Beauty brands already know they need to do more than just sell products to stand out in an increasingly saturated market. Today, winning brands must build communities, create cultural relevance and show up in consumers’ lives beyond the bathroom shelf. Being culturally relevant can take on myriad meanings, too — whether it be activating at Coachella or partnering with the stars of“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
For The Outset and Nécessaire, the latest community-building efforts center on book clubs, floral workshops and contemporary art, all aimed at turning beauty consumers into lifestyle communities.
The Outset’s ‘Out of Office’
Next week, The Outset kicks off the third chapter in a community series it launched in March, dubbed “Out of Office.”
The series started in March when the brand activated at Fuze House, a studio known for its heated sculpting and pilates workouts, in New York and Miami. It hosted designated days for creators, and, during the rest of the period, customers at the Miami studio could purchase two special collab beverages. Both locations gave customers samples from the skin-care brand founded by Scarlett Johansson in 2022.
The Outset spread the word to its community in the common ways — through its email list and social media following (439,000 Instagram followers) — but also via its community on TYB. “With a brand like ours, Scarlett really starts [a lot of] the excitement around it … But [this is about asking], ‘How do you harness all of that?’ ‘Where does it go [from there]?’ ‘Where does the energy go?’ We’re trying a couple of different things, and we want to make sure that not only is that excitement online, but it’s in real life, as well,” said Joanne Sulit, the brand’s COO and CMO.
Out of Office is a community-driven content and series partnership that is, Sulit said, adding, “It’s about all the things our community loves to do after they close their laptop — when they’re done with work.”
The Fuze House partnership aligned, timing-wise, with a shade extension for the brand’s popular Lip Oasis Glossy Treatment.
Next week, the next two installments of Out of Office coincide. One will take place the evening of May 28 at Homecoming, a florist, boutique and coffee shop in Greenpoint. The brand joined with the shop to host a floral design workshop. Tickets cost $135 each, with the brand describing the evening as “an intimate evening of flowers, wine and creativity.” The ticket price for the event includes a full-size sample of the brand’s Barrier Balm ($38).
Sulit noted that the idea to host an event tied to florals came from the brand’s community. “One of the things we’re hearing from our community is that, this summer, everyone’s gardening,” she said. “People are outside, and they’re doing things with their hands. And, our Barrier Balm is actually perfect for that.”
In step, the brand is launching an online and offline promotion around a new novel, “June Baby” by Shannon Garvey.
“June Baby” is The Outset’s pick for its first summer book club, another idea that came about organically, after the brand shared a post featuring Johansson’s beach must-haves, which included a great read. “We got a reaction from that, and that’s what led us to thinking that a book club could be something people could rally around,” Sulit said, noting that commenters were asking what Johansson was reading.
The Outset team reached out to publishing-house contacts seeking buzzy summer debuts and connected with Garvey. As Garvey hosts book events this summer, The Outset will provide skin-care samples.
On Wednesday, the brand debuted The Summer Book Club Bundle ($100, a $154 value), which includes a copy of “June Baby” alongside products Garvey selected from The Outset’s range: the aforementioned Barrier Balm and the Starter Set, which includes travel-ready sizes of its cleanser, serum and moisturizer. “We were like, ‘These are perfect. These are all the things you would have in your summer beach bag,’” Sulit said.
“This is a fun way to bridge beauty and [Garvey’s] audience,” Sulit said. “We know that the people reading this book are likely in our demographic. They’re probably millennial women who always have a book, either on them and they’re reading it on the subway, or they’re marking down what books they want to read over the summer.”
She noted that the brand partnered closely with the publisher, Random House Publishing Group, to find a book that shared its customer target, and “June Baby” checked every box. “The coming-of-age theme, the beach-read positioning and [being under] Jenna Bush Hager’s imprint [Thousand Voices x RHPG], which already has a strong millennial women readership, all pointed to the same audience we’re already talking to.”
And the partnership is a mutually beneficial, she said. For the publisher, a partnership with Scarlett Johansson’s skin-care brand — even one where Johansson herself is not directly speaking about the book — provides amplification that books don’t often receive. And for The Outset, Garvey’s book events may offer exposure to new customers.
“It’s interesting what a book club does, because for people who might not be [regular] readers … it encourages them to become part of a conversation. It [becomes something] people can do in their spare time, but then there’s also a piece of it that brings people together,” Sulit said.
