There’s chatter, de rigueur. It is Lagos; there’s always chatter. Friday seems typical, and yet it is not. It started with traffic, greeting a few people, and then arriving in a cubicle. Like mistletoe in Asgard, it is hard to ignore that everyone around is sort of Instagram famous. Welcome to the Beauty Hut Galentine at Lakowe Lake.

DISCOVER BEAUTY HUT:

Sometime in 2024, a tweet hit the internet; one where someone tweeted about Africa finally having a trusted retail store akin to the West’s Sephora. This company is Beauty Hut. 

Beauty Hut self-describes as Africa’s ultimate beauty destination, a title that it certainly lives up to. It provides access to trusted and authentic beauty products. From international favourites like Maybelline and Topicals to homegrown ones like Olori Haircare and R&R skincare, Beauty Hut guarantees the original product. In one year, it solved the counterfeiting problem that plagued the Nigerian beauty market.

ABOUT THE BEAUTY HUT GALENTINE:

To celebrate its first anniversary, Beauty Hut hosted a brand trip for 40 influencers. Skincare juggernauts like Fareedah and the Abuja beauty twins— Felicia and Celina, who couldn’t be more different, were in attendance. Also, in the troupe were BBN alumni Allysyn, Saskay and Vee. It was equally hard to miss the energy ball that was DJ Tgarbs, now known as Tgarb Woods because she got a hang of playing golf in under 20 minutes.

The trip was held at the meadowy scenery, Lakowe Lake in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos. The event started on the 7th of February and concluded two days later on the 9th. The weekend getaway featured activities like fishing, swimming, yoga, wellness meditation, golfing, and movie-watching.

As a workaholic, I had to put a lot of effort into not working. On the first day, I failed at this attempt because I had written this intro at the Beauty Hut store. The next morning was not better; I edited video clips for a PR client. On the last day, I spent three hours at the store finishing up an article due for Valentine’s Day.

By definition, this might not seem like resting but it felt a lot like it. I worked for less than an hour on the first two days, that’s groundbreaking. Like the narrator in Ottesa Moshfegh’s 2018 novel, My Year Of Rest And Relaxation, the only way you can get me to completely detach is if it is prescribed.

ONE:

I’m bad at the ‘guess what influencer this is’ game. Instagram is not my vice. At the social media bar, I constantly reach for the X (previously known as Twitter) shelf.

Twitter falls short of the most beloved app rank. But it is my favorite and insurmountable parts of my days are spent on it. It’s my news platform and today, Album Talks HQ reports, “Lifesize Teddy has changed her name to Elestee.” I exhale good, I always thought the previous name was a mouthful. I like her so I won’t tweet my thoughts, lest I attract the wrong crowd.

I ponder for a few seconds on how to pronounce this new moniker and then I hear it, Elestee— LST, Lifesize Teddy. I would have given myself a pat on my back for figuring it out quickly but the pronunciation of LST was not said in my head.  I heard it but I didn’t say it, so I looked up from my Twitter fingers. A shockwave hit when I saw that Elestee was seated for the same trip as me.

Like me, she is early for the trip. The plan was to meet up at the Beauty Hut Store at Admiralty Way, Lekki before 10 am and then we head to Lakowe. I am known for punctuality as much as Achilles for discernment. True to my reputation, I arrived at 10:23 am. I missed the call mark because you can never predict the traffic you’ll meet on Alexander Avenue, Ikoyi.

Lagos is a Schrödinger’s cat experiment— until you go out, there is both an insane standstill and a free road on the Third mainland. But at 10:23, I was relatively early because the attendance was far from complete— until noon.

From 12, it was smooth sailing. The first itinerary at Lakowe was a tour but everyone was tired. Instead, we went to our rooms and then the trip truly began. The Lakowe staff were delighted to speak about our cottages. As I would learn, we were the first ever to use them. “We just launched them, very new,” Onome said.

