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Honest Beauty Pop Up Shop Review

Chris Acree
ByChris AcreeOct 6, 2015 | 30 comments

Note from Liz: Yay! I'm so excited to introduce the first post from forum moderator Chris on the blog!

Honest Beauty
4 overall rating
5 Ratings | 0 Reviews

Liz is a big fan of The Honest Company. So much, in fact, that MSA picks a monthly winner of a $100 Honest Co. gift card from the list of newsletter subscribers. Although my family hasn’t been using Honest products as long as she has, we like everything we have used from them so far.

The company launched its newest line, Honest Beauty, a couple of weeks ago. When they announced a pop up shop would be coming to The Grove in Los Angeles for six months beginning September 25th, I immediately knew I wanted to go.

So early the first morning the shop opened, I hopped into my car and headed north one county. Because I was super excited and you never know how LA traffic will be, I got there early. Very early.

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There I saw the most permanent-looking pop up shop I have ever seen.

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Since they were nice enough to give me a sticker to mark my place in line, I looked around the farmer’s market next door a bit and then found a great spot to hang out just steps from the Honest Beauty shop. If I was going to wait, I might as well wait in style.

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Since I was one of the first 50 people in line on opening day, I received this cute makeup bag:

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Here is a quick tour of the shop itself.

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On each side walking into the shop.

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Looking in.

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Along the left wall.

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Checkout counter.

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On the front wall.

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From the back wall looking into the shop.

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Display cases on the back wall.

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You can try any products you want. The shop has large photos all along the back wall showing Honest Beauty products being used to create a wide range of looks.

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Most of the time I personally prefer to have a simple, classic look.

They have makeup stations in the middle of the shop where they will help you try anything you want. Everything was well-sanitized—trust me, I pay attention to this—and they even had outlets to charge your phone or whatever you wanted while you were there. They seem to have thought through the small details in this shop. (Rumor has it that makeup brushes are in the works.)

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My makeup artist, Delrissa, was super sweet and helpful. (I found out she is an MSA reader. How cool is that?) I wasn’t sure where to even begin and she offered to do the works. Who am I to turn down an offer like that? Awesome.

Before with no makeup or filter:

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After with makeup, no filter:

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I am wearing Everything Cream Foundation in Linen, Eye Shadow Trio in Soft Sand, Truly Lush Mascara + Eye Primer, True Velvet Eyeliner in Truly Cocoa and Truly Gold (layered, who knew?), Truly Kissable Lip Crayon – Sheer in Rose Kiss, Crème Blush in Truly Exciting, and a touch of the Magic Balm for a little glow. (I apologize that it is difficult to see the Magic Balm in my photos.) Side note: Everyone else there at the time seemed to favor the Chestnut Kiss lip crayon shade.

Per the FAQs on their website, Honest Beauty products “are made without any questionable ingredients, such as parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde carriers, PEGs, MCI/MI, steareth-n, synthetic fragrances, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, petrolatum, mineral oil, SLS, SLES, sulfates and chemical sunscreens.”

I noticed that everyone was super helpful and seemed excited to be there. While Delrissa was working, I also found out some kind of interesting behind-the-scenes information about The Honest Company. Apparently they treat their employees like family and anyone who has an idea or suggestion is encouraged to share it with everyone else. They do a lot of thinking as a team and frequent teambuilding activities. They have a fully stocked kitchen at their office and can bring their dogs to work with them. Sounds great to me. The employees were also excited because they had been working on Honest Beauty for several years and were anxious to see the public getting to try the products.

Jessica Alba, one of the co-founders of the company, was not at the shop while I was there. I was told she had been there all day the day before and will be at the pop up shop from time to time so if you stop by you may meet her.

One of the things I found most interesting in the shop itself was the two interactive tablets that can take a live video feed of you and show a particular makeup look of your choice virtually applied to you in real time.

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And then there is the secret door. You know I had to see what was behind there.

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Behind the door is a small room with a place to sit and a photo booth area where you can take a picture of yourself with whatever makeup look you want digitally applied to you. Even as someone who never takes selfies, I have to admit it was fun to play around with that a bit.

