windows. “I see Patrick Ta,” she squealed, motioning to her friend.
Despite getting off to a rainy start, Sephoria drew more than 4,200 attendees on Saturday across its three-hour morning and afternoon sessions. Silver Key tickets cost $119, while Gold Key tickets went for $369 and promised one-hour early entry to a session, access to a VIP lounge and a heftier swag bag.
More than 50 brands participated in the festival, each curating booths and activations featuring free samples, games, photo opportunities and more. “Our goal for 2023 — our fifth year of Sephoria — was to deliver our largest and most ambitious endeavor to date,” said Jessica Stacey, senior vice president of external communications, event and experiential marketing at Sephora.
The retailer enlisted New York-based artist Jade Purple Brown to design the event’s “House of Beauty” concept. The space featured more than eight rooms across two floors, with a “theater” to host the day’s scheduled masterclasses by Ta, Denona, Summer Fridays’ Lauren Ireland and others.
“Do you want Bum Bum or Beija?” asked an attendee stationed at the entrance of the Sol de Janeiro booth, holding one yellow and one pink coin-shaped token in each hand. “It’s like a gum ball machine,” she explained, handing off one token to be inserted into the machine dispensing mini-sized body lotions of one’s scent choosing, and two more tokens on the way out — you know, for the memories.
Other first-floor booths included Laneige, Chantecaille, SkinFix, Tatcha — which, word had spread was handing out full-size samples and had subsequently maintained a 30-plus-person line for the duration of the morning session — and 2018 Sephoria alum Dr. Dennis Gross.
“I am shocked at the level of questions people are asking,” said Gross, who was conducting four-minute skin consultations at his namesake brand’s booth. “The difference between this Sephoria and 2018 Sephoria is the level of [consumer] intelligence has definitely taken a quantum leap.”
Sporadic cheering could be heard from upstairs, which, upon closer investigation, was coming from the Danessa Myricks Beauty booth, where guests could spin a wheel to win a variety of freebies — among them a yearlong spot on the brand’s PR list.
“I’ve been crying most of the day — this is as exciting for me as it is for them,” Myricks said. “It’s one thing to be in your own head, in your own office creating things — it’s something completely different to see how people are experiencing them and how they make people feel.”
Meanwhile at NARS Cosmetics, guests chatted with the brand’s virtual ambassador, Chelsea, about her favorite shades within the brand’s PowerMatte lip franchise. Like the event’s physical attendees, Chelsea was rather unfazed by the rain. “I managed to escape it because I’m in the metaverse,” she explained.
And at Rare Beauty, “we wanted to make it feel like you’re getting ready with your girlfriends. We want that touch-and-play moment — it’s about that excitement to play with makeup,” said the brand’s global makeup artist, Cynthia Di Meo, while passing out Discovery Eyeshadow Palettes to passerby. As if on cue, a nearby attendee kneeled to lift a display tube of Rare Beauty lip oil — which, naturally, was as tall as she was — signaling to her friend to snap a photo.
Kyra and Fiona, both 24-year-olds who flew in from Southern California for Sephoria said their favorite part was simply “seeing so many beautiful people in one place.”
“I’m a very busy mom, but coming here, it’s worth it,” said another attendee, Erika, whose highlight of the day was Denona’s masterclass. “I just love her — I love how she became famous later in life.”
“They did a good job telling brands to come up with different ideas,” said another guest, Shereen, who, like her friend Dashel, was double-fisting goodie-filled tote bags from Milk Makeup and Moroccan Oil.
“It exceeded my expectations for sure — you can tell everyone who’s working here is actually happy to be here,” said Dashel, who hadn’t heard of K18 prior to Sephoria but after learning about the brand’s reparative technology at its booth is now “a big fan.”
Fatima Khweiss, a Drunk Elephant sales and educational executive, spent the day curating “skin care cocktails,” or regimens, for attendees based on their skin goals. “This is definitely bigger than Sephoria was in 2018,” she said. “There’s a big bond happening after the pandemic — it feels like guests are just grateful to be here, and they’re all interacting with each other.”
At LoveShack Fancy’s booth, attendees could sample the brand’s debut fragrance collection using floral-printed ribbons instead of traditional blotters, while fragrance founder Chris Collins manned a speakeasy-inspired fragrance station. “It’s like a bar, but for fragrance,” said Collins, noting his Lost in Paradise scent was proving especially popular among Sephoria attendees.
The event marked Sephoria’s first hybrid iteration, drawing more than 90,000 virtual users who attended the event’s online, gamified experience, in which they could customize avatars and play games to win Beauty Insider points.
Friday morning, Sephoria debuted for the first time over in France, opening its doors at 150 Rue de Rivoli in Paris’ first arrondissement. The three-floor extravaganza, a hop from the Louvre museum and from the Samaritaine department store — also owned by parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton — was first accessible to journalists and influencers, then “gold” clients starting Friday afternoon.
The general public can visit on Saturday, with everyone having to pre-register.
At lunchtime Friday the colorful space was abuzz with throngs of people milling around the stands representing 33 brands. Each person carried a canvas bag given to them at the entrance to fill up with goodies.
The ground floor features Morrocanoil, Kérastase, Olaplex, Aveda, Color Wow and the Sephora Collection, as well as hair stations.
One flight down the staircase, decorated with a “Sephoria” sign in vibrant colors, is a space specializing in skin care and fragrance. This includes the likes of Byoma, Ole Henriksen, Laneige, Drunk Elephant, The Inkey List, Sol de Janeiro and Supergoop in the mix, alongside fragrance labels Jo Malone, Tom Ford and Kayali.
Flash facials are available, by Seasonly. And an auditorium is set up for half-hour masterclasses, to be led by Glow Recipe and Dr. Dennis Gross on Friday.
The plus-one floor shines a spotlight on color cosmetics brands, such as Makeup By Mario, Rabanne, Huda Beauty, Ilia and Charlotte Tilbury. There are nail bars, brow bars and full-face makeup stations.
There’s no lack of photo and video ops; at the Sephora-branded stand, its new mascara Love the Lift features an XXXL-sized tube as well as a movable camara for selfie shots. Photo terminals and photo-call areas are also on hand for the snap-happy. Lounge lizards have a place to relax, and those in search of a treat can snack.