Picture this: beauty YouTuber Desi Perkins has just uploaded a video titled “Turks & Caicos”; within the background, Krys Talk’s “Fly Away” warbles over a montage of turquoise-blue waters, palm trees and sandy beaches.

It’s 2015, and Tarte Cosmetics is hosting its first influencer trip.

Upon arrival, Perkins is greeted with the necessities: a hot hand towel, a mixed drink and the beaming face of fellow makeup phenom Katy DeGroot. Drinks in hand, the pair gleefully cheers their fellow mega-influencer-girls-trippers in keen anticipation of all that comes next: fancy dinners, luxury motorboat rides, apparently greater than a number of laughter-and-handholding-filled group walks along the beach (obviously) and complimentary, hot pink unicorn onesies laid out on their beds next to their complimentary Tarte products.

The #TrippinWithTarte era had begun and since then, the makeup brand has been amongst many which have taken influencers to a variety of exotic locations, including Bora Bora, Costa Rica and Hawaii as a way of constructing brand awareness and, hopefully, sales.

After a pandemic pause, these brand getaways — which dominated social media within the 2010s, particularly within the beauty and fashion spheres — appear to be making a comeback in full force, as evidenced by Tarte’s ongoing Dubai influencer trip in mid-January, which has all but sent the web into pandemonium.

The trip brought together 50 beauty and lifestyle influencers, 12 of whom were flown out from the U.S. and include TikTok heavy hitters Alix Earle, Monet McMichael, Meredith Duxbury, Xandra Pohl and twin-fluencers Aisha and Azra Mian, who sparked buzz after they began posting videos that they were packing to go to Dubai with Tarte.

All attendees were invited to bring plus-ones (many, including Earle, brought along their moms), were flown top quality on Emirates and stayed in opulent villas on the Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach. Since their arrival the attendees have showcased their antics on social media, which have included but are usually not limited to: dune buggying, camel rides and complimentary appointments with Tarte’s own makeup artists. (Despite mass speculation that the influencers can be attending the hotly anticipated Beyoncé concert on Jumeirah Island, they’ll not be there, confirmed a Tarte spokesperson).

The trip has blown up on TikTok, with many content creators expressing opinions on every part from how much the trip cost, to who paid for it, as to whether it’s appropriate during an economic downturn to flaunt such excess. Interest peaked a lot that, as of Friday, TikTok videos tagged with #TarteDubai have garnered greater than 10 million views, while #TrippinWithTarte stands at 82.6 million views on the platform.

In an exclusive statement emailed to WWD, founder and chief executive officer of Tarte Maureen Kelly said: “These trips give us a chance to share our passion for the brand and provides back in an intimate setting. We don’t pay any content creators to attend and so they’re not required to do anything while they’re there. We love the possibility to accumulate connections and communities together!”

Specifically, WWD understands the aim of the trip, which is along with Sephora Middle East, was to unveil Tarte’s biggest launch of the yr: the Maracuja Juicy Glow Foundation, the newest within the TikTok-viral Maracuja collection. The inspiration might be offered in 22 shades and be available starting next month. WWD reached out to Sephora for comment.

The sweetness influencer trips have paid off for Tarte up to now, although data will not be yet available for this current sojourn. The brand’s March 2018 trip to Bora Bora in celebration of its then-new Mermaid Collection helped propel the brand to a complete of $60.4 million in earned media value for the month, in line with data from Tribe Dynamics.

In March 2022, the brand inaugurated its first post-pandemic influencer trip: a relatively pared-down getaway to Key Largo, Florida, that hosted a crowd much like this week’s Dubai trip. The trip brought in $510,200 in EMV through anticipatory content in February alone through the hashtag #TrippinWithTarte and one other $562,400 in EMV through the identical hashtag in March.

That trip appeared to mark a change in Tarte’s strategy when it comes to which content creators the brand taps for such trips, shifting more toward TikTok personalities relatively than Instagram and YouTube influencers.

One other pivot many social media users were quick to indicate was how much younger the common age of this trip’s attendees was as compared to those in attendance at similar trips by the brand in years past.

For instance, Earle, who has 3.9 million TikTok followers, is 22 years old; Duxbury and McMichael, who’ve 16.7 million and a pair of.6 million followers, respectively, are each 23 years old, and Christine Abraham, who has 837,000 followers, is 25 years old.

Earle, particularly, whose name was hashtagged 545.8 million times on TikTok as of Friday, has turn into known for her beauty recommendations, sparking industry talk of “the Alix Earlie effect,” on offerings akin to Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi Anti-Polution Sunshine Drops, Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Cream — and Tarte Shape Tape Concealer.

(She’s also been at the middle of some controversy, as with a video of hers a couple of hair oil from Mielle Organics, a Black-founded textured hair care brand, that was met with some negative response from viewers who feared that the item, popular amongst Black women, might sell out because of Earle’s praise.)

Regardless, the chatter hasn’t looked as if it would deter Earle who, like her fellow creators, has been posting copiously from her luxury desert digs. And while it’s too soon to measure the impact of this trip with official data points, if the response on TikTok is anything to go by, Tarte can expect some sweet engagement numbers indeed.