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I wasn’t sure what the Magic Balm was for at first but the name intrigued me. As it turns out, you can use the balm for practically everything: face, lips, nails, probably a lot more. I have been using it on all of those regularly for over a week now and it looks like there is hardly any gone from the container. I am also a bit obsessed with the packaging of that item. I purchased some Magic Balm and Truly Kissable Lip Crayon – Sheer in Rose Kiss while I was at the shop.

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They place your shop purchases in a small, reusable tote bag.

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I plan to include the Everything Cream Foundation – Linen, Magic Balm, and Beyond Protected Daily Beauty Fluid SPF 30 that I sampled earlier from the trial kit I ordered the first day Honest Beauty launched in my first beauty bundle. An Honest Beauty subscription contains a bundle which is $50 for 3 products of your choice and includes free shipping. You can also add up to 5 more items at 25% off to each bundle. It is a monthly subscription but you can make changes to the delivery schedule on the company website if you want to.

I would like to see Honest Beauty either include a blister pack or find some way to add sample foundation shades to their trial kit. Hopefully they will do this soon. Right now unless you go to their popup shop, you find your appropriate foundation and/or tinted moisturizer shades by looking at the different photos on their website and finding which one looks closest to your skin tone. If you are trying to decide which of two different shades would work better for you, I can tell you the darker one worked better for me. If you end up choosing a shade that is not a good match for you, Honest Beauty’s customer care will exchange it for you. I have not done this myself but have contacted them for assistance a couple of times and had good experiences when I did.

If you can stop by the pop up shop, I would recommend doing so—it is pretty fun. If you aren’t near LA and are interested in trying Honest Beauty, give it a shot online. I was a fan of The Honest Company’s products before and visiting the shop and being introduced to a lot more of the new line only increased my enthusiasm.

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Chris Acree
Chris Acree
Chris is a moderator on the MSA forum. Her current favorite subscription boxes are Box of Style, RawSpiceBar, Julep, and My Pretend Place although the list changes frequently. She cannot resist a spoiler.

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30 comments

chris

Thanks, everyone!

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Flubs

It’s a good thing I decided to read this review because I didn’t know the blog has mods. So does that mean that people are deleting comments are or is there a glitch with the reply system?

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Liz Cadman

Hm, not sure what you mean about deleting comments or the reply system? I’m not seeing any non-approved comments for this review on my end.

Feel free to email me details if that’s better: [email protected]

Sorry for not understanding!

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Flubs

Hi Liz!

I’ve seen a few comments of mine get eaten. It happens when I reply to my OP and when I reply to a reply I made on someone else’s OP. I assume it’s because the replies are fast because I only see this happen when my 2nd reply is submitted less than 1 minute after my OP (or initial reply).
I thought it was a glitch but like I said earlier that’s because I didn’t know the blog had mods. That’s why I asked if comments were being deleted or if they were being ate.

Hope this reply makes sense lol!

Amy Ballou

I usually don’t comment on here much unless I have something that is either really important, or I feel that needs to be said. As a writer, I have to say I was really intrigued by your writings Chris. I hope to see more from you, and I think many would agree. I think it was a good decision on MSA’s part, and I loved every bit of your post. Very detailed without being boring, and very authentic style you have about you. 🙂

P.S. You looked great with or without, but I must say your makeover looked AH-mazing! WOWW!!

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chris

Thanks, Amy!

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Ann

Yay Chris! Great to see you on the blog!

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Karen Lee

Great review! I wish I could visit the popup shop, so much fun!

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Wendy

Wont be buying any of her stuff anymore now that I found out some of her stuff is made in China! Big $ for products made in China by a manufacturer that can’t be trusted, no ty!

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WendyinCA

I’m on the other side of CA (10 hour drive to LA) but I felt like I really got a feel for the pop-up shop! I’m going to order some HC stuff soon. Thanks for all the detailed photos & info Chris!

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Linda

Great review! I loved your makeover, it looked so natural but really brought out your gorgeous eyes! My experiences with makeovers have always been to make-up-y looking.

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Kristin 2z

Congrats Chris
Looked fun! First in line too!
Great review!

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Katie

What a great review! Looks like you had fun too:)

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HappyWife

Thanks Chris! You did such a good job with details. Hope you had time to enjoy it. You took so many pictures! Wow, I’m really impressed but kind of expected it because their prices are up there. Congrats on the makeup bag though! I love it. It is sooo cute!

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Michelle

It looks like you had a really fun day.

