L'Oréal Travel Retail unveils airport terminal vision of the future

Travel is back and booming and the appetite for beauty remains strong, according to L'Oréal Travel Retail. As the “undisputed leader in beauty” the company envisions a bright future for travel retail.

With a portfolio of 30 iconic international brands – from luxury to accessible brands, from dermocosmetics to haircare – and its unparalleled understanding of travelers, L’Oréal Travel Retail constantly innovates to "re-enchant" the shopping experience and deliver exceptional, unforgettable beauty moments, transforming every journey into an opportunity for discovery and delight.

At the forefront of a revolution to engage travelers and drive desire, L’Oréal Travel Retail revealed its vision of the future during this year’s TFWA World Exhibition, introducing the Airport Terminal of the Future.

“As pioneers in beauty, L'Oréal Travel Retail is embarking on an exciting journey to redefine the travel shopping experience,” the company explains.

It points out how the world “is on the move”. Travel is back and booming. With a record-breaking 3.7 billion travelers 2024, driven by emerging markets, global mobility is reshaping the airport into a vibrant hub of life, culture, and shopping. The beauty market remains strong, with over 750 million consumers in 2030. “With 45% of travel retail shoppers saying that in-store experience is a key purchase driver, our mission is clear: to forge the airport into a vibrant Entertainment Destination, crafting unique and memorable moments and authentic connections that resonate long after departure.”

According to L'Oréal Travel Retail, Gen Z is leading the way. By 2028, they’ll represent 35% of the global beauty market. “They’re experience-first and expect brands to entertain, connect, and inspire: 43% choose destinations based on airport experiences.”

Once past security and in the shopping zone, 59% of travelers completely relax, entering a unique state of mind. This creates a perfect opportunity for a moment of suspended time, relaxation, and discovery with brands.

L’Oréal Travel Retail encourages consumers to “prepare for take-off into a new era where every touchpoint elevates travel into an enriching voyage of discovery.  L’Oréal Travel Retail, with its diverse brand portfolio, is leading this transformation, offering travelers unforgettable beauty experiences.”

Visitors to the L’Oréal Travel Retail stand at the TFWA event were encouraged to explore how each of its booths offered a Journey for the Senses, a look into the future of L'Oréal Travel Retail Reinvention.

1. Sense of Unexpected

Ready for a surprise before take-off? Because for 80% of travelers, a fulfilling trip should involve novel or surprising experiences, the “Sense of Unexpected” promises unforeseen immersion: products become gateways to a sensory awakening, reshaping the airport encounter into a vibrant hub of entertainment. Brands like Armani, Miu Miu, and YSL Beauty lead the way into a new dimension of beauty retail, setting a fresh standard for experiential shopping.

YSL Beauty: The Beauty Kiosk

This exclusively designed, innovative space transforms time at the airport into a playground of discovery and self-expression. From curated playlists to destination-inspired beauty looks, every moment is crafted to elevate the journey. Explore exclusive travel sets, snap a YSL magazine-worthy selfie, and indulge in iconic fragrances before your next adventure. YSL is shaking up travel retail, reinventing airport beauty with a bold, immersive experience.

Armani: In The Spotlight

Armani Beauty brought the glamour of Hollywood to TFWA Cannes 2025 with “In The Spotlight”, a captivating new experience inspired by the brand’s cinematic legacy. For the first time, travelers and clients can step into the spotlight with immersive activations, personalized services, and iconic Armani Beauty products. It’s a celebration of individuality and elegance, where luxury meets self-expression.

Miu Miu: Miutine The Unexpected Miu Miu Definition

Miu Miu unveils Miutine, epitomizing irreverence with a new fragrance for the woman who lives on her own terms. Embrace this unique, playful olfactory definition with a brand new word added into the dictionary: Miutine, used to describe an individual who navigates life on her own terms. The definition of the miu miu irreverent spirit is encapsulated in this bottle, a bottle that is powerful combination of fashion statement and glass savoir-faire.

The scent is described as irreverence in a juice. A fruity gourmand built around a wild strawberry on top, highlighted by a beautiful gardenia flower at its heart and warmed up by a delicious brown sugar and vanilla as a base.

2. Sense of Place

Celebrating the world’s cultural richness, 85% of travelers want to connect with the essence of the place they’re visiting. That is the very heart of the "Sense of Place" at L'Oréal Travel Retail, encouraging consumers to experience the essence of the local pulse, connecting with the soul and climate of their destination. And who better to embody this spirit than Aesop and Kiehl's?

Aesop: An Immersive Journey

Step into Aesop's unique “Three Rooms” installation: a sensorial scenography rooted in design through diverse climates. Become an unwitting actor in this unscripted play, resonant connection between well-being, travel, and inspiring locations.

This installation comprises a triptych of vignettes in the imagined daily life of a world traveler and Aesop aficionado. Conceived by the brand’s in-house store design team both as an architectural happening and a theatrical set, the space invites visitors to become the unwitting actors of an unscripted play. The installation is designed as a Cartography of Climates: hot and humid, cold and dry, and temperate.