Nécessaire x Frieze
Meanwhile, on Wednesday in New York, Nécessaire sponsored the VIP welcome breakfast at Frieze New York, marking the brand’s first foray into the art world. It did so to mark the launch of its new sink-side duo: The Hand Wash and The Hand Lotion ($100 for both), which launched on Tuesday in its popular Santal scent.
“[The launch] is an amazing opportunity to extend on our equity in cleanse beyond in-shower,” said Georgie Coupe, the brand’s svp of marketing.
Of the brand’s decision to sponsor Frieze, Coupe said, “Being from London, I know that Frieze was always the cultural moment of the year. The coolest, most interesting, influential people flew in.” The VIP guests at the breakfast received the sink-side set, making them among the first recipients of the new products.
The brand tied the activation to its launch by working with artist John Sohn, whose art frequently features hands. It commissioned Sohn to create floor cushions in the shape of giant hands. Guests at the VIP breakfast could sit on them, Coupe said, noting that this was how Nécessaire planned to bring the launch “literally, to life.”
“[We were] thinking through, within the arts, who is really using their hands in what they do?” Coupe said. “And I think there is nothing like the traditional visual arts, whether that’s sculpture or painting, that [reflects] the power in those hands. … So, that’s where the inspiration came from.” She noted that Nécessaire is about “how we care for the parts of our body that do the work, beyond just the face.”
Though Nécessaire’s installation was seen only by the select few invited to the VIP breakfast, Coupe said the brand will share it with its wider community on social media. So far, it has done so through Instagram Stories posts featuring imagery from the event.
“When it comes to audience, Nécessaire has always resonated with the tastemaker types. And this is a new tastemaker for us: the artists, the creators, the gallerists. We’re thinking through how we can make Nécessaire top of mind for them,” Coupe said. Nécessaire was Frieze’s the only beauty partner.
Trend of the week: Pastel pink denim
Including styles by brands like Madewell; Citizens of Humanity, with its cool collab with Maria McManus; Parke; and Still Here, with its famous low-rise, drawstring Cool Jeans; this spring, denim comes in a pretty new hue: pastel pink.
“Pink for me is the definition of spring, through its sense of freshness, optimism and ease,” said Chelsea Parke Goles, founder and CEO of Parke. “After introducing our soft pink denim in a fall collaboration and seeing the response from our community, it became clear this was not a one-time moment. Our team and community have always been drawn to pink, and bringing it into denim felt like a natural extension of that. It adds a subtle statement while remaining versatile and timeless.”
Week in review
- Dedcool partnered with Brooklinen on The Sleep Mode Duo ($161), a limited-edition set including a Turkish cotton striped bathrobe and a pillow spray with notes including lavender, amber and musk. Carina Chaz, Dedcool’s founder, has previously spoken to Glossy about bringing the ritual of scent into multiple elements of one’s life, as she has with the brand’s popular detergent collection.
- Olivia Jade Giannuli launched O.Piccola, a self-funded makeup brand with one product, the Bronze & Glow Balm, a bronzing and highlighting stick ($44), in three shades. She developed the brand with a South Korean lab and is launching it direct-to-consumer. The brand’s Instagram has already amassed over 38,000 followers.
- Cuup partnered with Eliou on a collection of brightly color swimsuits, and beaded accessories to pair them with — think a beaded necklace that can also wrap around one’s bikini bottom, for a beach look with extra oomph.
- Paula’s Choice announced that it will be the official skin-care sponsor of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Its global campaign is called “Proud Supporter of Your Skin,” and celebrates skin care that can stand up to the high-pressure environment of competitive sports, including sweat, flushed skin, tears and tension, according to a press release.
- Tower28 launched a new, sting-free lip-plumping gloss, the ShineOn Plumping Lip Jelly ($18), in five shades.
- Alix Earle starred in her second campaign for sunscreen brand Hawaiian Tropic, dancing to the 90s hit song “I Touch Myself.”
Inside our coverage
Exclusive: CeraVe taps Carmelo Anthony as ‘head coach’ of its new dandruff campaign
Wellness Briefing: The rise of body composition scales as value-adds in gyms and resorts, plus news
Beauty Briefing: What to know about Sephora’s and Ulta’s AI partnerships
Reading list
How fashion veered back into idealising skinniness
20 years after Santal 33, does Le Labo still smell like cool?
Teens helped bring malls back to life. Now they’re getting banned.
