My Vanity + Youtuber Nikkie Tutorials Are Why I Think Oculus is Beauty Content’s Next Big Play

What can I say, I’m coming around to the headset

Picture yourself. Up close and personal with Pat McGrath, so close you can hear the squirt of the foundation coming out of the tube and onto the back of her hand. You can lead your head in and see the proportions as she mixes different colors, then step back to see the finished product on the model’s face. 

No industry (maybe other than food and gaming?) has driven the way companies and influencers use social media and UGC or BTS (behind-the-scenes) content quite like beauty.

But are we seeing innovation? There are whispers, like when Meta earlier this year announced a partnership with VNTNA, a platform for creating 3D imagery for ads, which VNTANA Chief Executive Ashley Crowder, called “a stepping stone into advertising in the metaverse.” 

And you have Meta’s Kristie Dash, head of beauty partnerships, on the Glossy Beauty Podcast saying that “Beauty brands and creators have always been early movers in that space, (social media)” said “And Instagram continues to evolve based off of those behaviors.” Hmm.. I guess evolving is the right word, but the next winner in the content space is probably going to be wildly innovative.

It feels like the content creators that make Instagram and TikTok so addictive are missing a trick.

While Sephora clearly understands the desire for these immersive experiences, with Jess Stacey, Sephora svp of external communications, event and experiential marketing, saying “demand remains high for virtual events,” post their annual Sephoria festival last week, it still seems like these major players are missing the best opportunity for a new medium for beauty content. Sephoria was an immersive world, but the content was 2d, like a Youtube video popped up in your 3D world. How is that better than a TikTok or Reel?

What would be better is if I could strap on my trusty Oculus headset and be completely transported into a make-up tutorial or eyeliner death test. Let me see it up close and personal.

The Oculus headset is expensive and it will be a while before there’s VR capability in everyone’s homes. But I challenge you to put one on and experience free-solo climbing with Alex Honnold of Netflix flame and tell me this is not going to be a massive part of our content consumption going forward.

I did find one example of a beauty brand doing this. Ulta may be leading the charge but while they did use Oculus headsets for the launch of Ariana Grande’s R.E.M line, it was to play with the products in VR.

From the press release - When customers put on the headset, they are transported to a VR outer-space experience with Grande’s music as the soundtrack. They can click on floating products, including the brand’s eyeliner, lipstick and eyeshadow, and virtually swatch them in the sky. 

Why would I want to swatch something in the sky? Or click on floating products? I want to be applying them to a skin-tone matched avatar of myself or watching my friends do the same. Or better yet, Nikkie Tutorials, live and in the “virtual” flesh. Ideally with Kimmy K. Because I cannot go more than a few weeks without throwing a Kim reference in here.

This is not where beauty content excels, brand storytelling. We want to see the products in action! We want to be transported by make-up’s transformative abilities. And we want to know if this shit works!

If any of you have examples of awesome, 3D content for beauty that really shows off the innovation opportunities, holler at me!