The Beauty Tech Edit

The Edit That Started It All:

Beauty Tech, Human Connection, and Why This Is Just the Beginning

Beauty tech is having a moment.

But if you were at NYC Tech Week this year, you already know that.

As one of the first beauty brands to host three official NYC Tech Week events, I had a front row seat to where the industry is going. I also had the rare chance to put everything I have been building in public and let people experience the system before I explained it.

That matters.

Because this wasn’t just about showing up with a beauty concept and hoping people understood it. This was about testing the future of Triple Eight Creative in real rooms, with real people, across beauty, hospitality, real estate, tech, retail, investment, and community.

And what I saw confirmed what I have been saying for years.

Beauty tech is not just about tools.

It is about connection.

So What Exactly Is Beauty Tech?

According to The Beauty Tech Group, beauty tech merges AI, AR, and biotechnology to deliver highly personalized, at-home, and interactive beauty experiences. That includes AI-powered skin diagnostics, virtual try-on tools, and aesthetic devices that bring clinical-grade treatments closer to the consumer.

During NYC Tech Week, I saw that definition come to life everywhere. AR try-ons. Biotech devices. Diagnostic platforms. Founders are building smart, beautiful, genuinely innovative tools to help people access better beauty results.

But the question I kept coming back to was simple.

With all of this technology at our fingertips, where does the human connection go?

That question is what I built my three events around.

And the answer is what makes Triple Eight Creative different.

Beauty Tech Is Not Just a Tool. It Is How You Connect.

The thing I noticed about a lot of what was being showcased during Tech Week is that the technology often starts from zero.

A platform collects data on a user it does not know yet, runs them through an algorithm, and delivers a result. The tech may be impressive, but the relationship is cold.

What T8C does is different.

One founder said it to me directly during Tech Week. They told me I was far ahead of other companies in this space because I am using the data from the Signature Glam Test to feed Char. The test gives so much information that it can deliver a better user experience than tools starting from scratch.

That stopped me for a second.

Because it is true. And it is intentional.

The Signature Glam Test is not a quiz. It is a conversation. When someone answers those questions, they are telling us who they are, how they like to show up, what energy they bring into a room, what seasons of their life look like, and where beauty fits into their actual routine.

That data becomes their profile.

And when Char receives it, she does not give them a generic answer. She gives them an answer that understands them.

During NYC Tech Week, 247 people took the Signature Glam Test. Before Tech Week, my Inner Circle had about 90 members.

That told me everything I needed to know.

People are hungry for beauty that actually sees them.

The Beauty of Infrastructure

My first event, The Beauty of Infrastructure, was a rooftop conversation at Mr Purple at Hotel Indigo LES with hotel operators, real estate investors, capital strategists, and luxury travel professionals.

The room was deliberate.

I wanted to ask a question that I do not think enough people in beauty tech are asking.

Where are your clients actually living their lives?

The answer is obvious when you stop thinking only in apps and ads.

They are in buildings. Hotels. Luxury apartments. Coworking spaces. Membership environments. They are getting ready for dinners, meetings, conferences, weddings, birthdays, brand moments, and everything in between.

People are spending more time inside curated spaces, and beauty brands are still trying to reach them through a screen.

The 888 Partnerships model was built around meeting people where they already are.

If someone is staying at a hotel for a conference or celebrating a milestone in a rooftop suite, that is the moment. Not an Instagram ad three days later. The moment is when they are already in the space, already in an elevated state of mind, already looking to feel like their best self.

One thing Chanelle Sicard from VIP Traveler said during the panel stayed with me. The experience is becoming the differentiator. People are choosing spaces that feel curated and personalized to who they are. Not just beautiful spaces. Intentional ones.

That is what 888 Partnerships is built for.

Tech Week gave me the room to say that out loud to the people making decisions about what these spaces become.

The New Beauty Counter

If The Beauty of Infrastructure was the strategic argument, The New Beauty Counter was the emotional truth.

This was the event people kept talking about because it tapped into something the industry knows is missing but has not fully named yet.

The beauty counter did not disappear.

The feeling did.

