Two decades in, what’s new at Beauty Bar?

November 22, 2024 | 12:00am

Beauty girls know all about the mall-going ritual of dropping by Beauty Bar to check out what’s new, discovering up-and-coming brands and getting a feel of its products from the testers. If you’re lucky, you can even get an in-store makeover, coming-of-age movie-style — and this was all way before the social media boom. Smashbox primers, TheBalm’s Bahama Mama, your tin can of Burt’s Bees Balm — these mainstays in our kits were all Beauty Bar firsts. I still swear by Koh Gen Do’s Cleansing Spa Water, years after I first discovered it in their Robinsons Place Midtown branch. When cult favorites like brow experts Anastasia Beverly Hills and skincare brand Retinol trended online, they were already at Beauty Bar.

Since opening its doors in Glorietta 2 on Oct. 30, 1999, Beauty Bar has upped the beauty shopping experience in the Philippines as the country’s first specialty beauty concept store. Beauty Bar introduced cult-favorite and up-and-coming international brands for generations of beauty enthusiasts. Over two decades and 17 outlets and an e-commerce site later (beautybar.com.ph launched in 2011), Beauty Bar is still a place to be.

Another Beauty Bar introduction is the quickest mani-pedis in the country in 2005 with the debut of the Dashing Diva Nail Spa in Glorietta 2, bringing New York-style nail services to Manila. Even with all the nail spa openings today, I can attest that Dashing Diva still holds the record for speed and efficiency.

Still ahead of the curve, Beauty Bar’s latest store in One Ayala highlights vegan-friendly products. Yes, brands like Hince, Skybottle, elvis+elvin, Pure Pawpaw, Skin Sapiens, #OOTD, Urban Apothecary, LOCK, Unicorn Glow, Vitry, and I Love Cosmetics are now in Manila.

Aside from Dashing Diva, select Beauty Bar branches also expand to offering more services like celebrity favorite New Lounge lash and nail salon and blow dry bars. It’s now truly a one-stop-shop “where beauty comes together,” just like its tagline says.

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Beauty Bar is under Stores Specialists, Inc., with stores located at Central Square BGC, Alabang Town Center, Rockwell Power Plant Mall, Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 5, One Ayala, Shangri-La Plaza, The Podium, Robinsons Galleria, Eastwood Mall, TriNoma, Robinsons Place Midtown, Robinsons Magnolia, UP Town Center, Ayala Center Cebu, and Marquee Mall Pampanga. Shop online at www.beautybar.com.ph or Lazada. For more information, follow @beautybarph and @ssilifeph on Instagram and Facebook.