New York City’s latest (and arguably most-anticipated) beauty playground is here: Allure has brought its magazine pages to real life with an “experiential” retail store located on 191 Lafayette Street that’s a brick-and-mortar representation of the beloved brand.
The store’s initial offering features 280+ hair, makeup, and skincare products from 150 brands, including a curated lineup of beauty editor-approved Sunday Riley favorites (you’ll currently find it straight ahead when you walk in!):
- Good Genes All-in-One Lactic Acid Treatment
- C.E.O 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum
- A+ High Dose Retinol Serum
- Luna Sleeping Night Oil
- C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C and Turmeric Face Oil
- U.F.O. Ultra-Clarifying Acne Treatment Face oil
- Ice Ceramide Moisturizing Cream
- C.E.O. Vitamin C Rich Hydration Cream
- Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream
- Light Hearted Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Sunscreen
- Pink Drink Firming Resurfacing Essence
- Auto Correct Brightening and Depuffing Eye Contour Cream
With the resurgence of in-store shopping, the Allure Store is a welcome opportunity for customers to test out, discover, and learn more about a product before buying it. We have a feeling it’ll be easy to find a new beauty favorite: All the products are personally vetted by beauty editors and have been featured in the magazine or its digital site. “This space provides an extraordinary opportunity to highlight Allure‘s favorite brands, and gives shoppers the chance to experience our editors’ picks, including the Best of Beauty Award winners, all in one place,” says Allure editor-in-chief Michelle Lee in a press release.
While most retail stores are organized by brand or by category, the Allure Store makes shopping more intuitive and easier for the customer (who may not be well-versed in beauty) to navigate. You’ll find headlines above the products that describe what you’ll discover in that section — some are even actual headlines you’ve read in the magazine. The “22 Products We Rely on For Healthy, Hydrated Hair” includes popular products from Amika and black-owned brand Briogeo, but also lesser-known brands like Everist and Gussi. Throughout the store, you’ll find a mix of high-end and drugstore products — plus, the brand is working with Aurora James, founder of the 15% Pledge, to reach the goal that 15 percent of the brands in the store are from Black founders, according to allure.com.
Another large draw is how the store modernizes the shopping experience to resonate with today’s Tik-Tok generation of customers. There are tablets at various stations that feature Allure content about the products, QR codes that let you check out your cart directly from your phone, smart mirrors that allow you to create different looks (a.k.a. snap selfies or make a quick IG tutorial), and augmented reality tools to virtually see how a product looks. But no worries if you’re not tech-savvy: The staff is easy to flag down in their beige, custom-designed jumpsuits from New York vintage-inspired clothing brand, Still Here. The Allure Store is organized immaculately — likely because the products on the shelves are just for testing/viewing purposes (a friendly staffer will retrieve your products from the basement once you’ve checked out your cart from your phone).
To add to its immersive experience, the Allure store will host masterclasses, how-tos, and other events to fully make our post-pandemic world feel a little more normal again — and that’s a beautiful thing indeed.
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