YSL Beauty has just wrapped a seven-day pop-up in East Hampton focused primarily on its new launches. Among them: its $39 Make Me Blush 12H Blurring Liquid Blush, which is available in six colors; its $40 Candy Glow Tinted Butter Balm, also available in six colors; and its range of Libre fragrances. Dua Lipa is the fragrance’s global ambassador; U.S. promotion for the scent’s newest iteration — the Libre Flowers and Flames Eau de Parfum Florale, which debuted last month featured Hailey Bieber.
The Hamptons pop-up reflects the brand’s prioritization of both digital and IRL experiences, said Juliette Ferret, YSL Beauty’s US gm. “The biggest obsession at YSL Beauty right now is the cultural connection,” she added.
In February, YSL Beauty saw great success with its one-day Candy Shoppe pop-up in New York City. The one-day pop-up and VIP party drew over 1,2000 guests and garnered over 1 billion combined social and PR impressions, according to Cision and Traackr.
“More and more, we’re going to go super big into experiences,” Ferret said. “After [the Candy Shoppe], I wanted to keep up the momentum and do another pop-up during the summer. We can create the best connection with our consumer by offering them a massive experience that matters for them at the right place and at the right moment. … And the Hamptons are maybe the ultimate hotspot of the season.”
At the Hamptons pop-up, guests could shop the curated selection of YSL Beauty products, get perfume bottles or makeup products personalized with paintings or engravings, pose with Instagrammable beach-resort-inspired branded installations, and pick up free scoops of gelato.
During the pop-up, Candy Glow in shade 1B was the No. 1 best-seller by volume, followed by Make Me Blush in a shade called Nude Lavalliere. The newest Libre fragrance, Flowers and Flames, was the No. 1-selling fragrance at the experience.
As a strategy, the pop-up was only open from August 23-25 and August 30-September 2. “When you offer your consumer a very limited-time pop-up, there is this sense of intimacy and exclusivity [you can’t get online],” Ferret said, adding, “[Physical experiences] will only become more important because they make your brand more memorable and more authentic and more true. … [We use] them to make people feel a part of the YSL Beauty lifestyle and the YSL Beauty community.”
The pop-up had a “Beach Resort” theme, allowing YSL Beauty — a luxury brand — to be a bit more playful. “We have a super luxe, established brand, but we also need to make it accessible,” Ferret said. “We also want to capture the young, cool spirit of the brand and be culturally relevant.”
After its first weekend, Ferret reported that the pop-up had seen a 60% sales conversion rate.
To promote the store, the brand brought influencers to East Hampton to get a first look. They included Olivia Ponton (7.7 million TikTok followers), Remi Bader (2.3 million), Xandra Pohl (1.2 million), Kit Keenan (285,000), Olivia McDowell (567,000) and Dara Levitan (353,000). Among the content they created, Ponton and Pohl filmed a “get ready with me” video using YSL Beauty products and sharing their respective favorites. The post got over 24,000 likes.
“Luxury is those real-life, [exclusive] experiences,” said Amanda Boyce, YSL Beauty’s vp of consumer connections. She pointed to the opportunity for pop-up visitors to experience the brand’s products through its makeup artists, which they can’t do at a multi-brand retailer.
According to Circana data, the brand is among the top seven prestige beauty brands in the U.S. this year, based on sales.
An earlier version of this story stated that the pop-up was open for 7 days. It has been updated to reflect the accurate duration.
