Glossier Play Just Went Live: Here’s Everything You Need to Know
Glossier’s recently expanded office in downtown New York—“HQ” as it’s referred to by those in the know—is everything you’d expect from the makeup startup that created the blueprint for all other makeup startups to follow. The open floor plan features Millennial-pink furnishings; Brrch Floral arrangements, replete with requisite anthuriums, sit atop clean surfaces; in the lobby, arrivals are clocked by a tech-forward photographic sign-in device, the likes of which are more regularly seen at Homeland Security check points. “We’re about 200 people now,” reveals Glossier and Into The Gloss founder Emily Weiss. The creative team alone is 20 strong, Weiss continues—and they’ve been busy, she says: in addition to Glossier’s regular programming of videos for its “skincare first, makeup second” spin on sheer lipsticks and buildable cream blushes, as well as a steady stream of new product releases to satisfy a social community of nearly 2 million people, Weiss has been working on a new brand.
“Everyone thinks it’s sex toys,” she jokes of curious comments that started blanketing her Instagram feed when she teased Glossier Play’s page last month...and promptly gained 50,000 new followers. In one hour. This morning, when Weiss officially revealed the line up of what she calls “dressed-up extras,” there were no vibrators in the mix of bold gel liners, high-shine lipsticks, chunky eye glitters, and liquid highlighters. But the Glossier faithful were no less enraptured. “They wanted color,” Weiss explains of the feedback loop that led her to start ideating on her second-ever brand extension. “But they didn’t just want any color,” she continues. “They wanted color from Glossier.”
Glossier Play
The distinction is important in a digital beauty space that is best described as vivid of late. Pat McGrath’s rainbow of professional-grade pigments earned her a billion-dollar brand valuation last year, while Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian continue to sell out their limited-edition cosmetics drops in a matter of minutes. But Weiss isn’t trying to tell you “what the look is,” something she concedes is the provenance of trained makeup artists; nor is she trying to tap into the quick turnaround time that incubated brands use to capitalize on popular trends, what she sees as fast fashion’s effect on the beauty industry. Glossier Play is not about a look, it’s about a feeling, Weiss insists—and the kind of quality that can only be achieved with completely custom products.
“Nothing is stock,” the 33-year-old entrepreneur says of standout shades of her Color Slide Eyeliner in Disaster Class, a warm Bordeaux, and Nectar, a peppy yellow. The texture of the four, sumptuous Glitter Gelées feels expensive, but costs just $14 a pot. It's not meant to be too precious, or too complicated and is "fairly intuitive,” Weiss explains of the no-tutorial-necessary range that welcomes finger tip applications and on-the-go slicks of six different Vinylic Lip lacquers, which feature large in a digital campaign coming soon to a computer screen near you. Starring Instagram models, musicians, and friends of the brand such as Sarah Feingold, Coco Baudelle, and pop star Troye Sivan, the video was shot at a Brooklyn party thrown by team Glossier, where attendees experimented with the new products while a group of photographers, from Tyrell Hampton to Raymond Meier, captured the moment.
“We’re giving you the tools to build your own routine,” Weiss says of Glossier Play’s non-dictatorial approach, a statement that could just as easily apply to the many directions she plans to take Glossier, Inc. “There is more coming,” she offers, highlighting the opening of a Miami pop-up shop later this month, while keeping cryptic on the issue of branching out into other categories. “We’re building brands of the future.”
