Raising the Beauty Bar

FLANKED by Tia Maria’s Cantina and the first Starbucks on Katipunan Avenue was the Beauty Bar outlet of my all-girls’ grade school past.

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That store roused our prepubescent hormones. The Beauty Bar girls assisted us through it all: our first smear of pink lip gloss, first dab of blush, and the first sweep of clear mascara that had to be strong enough to keep lashes curled and invisible enough for the principal not to detect.

That was 15 years ago, and Beauty Bar’s former space has now been eaten up by Starbucks. But Stores Specialists, Inc.’s personal care store, whose unique portfolio involves niche and non-traditional international brands not available elsewhere in the country, kept proliferating, hitting 27 branches by November last year.

The 27th store opened at Central Square, Bonifacio High Street. It arrived with a noticeably different aura. There’s quite a radical change that begins at the entrance. The façade is painted gold, and the logo’s baby blue was dropped. A bolder color takes over: red.

A BOLDER BEAUTY BAR

“A lot of our customers have grown up. If they started with us at 15 or 16, now they’re already 30,” said Reena Rosario, Beauty Bar’s merchandise group manager. “People are changing and we should be changing with them,” she said.

At the store, she pointed out a bit of yin and yang. The 261-square-meter outlet was designed by the Stuttgart-based architecture and design firm Blocher Blocher Partners to have a contrast of dark and light.

In the mysterious “yin” area are cosmetic brands like Smashbox, whose line of primers, BB, and CC creams are among the most sophisticated. All the high-end cosmetic brands are here, converging in a small space that harks to a makeup studio. In the bright “yang” area are the luxurious bath and body products. Such a contrast draws the line between edgy makeup artistry (dark) and cleaner body care (white), and the division is accented by an elegantly curved ceiling recess. Wall niches and central furniture integrate the many different cosmetics brands in a uniform spatial pattern. The floor design likewise supports this intertwining using hexagonal sand-colored ceramic tiles that link up like a honeycomb. There’s a constant sprinkling of red throughout the room.

COMING TOGETHER

The name “Beauty Bar” inspired the designers to create a meeting point for friends, hence the addition of a freestanding counter beside the cashier. Here, people can gather and sit on the make-up stools, as well as consult with the experts. A monitor mounted on the wall, displaying beauty-related information, is a step into going digital. Fifty square meters was also allotted for the New York-based nail salon Dashing Diva as an answer to the common complaint that the other branches are always fully booked.

Despite having a German mastermind, the new Beauty Bar does have a couple of Filipino touches. A local light designer specializing in capiz was commissioned to do the flowing ceiling accent that adds texture to the room. Small aluminum squares were painted white and strung together with nylon. It hangs above the counter to soften the interior.

The trompe l’oeil-embellished “yang” wall was also done by a Filipino artist. The drawings of flowers, heart, and birds bring out the feminine side of the store.

But at the center of the “yang” wall, there’s a new girl. Beauty Bar’s new “model” is a minimalist sketch of a woman with prominent red lips. It’s the first time in Beauty Bar’s 16 years to have a face — a step initiated by the interior designers. Below the sketch is the store’s new tag line: “Where beauty comes together.”

“The designers felt that it makes it more feminine, it establishes the store as a woman’s destination,” Ms. Rosario said. “But anyone can relate to it,” she added. The woman’s features do not suggest any particular age.

At the same time, this ageless girl might make the company’s current challenge a bit more difficult: “We really want the men to come in and not feel that it’s too girly a store,” Ms. Rosario said. Beauty Bar wants to expand the men’s line, which at the moment is limited to a corner that wives and girlfriends shop in.

Whether men will be arriving soon or not, the changes signal a gracious maturity that still carries the heart of the former Beauty Bar.

After all, the redesign reflects the grown-up set, without disregarding the 12-year-olds. “We won’t isolate them, especially that they like coming here because they’re free to touch all the testers,” Ms. Rosario said. My seventh-grade self rejoices. — Pola Esguerra del Monte

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