My visit to the Luxola HQ in Singapore
Aside from sketching and painting my heart out in Singapore, I got to visit the office of the top online beauty retailer this side of Asia - Luxola! Luxola began as a small start-up in 2011 led by a woman who couldn't fathom why unique beauty products are so hard to find here in Southeast Asia. Alexis Horowitz-Burdick then decided to take matters into her own hands and built Luxola from her base in Singapore. She was able to raise 15 million US dollars in the last four years alone, and recently (as in announced two weeks ago), Luxola was acquired by Sephora under the LVMH Group!
Exciting times are definitely ahead for us beauty fiends here in the Philippines. There have been so many rumors about Sephora finally making its way here in the country, but that's still what they are as of this time - rumors. IF Sephora products can be ordered straight from Luxola with their free, taxless shipping service, then whoa. Color me stoked. I am wishing so hard for this to happen.
But back to the Luxola office. It wasn't all what I expected, to be quite honest with you. I thought it would feel like the other beauty offices I've visited in the past: fast-paced, stiff, full of clacking heels. That's not the case. The HQ has this laid-back vibe, with an open office set up (no walls!) and senior management sitting in the same space as everybody else. The people I have met were nice and welcoming; a couple of women were painting their nails because they were trying some new brands out. I love it!
One thing that matched my expectations though were the amount of beauty products in the office. Some of the more exciting brands I saw were By Terry, Not Soap Radio, Vichy, and Alcina (a German cosmetics brand exclusive to Luxola). Imagine going to work with makeup and skincare around you everyday! Of course, you can find these brands at the online store if you're interested. ^_^
New friends: Weina Leong, who toured me around the HQ, and Paul Dela Merced, who is the Editor-In-Chief of LX Edit.
At the end of my visit, the ladies (and Paul) shot a few photos of me for a feature on LX Edit, Luxola's magazine. Read up on the feature if you'd like to know what actually came first, painting or makeup, what beauty means to me, what's in my travel bag, and of course a few beauty and blogging tips! Thanks again Weina and Mallika for having me over! Until next time! <3
I'm curious: if you can visit the office of any beauty brand in the world, what would it be and why?
