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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Columbia Chicago chapter.

This millennial brand is THE ONE to watch at this very moment.

If you are unfamiliar with Glossier (I don’t know why you would be), I invite you to keep reading and join the brand’s cult following.

Founded in 2010 by former Vogue intern Emily Weiss, Glossier originally lived, untapped, as a beauty blog called Into the Gloss. The thriving blog continues to offer glimpses into medicine cabinets of skincare collectors, curated by notable CEOs and celebrities, such as Naomi Watts, Olivia Wilde and Victoria Beckham, while also providing content about beauty products, routines and best practices.

Photo Courtesy of Medium

This original platform gave Weiss all she needed – powerful consumer insights fueled by followers’  comments and further consumer testing. Those results gave her the nerve and the confidence to lead her to the first batch of Glossier product launches: Milky Jelly Face Wash, Priming Moisturizer and Balm Dotcom. These three holy grail items are still available and offered as a daily skin essentials bundle –the Phase 1 Set.

From there, the e-commerce site exploded, gaining more popularity from their expertly-assembled social media pages, namely their Instagram. Glossier welcomes customers into their digital, pink paradise– all streamlined by their signature Glossier Pink shade (yes, they have actually coined their popular shade of pink), user-generated content and aesthetically-pleasing pictures of the brand’s two dozen products.  

Photo Courtesy of Marketing Week

Even though it is an e-commerce site, Glossier has not limited itself to just the digital realm. This is where the pop-ups, well, pop-up. The brand started out with a pop-up retail location in New York City in 2016, the home of the brand’s HQ, and has since made it a permanent retail location for city dwellers to enjoy. It then targeted L.A as the site of their second retail pop-up, which has also been upgraded to a permanent store. Other pop-up locations include Dallas, Toronto, London, San Francisco and, most recently, Chicago.

Photo Courtesy of Everyday Zesty

The Glossier Chicago location is absolutely beautiful. Hosted in an old city firehouse, the space is wall-to-wall white, featuring the recognizable shade of pink through dramatic photographs of products and their tribe of employees sporting effortlessly-chic, pink jumpsuits.

Photo Courtesy of Brand Channel

The space has been entirely transformed into a Glossier museum that doubles as their showroom. Customers are encouraged to interact with products perched perfectly on white pedestals and snap a pic in the store’s feel-good mirrors wearing the words, “You look good.”

You don’t want to miss this exciting brand experience, located in the West Loop, 114 N. Aberdeen St. This pop-up, open through Oct. 28 Monday through Friday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., is straight out of a millennial beauty dream and provides a chance for beauty lovers to fill their makeup bags while emptying their bank accounts.

Photo Courtesy of Chicago Business

Briana Kennedy

Columbia Chicago '19

I am a Columbia College Chicago student majoring in Advertising and double minoring in Marketing and Social Media & Digital Strategy. I am currently a strategy intern for Fusion92. In my free time, I enjoy reading, running, watching Netflix, exploring Chicago, and finding the cutest coffee shops.