Dear all,
The news has been hard to read lately. And when the world turns gloomy, what's best than joining thousands of people to walk into a park and hear music together for three days.
Festivals are one of the few escape pods we have left, and this week the beauty industry climbed aboard.
The Lollapalooza festival took over Grant Park in Chicago, one of the handful of festivals that still sets the calendar for everyone else. ULTA Beauty built a booth, MAC Cosmetics dressed Slayyyter for her set and our data counted 137 posts from Luxury & Beauty brands referencing the festival this week.
But music doesn't happen in festivals only. A "smaller" story caught my eye too this week.
Chanel sat down with Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk, and let him talk with the helmet off.
He goes back to the Centre Pompidou library where he and Guy-Manuel found Warhol as teenagers, and to the rave that pulled the band into being.
Twenty years of hiding behind a robot, and now he is the one explaining it.
I hope you'll enjoy this week's edition and that it will make you think ...
What The Luxe?!
Cheers,
PS: feel free to hit reply to leave a comment, I read and answer every message
Data provided by Submarine.ai the Frontier Insights Lab that boost your business and make your content irresistible.
Top Brands this week
This week vs last 8-week average
 | 1. Hugo Boss 路 8.0x its usual week |
One film took 12.7M of the brand's 13.6M views. Maluma, Bradley Cooper and Vin铆cius Jr, talking about Boss Bottled Beyond.
 | 2. Kylie Cosmetics 路 1.9x its usual week |
15.2M views, the biggest raw number in this issue. The mood stones fragrance trio launched on Thursday and one post explaining it did 10.6M.
 | 3. Monique Lhuillier 路 9.6x its usual week |
Emma Roberts got married in custom Monique Lhuillier, and the atelier posted the whole thing. The gown film did 2.6M.
 | 4. Montblanc 路 2.8x its usual week |
A fountain pen for Dracula. The Bram Stoker writing instrument did 2.8M on TikTok, and Montblanc kept the bit running all week, down to Van Helsing's garlic and wild rose.
 | 5. Harry Winston 路 36.3x its usual week |
Eight near-silent weeks, then the Winston Garden film for the Sunflower Collection took 2.2M on YouTube.
Top Videos
The most viewed Luxury & Beauty videos of the week
 | TikTok |
Miu Miu 路 10.9M views
A world held between reality and reverie...
El Corte Ingl茅s 路 2.8M views
The Spanish retailer's love declaration to the Barcelona soccer team
Richard Mille 路 2.7M views
A portrait of Pablo Mac Donough, 13 Argentine Open titles, who started playing polo as soon as he could ride.
 |
Sephora 路 5.9M views
A behind the scene peek at what happens at Sephora after hours
Anastasia Beverly Hills 路 3.1M views
How to be race day ready in just a few steps
Huda Beauty 路 2.4M views
A makeup tutorial led by Creator Hailey Laine that changes your face shape
 | YouTube |
Tory Burch 路 3.1M views
An introduction to the brand's summer collection designed for escape, reverie and play
Prada 路 871K views
Prada Codes on the Fall/Winter d茅collet茅s and slingbacks.
Chanel 路 257K views
Thomas Bangalter on life after the Daft Punk helmet, recorded at Fondation Beyeler during Art Basel.
Top Trends
Zoom: beauty moved into Lollapalooza
137 posts referenced the festival this week, against three the week before. Most of the view volume went to magazines covering the music. The brands were there in person.
- ULTA Beauty set up across from Buckingham Fountain and posted from the booth every day it was open. The announcement did 5.2M.
- MAC dressed Slayyyter for her set and published the full product list with it, 345K, then followed stylist Hunter Clem through the fitting.
- Lanc么me took Olivia Rodrigo backstage before her surprise appearance. Neutrogena was the official skincare sponsor and went live from the site.
Also on the radar
Back to School
44 posts, 11x baseline.
Ralph Lauren's RLKids style report leads it at 13K views.
The curve has climbed every week since late June.
Color correctors
40 posts, 3x baseline.
ONE/SIZE launched the Ultimate Color Corrector Stains and took 321K on the first post. Natasha Denona moved the same week.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiere
36 posts.
Jacquemus put Tom Holland in a custom Veste Bastide and Boucheron supplied the jewels. Zendaya wore Tamara Ralph, which is what most of the coverage led on.
If you've enjoyed What The Luxe, share it with a friend. If you've hated it, share it with an enemy.
Data provided by Submarine.ai. Numbers cover July 27 to August 2, 2026, from 15,596 posts by Luxury & Beauty brands and creators on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Baselines are each brand's own 8-week weekly average. View counts are as scraped on August 2 and 3, so the newest posts are still climbing.