I know that feeling because I lived it at MAC. I worked at and managed a MAC Cosmetics Store. I know what it felt like when the counter was not just a place to buy a product, but a place to learn, experiment, ask questions, get matched properly, get corrected gently, and leave feeling more like yourself.

That is what the best beauty professionals do.

They translate.

They take product, trend, technique, skin tone, texture, lifestyle, personality, and desire, and they make it make sense for the person sitting in front of them.

That is the part brands keep trying to recreate with influencer trips, viral products, and pop-ups with no real data behind them. They are chasing the feeling without listening to the people who know how to create it.

The New Beauty Counter was built to show what happens when you actually listen.

Guests arrived and took the Signature Glam Test. They received their beauty identity. They moved through a Signature Glam pop-up before the panel even started. By the time we sat down to talk about what happened to the beauty counter, the room had already lived the answer.

That was the point.

The conversation that followed was not about nostalgia. It was about what comes next.

Beauty brands have spent years chasing trends and building IRL moments without enough insight from the people closest to the customer. The MUAs. The hairstylists. The beauty professionals who see what clients actually ask for, what they are confused by, what they buy, what they regret buying, and what makes them feel confident enough to come back.

The industry loves to talk about community, but too many brands are still building for the audience instead of with the audience.

That is why The New Beauty Counter mattered.

It brought the client, the artist, the brand conversation, the technology, and the community into the same room.

What the MAC Event Proved to Me

I kept thinking about my MAC event while I watched people move through Tech Week.

At that event, two moments stayed with me.

One client had already been shopping with a beauty professional before taking the Signature Glam Test. When Char recommended the exact products and colors the professional had already chosen for her, something clicked. She felt completely seen, not because a tool told her what to buy, but because the tool confirmed what already felt right.

That is confidence.

That is clarity.

Another client took the test before she started shopping. She saw her results and walked out with over $250 in product, not because she was pressured, but because she finally knew what she was looking for.

That is the difference between selling and guiding.

When people understand why something works for them, they buy with confidence. They come back. They trust you. They talk about the experience.

That is what I mean when I say beauty tech should not replace the human connection.

It should elevate it.

What Beauty Tech Actually Needs to Get Right

I have been in beauty for over 20 years.

I have worked behind the counter, managed teams, built a salon, served private clients, worked events, partnered with brands, and watched the industry change from every angle.

I have also watched the moment when someone goes from uncertain to completely themselves.

Beauty tech has the potential to scale that moment.

But only if it is built with the right intention.

The brands that get this right will not be the ones with the loudest filters or the most impressive devices. They will be the ones who understand technology is the infrastructure, and the human being on the other side is still the point.

When I relaunched Triple Eight Creative after Joli, my first question was not, “How do I build an app?”

It was, “How do I make this experience better for the person sitting in the chair?”

That chair might be in a hotel suite. A membership space. A luxury residence. A studio. A bathroom before a major event. Someone’s home.

The location can change.

The need does not.

People want clarity. They want trust. They want to feel like the person or system guiding them understands their face, their life, their schedule, and their energy.

The Inner Circle came first because the community had to be the foundation.

Then came the Signature Glam System. Five glam styles designed to give people language for how they show up, now expanding into Signature Skin Styles for every gender and every relationship with beauty.

Then came Char, the tool that made the system feel complete.

Because now you do not just know your style.

You have a Glam Best Friend who knows it with you and helps you act on it in every season.

This Is Just the Beginning

The Summer Edit launches June 16. Suite 888 is coming. The 888 Partnerships model is expanding. Char has entered the room.

What I know now, after Tech Week, is that the appetite is real.

Hotels see it. Investors are paying attention. Beauty brands are watching. The community is already here.

Clients want this.

Beauty professionals understand this.

And the people who sat in those rooms in Brooklyn and on a rooftop in the Lower East Side felt it immediately.

Beauty tech is here to stay. But the brands that shape it will not be the ones building the loudest tools. They will be the ones asking the right questions.

How do we make beauty feel more personal?

How do we make technology support the artist instead of replacing them?

How do we meet clients where they already are?

How do we turn information into confidence?

How do we bring the feeling back?

I have been asking those questions for 20 years.

NYC Tech Week was just the first time the full system ran in public.

We are just getting started.

Can’t wait to show you more!