Dive Brief:

• To reach beauty consumers during the ongoing pandemic, Sephora has turned Sephoria, a previously in-person event, into a virtual event that will take place on Sept. 18. This year's Sephoria: Virtual House of Beauty will feature a 3D game-like setup with an interactive beauty "house" for attendees to explore, the company announced on Wednesday. 

• The beauty retailer plans to release live and pre-recorded content for attendees from various brands, influential beauty figures and surprise guests. Attendees can also virtually connect with brand founders and experts, play digital games to win Sephora prizes and take photos in online photo booths, the company said. 

• The virtual event will feature more than 30 brands, including Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez, Gucci and Adwoa Beauty, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Part of the Sephoria event will continue the beauty retailer's push toward more sustainable beauty products and diverse representation among beauty brands. 

The Sunroom, one of the rooms guests can explore in the virtual house, will highlight Sephora's clean and sustainable products and feature pre-recorded routines, tutorials and brand stories, per the announcement. Over the years, the company has added clean beauty products to its lineup, including recently Vegamour Gro, and banned more than 50 ingredients from its assortment of "Clean at Sephora" products. 

Meanwhile, the Family Room at Sephoria will feature a roundtable discussion with former founders from its Sephora Accelerate program, which in 2021 is focused on supporting beauty brand entrepreneurs of color. After committing to increasing its representation of diverse brands, including signing the Fifteen Percent Pledge last year, Sephora recently reported its progress on those goals, including that it's on track to double the number of Black-owned brands in its lineup by the end of this year. 

Sephora has also been mapping out its brick-and-mortar expansion, even as the coronavirus pandemic complicates in-store shopping. Last December, Sephora announced its plans to launch about 850 shop-in-shop locations in Kohl's stores; it later said it would open more than 60 stand-alone stores in 2021. Within the Sephora shops at Kohl's, the beauty company will feature more than 125 beauty brands, including Drybar, Fenty Beauty and Drunk Elephant. 

"In 2021, we felt it was important to have a moment of joy with our clients and we've worked hard to recreate the special Sephoria environment our clients know and love, by delivering an unmatched virtual experience that they can enjoy free, from anywhere," Deborah Yeh, chief marketing officer at Sephora, said in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming back clients into the (virtual) world of Sephoria."