Insider's Look: The Havana Camila Cabello Collection Event

In honor of the launch of the L’Oréal Paris Havana Camila Cabello Collection, we hosted a Havana-inspired event for influencers, media partners, international L’Oréal Paris counterparts, and our spokesmodel Camila Cabello. As assistant manager for brand communications at L’Oréal Paris, I was lucky enough to attend the event, which was held at the Bel-Air Bay Club in Malibu, California; a beautiful Spanish mansion climbing with ivy, greenery, and florals. Set on a hilltop in Malibu, it overlooked the Pacific Ocean and the beaches below. It was a truly breathtaking setting, especially when the sun started to go down. Here’s the inside scoop on everything involved—from lip gloss displays to eye shadow checkers—in the Havana Camila Cabello Collection event!

Written by Lindsay Pierce.

Behind the Scenes

The Havana Camila Cabello Collection event came to life with the help of two agencies and countless people on the L’Oréal Paris team. I helped our team vet influencer attendees and send invitations. At the event itself, our team hosted all influencer attendees and helped facilitate media interviews with Camila. It came together beautifully thanks to a lot of hardworking people!

Get Inspired

When it came to planning for this event, our goal was to play up the theme “Passport to Havana”. During the planning process, we took the majority of our inspiration from the collection. It’s so colorful and fresh—we based almost all of the event setup on the products themselves. We also took a lot of inspiration from Camila herself. She was a true collaborator in the creation of the collection, which she wanted to reflect her home: Havana. One of the ways we embraced the theme was by having a calligrapher on site who was writing postcards for guests to send to friends, co-workers, or whoever they wanted. After all, what would you do if you had really traveled abroad to Havana? Send a postcard, of course!

Decked Out

When it came to decor, we made sure that every detail screamed Havana. We decorated the main lawn of the venue with all things Havana—a Cuban hat station, buckets and buckets of Havana product (artfully displayed), checkerboard stations with Havana eyeshadow, an old pick-up truck overflowing with more product, an acoustic stage for Camila’s performance, florals, a coconut water station, an acai bowl station, and tons of fresh fruit. The food served was purposefully reminiscent of Havana—fruit, yucca fries, Cuban sandwiches, fruity cocktails, and more.

Fun Times

Not only did our decorations scream Havana, they were also super interactive for our guests. Baskets of flip-flops didn’t simply look cute, they were practical for guests. In fact, the baskets were empty at the end of the night—almost everyone changed into flip-flops eventually! Straw hats that were hung up as décor were also worn by guests, used as photo props, and taken home at the end of the night, since we all know wearable souvenirs are the best kind. Checkerboards set up with eyeshadows from the collection were also a big hit. People were actually playing checkers with the eye shadows! It was a super cute idea. Guests danced, mingled, posed for a ton of photos and videos, and tested product throughout the event.

Highlight Reel

We’ve hosted a few events with spokesmodels in the past but this was the first time we revealed a collection launched in collaboration with a spokesmodel at an event. It made it so special to hear Camila speak about the collection and how much it meant to her. I think it was important for everyone to hear how much heart and soul she put into the collection—it’s a true reflection of her personality and her heritage. My favorite part of the event was watching Camila perform. To be that close to an artist in such an intimate setting is really rare, and I think everyone felt her passion for music, for the event, and for the collection.

Want to learn more about the Havana Camila Cabello Collection? Check out our article, Insider's Look: The Camila Cabello Havana Makeup Collection.