The inaugural edition of Nykaaland draws 15,000 Visitors

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 9 November 2023

The Mahalakshmi Racecourse in Mumbai was engulfed in a sea of pink over the weekend. Nykaaland, India's first beauty festival, featured brand booths as well as interactive sessions, masterclasses, Games, food, music, installation, etc. The two-day event drew approximately 15,000 beauty enthusiasts, including makeup artists, content creators, and others.

Nykaaland, a beauty festival co-produced by Nykaa and BookMyShow Live, featured 80 local and international brands, distributing nearly 100,000 samples to attendees. 5,000 attendees attended 12 industry masterclasses, including American makeup artist Mario Dedivanonic's first-ever masterclass in India, hosted by experts like Baltasar Gonzalez Pinel, Daniel Bauer, Namrata Soni, Sandhya Shekar, and Mickey Contractor.

Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO, of Nykaa, addressed the media and stated that the idea of Nykaaland was generated four years back. She discussed this with BookMyShow founder Ashish Hemrajani and he said that beauty has always been about experiences. Thus, Nykaaland aims to create an immersive beauty experience, focusing on experiences.

Owen Roncon, Chief of Business-Live Entertainment, BookMyShow aims to create an engaging, immersive beauty experience beyond product sales, focusing on various pillars and consumer language. Nykaaland is introducing an experiential beauty and lifestyle festival to India, marking a new frontier in events for Indian audiences. It will be an all-new experience for beauty and lifestyle for Indian consumers.

According to Anchit Nayar, CEO of Nykaa, the event drew multiple global and local brands that expressed interest in participating in the festival. "We wanted to curate a very unique assortment of brands across price points, ranging from makeup to skincare to hair care to fragrance to appliances to wellness. We wanted to curate brands and experiences that would be most relevant," he says.

The festival featured global brands like Estee Lauder and COSRX, as well as local brands like Plum and Kay Beauty, showcasing a unique representation of the cosmetics industry.

Harman Dhillon, vice president, Skin Care & Color Cosmetics at Hindustan Unilever Limited stated that this event allowed brands to interact with potential customers on the ground. "This collaboration offers an exceptional opportunity for our brands to forge deeper connections with this community, empowering attendees to embrace their unique beauty stories with confidence."

"Nykaaland is the perfect platform to engage and immerse consumers in the worlds of two of our most iconic brands—Maybelline New York and L'Oréal Paris," says Pankaj Sharma, director-consumer products division, L'Oréal India. We will continue to invest in new technologies to improve product discovery and experience, as well as connect with new-age digital consumers to create meaningful experiences."