My experience at the San Francisco Kylie Pop Up Shop
I like it when San Francisco actually gets cool things. Even though it’s a major city. I feel like LA and NY get the best shops, restaurants, events, pop-ups….
So when Kylie Cosmetics announced that they were opening a pop-up shop in San Francisco of course I wanted to check it out!
The Pop Up Shop is open from Friday, May 18 to Saturday the 26th. The shop is located on 21 Grant Ave, next to the Museum of Ice Cream. It was easily walkable from Powell and Montgomery Street BART/MUNI stations. I appreciated the fact that is was in a convenient location, close to public transit and in the same place as other places you might want to go to. So thank you Kylie & Co for making it in the Union Square/Financial District area! I didn’t go to the Glossier Pop Up in the Mission because I wasn’t too keen on the location. 21 Grant Ave was super easy to get to and when I gave up on the line, I could easily go elsewhere.
Like an insane person, I chose to go on opening day. I knew there was going to be thousands and thousands of fans lining up to go because Kylie was likely to show up. Seeing how fast Kylie’s items sell out, you know there was going to a line several blocks long. And sure enough it was!
I reached downtown SF at 11am. I knew there was going to be a line for blocks, and I went anyway. I expected it to end up at the Tenderloin. I expected it to be Game of Thrones Pop Up in New York City long. It wasn’t as bad at that line. I actually ditched that because I wasn’t going to spend my day in New York standing on the sidewalk, so I went to the MOMA. I actually considered going to the SFMOMA after the agony of defeat at Kylie’s line.
The line ended up at the corner of Powell and Geary, which is right at Union Square at the Swarovski store. Looking at the map, it wasn’t that far. But actually walking next to the thousands of people in line. I knew there was no way I was going to get in. And my time is much better spent doing anything else. I already don’t want to stand in lines. I’m definitely not going to stand on a loud as fuck, damn pee soaked street all day and not get anywhere!
For people who aren’t familiar with San Francisco, the streets are beyond filthy. I wouldn’t want to stand there, much less sit or lie down on those sidewalks. I see bum turds in alleys and them actually pissing on the street. There is no way I would have camped out all night to get into the store. I chatted with one of the staff and he thought it was so crazy that people were camping out in front of the store while they were setting up! I also have to wonder if they saw Kylie because she was there helping them put it together.
As far as me seeing Kylie. It didn’t matter if I saw her or not. Yeah, it would be nice to say hello. But I just wanted to buy some specific items, check out the SF exclusive stuff to see if I wanted it and to swatch the lip colors. But you wouldn’t find me in the crowd of screaming fans crying at the sight of her.
It being next to the Museum of Ice Cream made the street a cluster fuck of fuck. You have to buy tickets way in advance to get in, so I don’t know why there was a line outside. Is there not a lobby? Maybe they should have made that one of their themed rooms: Lobby. So there seemed to be 3 different crowds on Grant. One was for the Museum of Ice Cream. Shorter, but there were still people to maneuver around. The line to get into Kylie’s store. And the crowd across the street at Bank of America was the place to stand to get a glimpse of Kylie when she arrived, not to get into the store.
People came and started lining up at the store days early. Insanity if you ask me! Many fans expected Kylie to show up at 10am, when the store opened. I heard she rolled in at 2:30 pm and either stayed for a short amount of time to 2 hours. It’s hard to say which accounts are accurate. So many people were disappointed that they didn’t get a glimpse of her or meet her. The people who showed up the earliest must have been really disappointed because they made the most effort to get there, waited the longest, got to go in and shop… however Kylie couldn’t show up until hours later. How disappointing for them to have missed her! I read that it wasn’t up to her what time she would arrive, but to San Francisco police, who had to shut the street down so that she could arrive safely. I was in Westfield Mall at the time she made her entrance, either enjoying Kamikazie Fries or in Nordstrom looking for jeans to wear at a festival. I don’t think I would have wanted to be caught in that swarm of people, I saw all the videos!
I went again on Wednesday and it was much better! Yes, there was a tiny bit of a line to get in, but I waited less than 10 minutes. When I left the store, there was no line. When I walked past the store again, there was a short line.
Everyone who worked there from the sales people to the security were very nice and were always happy to help, and willing to take photos of you. Various staff members kept pointing out June Bug and Say No More for me. I actually have those! So they are right! Those are the colors for me!
I don’t think there was any in-store exclusive makeup, except for past collections that you can no longer buy online. But if there were any unique-to-the-shop colors, I don’t know about them.