In my few days, I became acquainted with Onome Umukoro, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Mixta Africa, the parent company of Lakowe Lakes. Ironically, she is the closest person to having a job like mine here. I’d argue hers is more fun but when you’re surrounded by several influencers, every other job loses the fun race to content creator— even the title is fun, talk about alliteration.

TWO:

The cottage in itself was breathtaking with a view of one of the many artificial lakes at Lakowe. The cherry on top was the branding and decorating done by Beauty Hut. In the bathrooms, skincare and haircare products lay on our sinks with welcome messages.

Every product had an accompanying card explaining what it does and how to use it. This product placing and education carried on into the dinner. Which I was most excited about because similar to the narrator in Moshfegh’s book, I love to wear a coat and would take any excuse to wear one. Slated for 7, I put on my red dress– the theme, and my coat and headed to the dinner.

This was an opportunity to get to know everyone, the life of a content creator may not be for me but I am fascinated by them. At the dinner, I got to know Angel of Nay Living and Mary Colette. Angel speaks in a therapeutic manner and by the next morning, she wins me over with a wellness and gratitude experience after yoga.

After yoga, she had everyone do an ‘I am grateful’ exercise that was relaxing, a 180 from the yoga instructor who had us all do the split. I hadn’t done that since I was 18, and a muscle pull was expected yet delayed.

It was delayed because yoga did not give me a muscle pull, nor did the golf or table tennis I played after. But it came after minutes of dashing around in the pool. It was not remotely painful, it just reminded me to take a break from active sports for the day.

THREE:

It had been a day of activities for me, doing the splits in the morning was not enough, I had to channel my inner Tiger Woods and aim for 50 metres at the Golf Academy in Lakowe. I have experience in golf and did not go in blindly. However, I had none in Table Tennis and yet I asked haircare creators, Ehi and Nonye to come play with me.

Ehi is exceptionally skilled at Table tennis. People outside of our troupe came to attempt to take her out on the board. After she had defeated seven people in a row, we just started calling her Pablette— a play on Don Pablo.

Something about losing back-to-back in a sport had me running to the pool to cool off. After all, I already feel washed. Minutes turned to three-quarters of an hour and I was still in the pool, floating around, literally because my thighs checked out after the first 20 minutes. Dinner is set for 7 but Nigerian time, so that will be 9.

As scheduled the dinner was right on Nigerian time. This marked our last night together. To commemorate, we share Valentine’s plans and favourite moments. It was not my last activity as I was up and fishing by 11 am the next day. This gave me a better look at the lakes of Lakowe Lakes. I got a hang of the casting and baiting of a fish. This talent is forever immortalised in the photos of me holding a catfish. 

FOUR:

I walked back from Lakowe’s fishing club. This feels like something I should try again, it was not prescribed but it is definitely needed. So I do what I know best– I pitch, like an email sent to a publishing house. As we walk, I tell Sho and Sarah of the Beauty Hut team all the great ideas I think will be a perfect fit for the company.

I am practically working again, I truly can’t help myself. So I force myself to take a nap on our way back. It was impossible to do that because I happened to enjoy Elestee’s shuffle on the speakers. I quickly learned I am the only one who likes it. This is understandable, I have seen the numbers Scarlet by Doja Cat did, simply put, it is not a popular album.

The trip ended the way it began, there’s chatter, a rigeuer at the Beauty Hut store. Everyone points at Solis and Fareedah as we get into the store. They are the faces of Beauty Hut and their faces are on its walls. As Solis laughs and jokes, I spot a tattoo, it is the same as mine– in the same location. Hers is bigger, for now. I know Cybersigilism was the unofficial tattoo of Gen Z but this marks the first Nigerian I’ve seen with it.

This is a similar description to what I felt about the Beauty Hut trip; brand trips are not new but this was the first I’ve seen a Nigerian company do it.

Beauty Hut curated a weekend full of discovery, pleasure, and girl power. That was a delightful weekend. 

Solis and Fareedah are next to their Beauty Hut campaign.