The brand describes the new Lip Luminizer shade as a “shimmering multicolored smoky black” gloss with a peach-vanilla scent.Photo: Courtesy of Fenty Beauty
Inside the relaunched experience, which is available until Sept. 24, users can discover products across Rihanna’s brands including Fenty Eau de Parfum, Fenty Hair, Fenty Skin, and Fenty Beauty.
Players can collect and trade products in exchange for social gear and score new exclusive wearable accessories, including upgrading their character’s looks with Rihanna-inspired hairstyles. Plus, weekly avatar accessory drops can be claimed as rewards for interacting with, collecting, and experimenting with the Fenty products.
Maintaining a virtual presence as part of an experiential marketing strategy is important for brands like Fenty Beauty that are trying to attract younger consumers. In the first quarter of 2024, users spent 16.7 billion hours on the Roblox platform, with Gen Z making up over half of its daily active users.
Justine Higueras, global group director of beauty partnerships at Roblox, said that the platform “has fast become a major digital destination for beauty brands looking to engage new global audiences. In a world where we conduct an increasing amount of our lives online, the historical delineation keeping physical and digital worlds separate is fading fast, particularly among generations growing up in the digital age.”
According to Roblox’s 2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends Report, which surveyed over 1,500 members of Gen Z in the U.S. and U.K. who are active on platforms like Roblox, users' online actions drive purchasing behavior, with 84% saying that after wearing or trying on a brand’s item in virtual spaces, they’d be at least somewhat likely to consider the brand in the physical world, while 50% said they’d be very or extremely likely to do so.
“The platform gives brands in all categories enormous flexibility and scope to achieve a wide range of KPIs through creative executions that break out of traditional marketing and campaign silos—where imagination is almost the only limit,” Higueras said. “Roblox also provides a valuable environment for brands to test new ideas, so they can take advantage of real-time feedback to refine their product offerings.”
The 2023 report also found that for many Gen Z users, avatar expression can be more important than their IRL physical style. Avatar customization is particularly popular, Higueras said, and in response, brands like Fenty Beauty, Maybelline, NARS, Givenchy Beauty, NYX, e.l.f. Beauty, and L’Oreal have stepped into the digital space to meet the demand.
She also noted that there’s been a growing demand for avatar personalization options like hairstyles. Between January and September 2023, Roblox users purchased more than 139 million hairstyles, up 20% over the year before. Because of this, Higueras said that haircare brands like Amika have joined the platform, offering 18 different virtual hairstyles in its Amikaverse experience.
In addition to serving as a test ground for products, the platform also encourages community building, which brands like Fenty Beauty have successfully utilized.
For example, when Fenty originally launched its experience on Roblox, the brand asked users to design their own virtual Gloss Bomb lip gloss in a lab section of the game. Users could select the ingredients, effects, bottle design, lid, applicator, and shade name. They then voted for their favorite user-generated creations and the winning design served as inspiration for a physical product.
Keep scrolling to see more from inside the Fenty Beauty Experience on Roblox...