They sold out of two items I wanted, the Kris eyeshadow palette and Posie K lip liner. I thought I was buying the Kris eyeshadow palette, I grabbed it immediately when I walked in, so I didn’t actually check to see what I was getting. Once at the register, she told me it was the face palette, I was like, “Whoa. I thought I got the eyeshadow palette!” I’m glad I caught that cause I would have paid $50 for a highlighter palette that was likely too dark for me. I liked it, the packaging is cute. But for $50, all of the colors better work on me!
They had past collections for sale, some that you can’t get and some pretty recent. They had the Birthday, Weather, Kourt, and Holiday. And of course they had the Kris Collection up front, but the one thing I wanted was sold out. And now I see that it’s sold out online too.
The clothing and the accessories are from KylieJennerShop.com and a couple of things I saw are exclusive to the pop up shop. I had to buy the San Francisco sweats that I saw in a video on Instagram. The pants say “San Francisco” in rhinestones on the side. The inside tag has the Kylie logo in the Metallica style. There was a matching top that said “Kylie” but it was a crop top sweatshirt, which I don’t really wear. But I got a pair of pants for me and one for a friend. But she realized it wasn’t a top, so now I will be selling it on eBay. That’s perfectly fine with me, I can earn some money back. It has a very 80’s fit, where it’s baggy but with elastic at the bottom. It’s super soft on the inside, but sweatpants always are before you wash them, and then they get pilly and rough on the inside. I will have the heather gray in size Medium to sell, so if you’re interested, follow my Instagram and I will announce it when I list it on eBay.
I considered the “I’m the Kendall, You’re The Kylie” distressed t-shirt, but I felt like the cut was very big and boxy and I hate how oversized shirts fit on me. But I really like the print, and if I had to be anyone I’d want to be Kendall. I wish I looked cute in oversized tees, but I look frumpy. I bet Kendall nor Kylie wouldn’t look frumpy in this.
I really wanted to swatch every single lip color on my arm. But it was so crowded and a little frustrating that other people were blocking the displays, that I decided I better move out of the way so others can shop. It makes for a less than spectacular blog post, but I had priorities (not pissing people off is #1!)
I wanted to pick up a ton of lip liners. I think Kylie has the best around because it actually draws over my heavy lip balms (Sara Happ Lip Slip, and Laneige Lip Mask) I thought most of the colors were too dark, too neutral or too red for my personal taste, and I already own the colors I love, but I have been wanting to try Koko K. They sold out of Posie K’s single liner, which I also wanted to get.
They have keychains and mini liquid lipsticks on the checkout counter. So my last minute purchase was mini August Bug. It’s exactly the same as June Bug, but I thought I’d like to take this tiny lip color to put in my tiny bag at the festival I’m going to this weekend. It was $5 which is actually expensive for the size, but so convenient to take with me, it’s worth it to me to save some space.
What was on my shopping list:
- Kris Eyeshadow palette
- Lip Liners in Koko K and Posie K
- Wet Set highlighter quad
- creme lipstick- Infatuation
- Concealer- Shell
- (And to look at the San Francisco items and see if I wanted them)
My haul:
- 2 San Francisco sweatpants
- Wicked Lip kit- I may give this to a friend because this color is so her! But we will see if she is allergic first!
- Koko K Lip Liner
- Infatuation Creme Lipstick
- August Bug mini liquid lipstick
- Concealer in Shell
- Loose Powder Highlighter in Wisteria
It came out to $235. OUCH! You can see why I am willing to sell one of the sweatpants! I need to lessen the damage I did. And to think, I actually put four things back too!
I think the shop was really fun. Even though I already own most of the Kylie stuff I want, I was happy to discover and swatch more products! Opening day was too crazy, but that’s no one’s fault really. I can’t get mad that thousands of people wanted to go all at once and to meet her. I hope Kylie Cosmetics will consider having permanent stores all over the country. I know exclusivity is the big trend and it tends to drive up sales. But as a customer, I want a store I can go to at any time. The store was well stocked, though they did sell out of stuff, but it’s not a big deal since you can buy them online anyway. So I don’t feel like I missed out. (I know that Kris palette will restock!) Everyone was really nice and I did terrible damage to the card. Please buy my clothes.
Note: Unfortunately, I am posting this after the pop up store has closed. I wrote this on Wednesday and finished it on Thursday. However, I went to a music festival and could not get this post up on time. But then again. I haven’t posted in October of last year so chances are I am my only reader! Heavy amount of photos ahead:
And the insanity on Friday, May 18th:
