The Beautycon Festival New York City was a beauty fan’s paradise last weekend, with social media stars, huge brands and celebrity fireside chats. Here is what I learned after two days of what felt like an Instagram feed come to life.
Beautycon Showcases Beauty’s Diversity
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Because of social media’s influence, creators who were once in the background are quasi celebrities, at least among their tribe. This dynamic is essential to Beautycon, where excited crowds gathered to watch a demonstration by Cardi B’s wig stylist, Tokyo Stylez (and lined up afterward to snap selfies with him). Panelists like Lizzo, Zendaya, Bozoma Saint John of Uber and Alok V Menon discussed all manner of beauty and how to use it to express one’s individuality. “There’s so many different kinds of beauty,” Lizzo said, adding, “Everyone in here is beautiful.”
At the same time, the beauty industry at large is still selling a standard most cannot achieve. Because big brands, influencers and fans all descend upon Beautycon, the industry’s central tension was on full display.
Pastel Highlighter Is for Everyone
If I had to pick the Beautycon look, it would be pastel highlighter, in either iridescence or full-on glitter. For me, highlighter has always had a single purpose: to make my skin look like it naturally radiates warm light. Pastel highlighter’s conspicuousness was a nonstarter. But Beautycon showed me that pastel’s full presence is exactly the point — it’s celebratory, decorative, irreverent. Almay, known for sensible, hypoallergenic cosmetics, has joined the party with Make ‘Em Jelly Hi-Lite ($14.99) available in Mermaid Magic, a silvery baby blue, and Unicorn Light, an iridescent pink.
Small Female-Owned Companies Make a Mark
Among the new, small brands I found at Beautycon, a common theme was “brand inception as solution.” One day while on her way to a job interview, Oyinade Ademiluyi, a pharmacist from Maryland, discovered that she had foundation on her shirt. Out of that experience came the Beat Bib, a black cover-up designed to catch all makeup dust and crumbles before they hit your clothes. Panty Fresh, created by Neda Shilian, is a palm-size box of spare panties, a panty liner, wipe and bag. “This is a product I needed for myself,” Shilian said. “You’re out and about and something happens. But this you can always have in your bag. You’ll forget it’s there.”
Beauty Can Make the Old New
The Lifetime Channel is harnessing beauty’s youth appeal for a refresh. The network has a new beauty competition show, “Glam Masters,” hosted by Laverne Cox, which had its premiere in February. Cox made an appearance at Beautycon, and Lifetime offered free cheerful manicures, delighting teenagers in attendance. Pond’s, which is hustling to be seen as more than the world’s original cold cream, had a constantly snaking line of young girls waiting to get Coachella-like hand-marbling.
CoverGirl’s Rebranding Worked
For decades, CoverGirl dug into the American girl-next-door vibe. But this year, it rebranded with a new slogan, “I am what I make up.” It features a new campaign with Blaine Shackelford, who is a black model, and diverse spokeswomen, like writer-actor Issa Rae. CoverGirl’s newest packaging and aesthetic is black-and-white minimalist. At Beautycon, this revamp drew me in, and I found a few lovable products, like the Melting Pout Matte Liquid Lipstick. The formula lasted for the four hours I festival cruised and didn’t dry out my lips.
Surprise, It’s Hillary Clinton
Apparently Hillary Clinton and the Beautycon chief executive, Moj Mahdara, have maintained a friendship since Clinton’s campaign-season appearance at Beautycon in 2016. Clinton posed for pictures with Mahdara and Lucy Hale, who had just given a talk about self-love. I’m too short to get photos in crowds, so I just stood back and watched dozens of diverse beauty types press in around Clinton.