STUDIO EIGHT
Where beauty, culture, and conversation meet.
STUDIO EIGHT is the editorial and media home of Triple Eight Creative, a space to explore the ideas, experiences, and conversations shaping beauty, business, technology, hospitality, and everything in between.
Founded by Chardé Smith, STUDIO EIGHT brings together original articles, founder essays, industry commentary, and conversations that go beyond the surface. From the beauty counter to the boardroom, we explore the moments that shape how we create, connect, and show up in the world.
Whether you're here to discover a new perspective, catch up on an episode, or explore what's happening across the industry, there's always something worth talking about.
The Beauty Edit
Beauty is more than what we see.
The Beauty Edit explores the products, people, trends, and cultural conversations shaping the beauty industry. Through thoughtful commentary, practical insights, and a perspective informed by more than two decades of professional artistry, we're looking beyond what's trending to understand what it means for the people who experience, create, and work in beauty.
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The Beauty Edit
STUDIO EIGHT PRESENTSBeyond The Counter
The conversation doesn't end at the counter.
Hosted by Chardé Smith Anglin, Beyond the Counter is a podcast exploring beauty, business, technology, hospitality, and the experiences that shape how we build, connect, and show up.
Drawing on more than twenty years in the beauty industry and experience building Triple Eight Creative, Chardé brings listeners into honest conversations about entrepreneurship, creative work, industry evolution, and everything beyond the service itself.
Some episodes are personal reflections. Others feature conversations with founders, creatives, and people whose experiences bring something new to the table.
Because there's always more to the story than what happens behind the counter.
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The Founder Stories
The stories behind what we're building.
Building something of your own comes with experiences that don't always make it into the business plan. The Founder Files is a collection of personal essays and reflections from Chardé Smith on entrepreneurship, reinvention, creativity, leadership, and the relationships that shape the journey.
From building Triple Eight Creative to navigating the unexpected turns along the way, these are the stories, lessons, and questions that deserve more than a passing mention.
I Used to Go to Conferences Looking for Answers
I used to walk into conferences wondering what I should build, who I needed to meet and what I still needed to learn. At CultureCon, something shifted. I heard people talking about problems I’ve spent the last year building solutions for, and realized my questions have changed. I’m no longer asking if I can build it. I’m asking where it belongs, who needs it and how I scale it.
You Don’t Know What Breaks Until You Build It
When you build experiences for people, you quickly learn that some problems only reveal themselves once people enter the room. After watching the conversations around Beautycon, Create & Cultivate and CultureCon, and experiencing CultureCon as both an attendee and Braindate host, I’ve been thinking about feedback differently. The bigger question isn’t simply how you give more people access. It’s how you scale without losing the feeling that someone considered you.
Suite 888 Was the Room Where The Fall Edit Became Real
Suite 888 was the first invite-only preview of The Fall Edit during NYFW, hosted by Triple Eight Creative at Champagne Problems. What unfolded behind that private door was more than an event. It was a live expression of The Beauty Layer, bringing together hospitality, scent, Char, Signature Glam, product discovery, and the beauty professionals who make the experience feel human.
The Beauty Advisor Was Always the Blueprint
Beauty retailers are rediscovering the beauty advisor, hotels are bringing beauty into the guest experience, and AI is becoming the new beauty search bar. In this Studio Eight essay, Chardé Smith-Anglin explores why the people closest to the customer have always held the insight beauty tech needs, and how Triple Eight Creative is building The Beauty Layer around guidance, relationship, and consideration.
How to Keep Your Skin Hydrated in Summer Without Starting Over
Summer skin does not need a 14-step routine. It needs hydration that works under makeup, outside in the heat, through travel, and long after your first layer of SPF.
Beyond the Counter
Beyond the Counter is the fourth event in Triple Eight Creative’s Tech Week series and the next evolution of a larger conversation. From founders and hospitality to beauty discovery and technology, Chardé Smith-Anglin explores how T8C is building a bridge between people, brands, and the spaces where trust is made.
Consideration Is the Highest Form of Luxury
After NYC Tech Week, Chardé Smith-Anglin realized Triple Eight Creative was never just a beauty company with many moving parts. It is a company built around one idea: people remember when they feel considered. This founder essay explores what that means for customer experience, team culture, beauty, technology, and the future of modern brands.
The Beauty Tech Edit
Beauty tech is having a moment, but the future is not just smarter tools. It is smarter connection. In this founder-led Beauty Edit, Chardé Smith-Anglin reflects on NYC Tech Week, the Signature Glam Test, Char, MAC artistry, and how Triple Eight Creative is using AI, hospitality, and human insight to build a more personal beauty experience.