Is there any chance they’ll start selling the cosmetic products in Target soon? I’m always hesitant to buy skincare and makeup without at least seeing it.

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chris

I don’t know if they will sell Honest Beauty in Target any time soon. They only carry it on their website and in the one pop up shop so far. It seems they are using the pop up shop as a sort of a trial run. Hopefully they will expand!

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ItsHollyAgain

Great review! Thanks for sharing so many photos (especially as I’m in Ohio and LA is slightly more than a county over). That shop looks so permanent! I really appreciate all of the little details that were put in. Your eyes look amazing and stand out so much more in the after shot. It’s subtle but a great look. I also like that foundation doesn’t look heavy. What was the lasting power like? Half of my work days are incredibly long (yesterday was 15+ hours).

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chris

None of the makeup felt heavy at all. Even after I had all of it on I couldn’t feel anything which was awesome. I took it off after about 10 hours without doing any touchups or anything and thought it still looked really fresh. I can’t speak to 15+ hours (that is a very long work day, wow!) since I haven’t tried it that long yet. I will be including the foundation in my first beauty bundle and will be able to test it for longer periods of time once I receive it, but I did like it enough so far to get the full size.

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CreativelySwank

What a great post!! Love all the details and pictures, but most of all you look wonderful! It’s great to see the makeup on, instead of just swatches. I’m drowning in products right now, but I wouldn’t mind if one of the beauty items landed in a sub box of mine. 😀

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Tamara

I recognize those earrings! 😀

Wow, what a great review! I can’t believe how many pics you took. Great job! 🙂

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Debra

Wow, that looks like fun! Thanks for sharing! I’m still a little confused about the “Magic Balm” though that can be used for “everything”. I’ve actually already subscribed to the Honest Beauty bundle and received my first bundle of three (tried 2 of 3 and happy with both so far), but I didn’t include the Magic Balm. What exactly does “everything” mean? Acne? Wrinkles? Regardless, thanks for the review! I would have loved to go!!

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chris

Yay, I am happy you’ve liked everything you have tried so far!

I have used the Magic Balm on my face, lips, and nails mostly so far. I tried a little on my elbows which were kind of dry and it moisturized them. I also had a bit of flaky skin on my wrist for some odd reason and it softened that up too. I have not tried it for acne or wrinkles yet, ha! I will try this. I intend to put this item to the full test based on its name alone. I think it works best as a sort of skin softener or highlighter. It is awesome on dry lips. When you put it on your skin it doesn’t feel greasy. You can rub it in and it absorbs well but still leaves a subtle kind of glow. If you don’t rub it in, it serves more like a highlighter.

Honest Beauty describes this item as “This all‐purpose beauty balm is an honestly magical blend of organic fruit and botanical oils to soften and soothe everything with just a touch – presto!” In case it helps you, its ingredients are: Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Cera Alba (Beeswax, Cire d’Abeille)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Tocopherol, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil*, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Calophyllum Inophyllum Seed Oil*, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil*, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Kaolin, CI 77491 (Iron Oxide). *Organic Ingredient

I can see why they named it Magic Balm since it is hard to pinpoint exactly what category it should be in based on all of its different uses. Honest Beauty even put it in a different kind of container from the rest of their products. I am a little obsessed with this item, ha!

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chris

Thank you so much! You guys are very kind. It was a lot of fun!

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Bekki

How fun! I’ve been curious about that magic balm stuff. I already have so many things that seem to be for the same purpose though that I can’t justify the purchase! Lol.

Great review chris!

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Kim

Great review!!
Why wasn’t the place packed???? It doesn’t look like it from your photos but it must have been!
I don’t live far from LA but LOL have so much makeup from all the sub boxes I can’t justify more

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Lindsey

Thank for the great review, Chris! 🙂

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SJ

You look gorgeous! And your post was great. You can tell you had a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

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Megan Joy

This post is fantastic! I love all the photos and details, and you really sell the products. Great job!

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Amie

That was an awesome post. I loved the lip color they picked for u. Your makeup turned out beautiful. That looked like it would have been so much fun. Thanks for sharing.

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Helen

Wow, fantastic review! The shop looks so clean, and glamorous at the same time.
I would have loved to go as I was close by there, but had to come home to the east coast a couple of days after the opening. Just missed it!
Well,
I’ll just go and check out their online store.

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