In two weeks, Bubble will launch its latest product, on its e-commerce site. But before that, it’s trying something new: It’s offering the product as a free add-on to Glamsquad’s in-home makeup service. The service is dubbed “Bubble Skin Prep.”
This is just the latest in Glamsquad’s long series of partnerships with brands, focused on making new products relevant to the services it offers. Glamsquad’s services include at-home blowouts, makeup application, and manicures and pedicures.
The Bubble add-on service centers on the brand’s new Color Correcting Balms. One comes in a green hue, dubbed Secret Agent, and addresses concerns like redness. Another, in orange, dubbed Undercover, targets hyperpigmentation concerns. During the partnership, Glamsquad artists will be equipped with other Bubble products, too — specifically, its new Cosmic Silk Milky Toner, its Water Slide Hydration Boosting Serum and its Cloud Surf Water Cream Moisturizer.
Skin-prep services perform well, in terms of client opt-in, when offered as part of a Glamsquad partnership, said Glamsquad CMO Simona Gaudio. “Skin prep is a natural part of the makeup application [process]. So, when clients see a skin prep [option], it typically just gets picked up, even without a ton of marketing,” Gaudio said.
“The Glamsquad partnership is going to be a perfect way to actually showcase the product — it’s the kind of product that, once you actually try it and experience it, you understand the power of it and the quality of it,” said Shai Eisenman, founder and CEO at Bubble. “So, we wanted to work with [Glamsquad’s] makeup artists to ensure that, by using the product on their clients, clients would feel the product [difference] on their skin.”
To best execute the partnership, Bubble seeded 250 Glamsquad makeup artists across six key regions.
Glamsquad immediately came to mind when considering how to launch the Color Correcting Balm, said Kristin Adomaitis, Bubble’s director of PR and partnerships. “This hits two different audiences. It’s the makeup artists who are going to be our advocates and ambassadors for a new product launch, but also the clients who are [trying it during their service] via the Bubble skin-care add-on,” she said. “It’s a big awareness play for us, too, because maybe some of these people are aware of Bubble but haven’t actually used it, and now, they’ll be able to test and try it.” The two companies will co-promote their partnership via email and SMS marketing, as well as through a giveaway hosted on Instagram.
Bubble is not the only company to find benefit from a Glamsquad partnership. In March, when Rare Beauty launched its Soft Pinch Matte Bouncy Blush, it also worked with Glamsquad.
“Makeup artists really are critical to the beauty industry. Who better to talk about your brand publicly, at scale, and to show their clients how to use it and apply it and feel good in it?” said Chrystina Woody Train, Rare Beauty’s vp of global brand partnerships.
The Rare Beauty and Glamsquad collaboration was, in fact, so successful that it was extended by a month. Then, over the summer, the two companies worked on a second service add-on collaboration focused on eyebrows. Gaudio specifically called out Rare Beauty and Glossier as brands that had seen particularly high opt-in levels, with numbers “in the thousands,” she said.
The brands pay Glamsquad to seed to its network of professionals and, in some cases, sample to its clients. But, while Gaudio declined to share the fee structure, she said that it is highly variable, depending on the deliverables involved. She added that Glamsquad is highly concerned with maintaining that every partnership is a good fit and will be “valuable to the brand, the pros and the clients.” According to an off-the-record source, partnerships with the beauty services app have ranged from being free to $40,000.
In August, Olaplex began a year-long partnership with Glamsquad, which, unlike Rare Beauty’s and Bubble’s partnerships, was not anchored to a particular launch. On Glamsquad, when clients book a blowout, they can select to add the (also $0) “Olaplex Upgrade.” According to Olaplex CMO Katie Gohman, “The partnership makes perfect sense, because we’re a professionally-driven brand. The Pro is, and has always been, at the center of what we do.”
Since August, the partnership has been centered on Olaplex’s existing products. For clients who opt in, stylists can help select which of the brand’s hero products make the most sense for their hair type.
In November, however, Glamsquad will introduce a new shine-focused upgrade, dubbed “The Olaplex Shine Renewal.” This addition will center on Olaplex’s No. 7 Bonding Frizz Reduction & Heat Protectant Hair Oil, which, Gohman said, “is perfectly timed for holiday … and is perfect for the perfect slick-back or bun.” A first for Olaplex, Glamsquad clients will also receive a sample of its product from their Glamsquad stylists.
Though every brand interviewed for this story noted that it can be hard to numerically measure results from this kind of partnership, Gohman said goals for Olaplex include “[ramping up] trial and education, sampling, and just [keeping the brand] top-of-mind.” A brand representative shared that Olaplex has trained and stocked over 700 Glamsquad hairstylists with Olaplex products, and the stylists have performed thousands of upgrades with its products since the partnership launched in August.
