At the height of the pandemic, Nyakio Grieco strolled past an empty storefront in Larchmont Village almost every day while the L.A. local was launching Relevant: Your Skin Seen, her second beauty brand. (Her first, Nyakio Beauty, which was based on secrets shared by her Kenyan ancestors, was sold to Unilever in 2017.) Then came that summer’s social justice uprising, which motivated her and Patrick Herring—the founder of size-inclusive marketplace 11 Honoré—to launch Thirteen Lune, a beauty platform with 90 percent of brands owned by Black and brown entrepreneurs.
An instant success, Thirteen Lune soon evolved into shop-in-shops at hundreds of JCPenney stores—and pushed her to co-found the Beauty Vanguard podcast. But the brand was eyeing even further expansion, and the storefront Grieco passed by every day looked appealing. It needed a revamp, so she enlisted celebrity interior designer Brigette Romanek to translate her ethos into the brand’s first flagship. “[Grieco’s] vision, passion, and love for inclusive beauty fueled the design,” Romanek says. “We created a space that feels eclectic—somewhere that promotes community with treasures to discover in every corner.”
That’s no exaggeration. At a spacious 1,700 square feet, the flagship affords Thirteen Lune ample room to expand its roster without feeling crowded. That’s partially thanks to the beige entry’s relaxed, airy ambiance and inviting velvet sofa. From there, guests peruse offerings from indie brands like Ami Colé and Axiology to heavy hitters like Goop by Gwyneth Paltrow, a friend and early investor. You can even spruce up your brows at the in-store salon helmed by Damōne Roberts, also known as Hollywood’s Eyebrow King. “It’s a full-service community experience,” Grieco says of her plans to host events like shopping nights. Her ultimate goal, though, is to “make this a place where we all really just take care of each other.”