The Beauty Edit: The Counter Is Calling
The Patrick Ta and Painted by Esther conversation is about more than blush. It reveals what beauty keeps getting wrong about credit, artistry, and community. In this Beauty Edit, Chardé connects the moment to her years behind the MAC counter, MAC’s recent spotlight on Olandria and Painted by Esther, and why The New Beauty Counter during NYC Tech Week is designed to rebuild the feeling retail has been missing.
THE AMBITIOUS WOMAN
What most people don't understand is that being an ambitious woman is sometimes the only thing you have. Your ideas are too big. You say the wrong things. You feel like you're too much and not enough at the same time. Your glam style is how you show up when you've decided to stop apologizing for taking up space.
The Beauty Breakdown — Hevn Studios
Hevn Studios doesn't feel like a photo studio. On Saturday, Lyric and Mind Candy Beauty filled it with beauty professionals ready to talk craft, career, and the parts of this industry nobody puts in the brochure.
In the Room: What Women Founder Events Are Really Teaching Us Right Now
This week, I stepped into rooms filled with women building what’s next. From conversations with founders like Rachel Liverman of Glowbar and Gabby Garritano of JECT to insights on platforms like ShopMy, one thing became clear: community, clarity, and connection are no longer optional. They are the foundation of how modern brands grow.
Your Beauty Refresh, Without the Research Project
Spring doesn’t need a full reinvention, it needs a refresh that actually fits your life. The Spring Edit is your seasonal beauty reset, built to take beauty from confusing to clear. We’re translating spring trends into real routines, mapped to your Signature Glam style, so you can try new things without guessing, wasting money, or starting over. Start with the Signature Glam Test, then use the Spring Edit as your shortcut to glow, color, and a routine that finally feels like you.
International Women’s Day
Beauty has always been present in the moments that shape our lives. From weddings and career milestones to quiet conversations between friends, the act of getting ready often becomes a moment of transformation. For founder Chardé, helping women find their signature style has always been about more than makeup. It’s about confidence, identity, and the power of showing up for yourself.
The MAC x Sephora Move: A Defining Moment for Legacy Beauty
MAC entering Sephora isn’t just retail news. It’s a defining moment for legacy beauty. From Ruby Woo and Studio Fix to the culture built behind the counter, this Beauty Edit explores whether artistry can survive the algorithm and what this move means for the future of iconic brands.
After 20 years in beauty,building a salon featured in Women's Wear Daily, leading operations at MAC Cosmetics—here's what I learned about what beauty actually needs.
Beauty is a billion-dollar industry operating on outdated infrastructure. While consumers expect personalization, ease, and digital clarity in every other part of their lives, beauty services remain fragmented and inconsistent. The future of high-touch industries will not be less human — it will be more intentional. Technology, when designed with care, does not replace intimacy. It scales it.
Loyalty Is Not Points. It’s Protection.
Loyalty programs used to be about points. In beauty today, they’re about belonging, trust, and protection. With the market shifting fast and customers paying closer attention to what brands stand for, community has become the strategy that keeps people coming back. In this week’s Beauty Edit, I break down what retailers like Ulta have proven about loyalty, what brands can learn from The Lip Bar’s resilience, and why I built this moment to make the audience the celebrity.
#ForTheLovers: Sweet, Villain, Repeat
Sweet side or villain energy? Take the Signature Glam Test, explore the GlamaZine, shop the curated list, and book Winter Edit services.
Black History Month and Beauty: Let’s Stop Pretending We Don’t See It
Every Black History Month, the beauty industry talks about community and progress. This year, I wanted to talk about power. From corporate beauty to brand-building, this Beauty Edit explores why Black women are often valued for labor but excluded from strategy, how performative inclusion limits real growth, and why platforms that amplify Black founders matter now more than ever.
#ForTheLovers
The Ulta Beauty World rollout wasn’t a failure of demand. It was a failure of listening. As excitement built across social media, customers signaled exactly what they wanted. But when access prioritized influencers over loyal spenders, the disconnect became impossible to ignore. This Beauty Edit explores what the moment reveals about loyalty, trust, and why the future of beauty events must be built around real connection, not optics.
When you build experiences for people, you quickly learn that some problems only reveal themselves once people enter the room. After watching the conversations around Beautycon, Create & Cultivate and CultureCon, and experiencing CultureCon as both an attendee and Braindate host, I’ve been thinking about feedback differently. The bigger question isn’t simply how you give more people access. It’s how you scale without losing the feeling that someone considered you.