Each room feels faintly haunted, as if its inhabitant had just hastily vacated the premises. Guests are invited to imagine their gestures, their sensations, their pauses.

Kiehl’s: Bones Around The Globe

Kiehl's unveiled a groundbreaking, first-ever Destination-Centric Pop-Up in TFWA Cannes 2025. This new concept, named 'Bones Around the Globe,' is a unique skincare experience tailored to travelers’ specific destinations and addresses the diverse environmental challenges their skin faces. Whether you're heading to crisp, windy alpine regions, journeying to a sun-drenched desert safari, venturing deep into the humid rainforest, or simply navigating frequent travel, Kiehl's has targeted solutions to prepare your skin for any adventure.

Offering an immersive and engaging experience, “Bones Around the Globe” promises to be an essential stop for every traveler, providing not just products, but personalized solutions that ensure healthy, radiant skin, wherever their next destination takes them.

3. Sense of Service

“As 81% of duty-free shoppers, are you looking for tailored experiences from your trusted brands?” L'Oréal Travel Retail asks. Then unlock the "Sense of Service". Your journey transforms with unparalleled precision care and expert-led recommendations. From Helena Rubinstein's advanced consultations to Kérastase's diagnosis and Lancôme's clinics, discover bespoke solutions ensuring an extraordinary escape, met with ultimate expertise.

Helena Rubinstein: Travel Like Helena – First Class Recovery

First Class Recovery redefines luxury beauty in travel retail by transforming transit time into an unparalleled self-care journey, deeply rooted in an exceptional sense of service.

Helena Rubinstein invites discerning travelers to embark on a personalized recovery experience, where bespoke consultations, expert treatments, and exclusive product offerings anticipate and address their every skin need. This innovative activation elevates the travel experience, proving that true luxury lies in empathetic, tailored service that restores and rejuvenates, turning every journey into a first-class escape.

Kérastase: The Futuristic K-Scan Experience

Kérastase revolutionizes haircare with the K-Scan: AI-powered diagnosis reveals your unique scalp and hair needs. Imagine offering a truly personalized service, starting with the revolutionary K-Scan, a cutting-edge tool powered by Artificial Intelligence, exclusively developed for Kérastase. This innovative device allows us to understand the needs of each individual's scalp and hair. It's an insightful, data-driven diagnosis that empowers our BAs with unparalleled understanding. Unlock a personalized routine for unparalleled health.

Lancôme: The Absolue Longevity Travel Clinic

Lancôme invited Cannes visitors to discover the power of longevity science with “The Absolue Longevity Travel Clinic”, a high-speed train capsule to reverse five years of aging in one month, with two captivating experiences. Following the Absolue PDRNTM experiences and Absolue Gold longevity line, travelers will be able to discover for the first time, a breakthrough skin-diagnosis and a new skincare range developed with medical doctors Absolue MD and endorsed by renowned celebrities.

L'Oréal Paris: Enjoy the Fly & Glow Experience

Introducing the Fly & Glow experience, the first beauty bar by L’Oréal Paris to make you feel radiant and confident before and after you fly. This is a unique place where you can discover the best skincare and makeup products, test them, and have a playful and memorable moment before your take-off.

This Glow Bar will become the new traveler favorite destination, where you will discover the latest trends on glow such as Lumi Glotion, Plump Ambition, Lumi Liquid Blush and Glass Skin. And enjoy personalized services, such as led light therapy, for a brighter and healthier skin.

4. Sense of Time

Here is the profound meaning to every airport moment: the “Sense of Time”, an invitation to a "wow discovery," connecting your journey to the world’s vibrant rhythm.

Designed to resonate with global seasons, or cherished celebrations, and your unique travel flow, these captivating encounters upgrade fleeting instants into unforgettable memories of delight and profound connection. Join La Roche-Posay's UVAir and its seasonal suncare or Maison Margiela's "Never-Ending Summer", celebrating the eternal Italian summer, transforming moments into timeless sensory escape.

La Roche-Posay: Fly with UVair

A checking point for a protected light summer, UVAir offers the ultimate UV protection as light as air. The activation encourages consumers to step up to a UV camera and test UVair’s protection power.

Watch as it reveals the incredible, lightweight shield it provides, while feeling the bare skin finish. At the discovery bar you can also explore the complete range of La Roche-Posay Anthelios suncare: whether it’s superior protection while surfing, daily protection for city walk, for your kids or for your body.

Maison Margiela: Never-Ending Summer

Never-Ending Summer by Maison Margiela Fragrances captures the essence of an endless Italian summer on the Amalfi Coast, a place where time slows and every moment brims with beauty. This vibrant citrus-spice fragrance centers on the brand’s signature Italian Spritz accord, blended with zesty bitter orange and sensual vetiver to evoke sun-drenched terraces, spontaneous adventures, and the refreshing thrill of a summer spritz.

Created by perfumer Christophe Raynaud, it’s a sensory escape to carefree Mediterranean days and golden, unforgettable nights.

5. Sense of Ultimate Luxury

“What if luxury transcended status, becoming a sublime sensation?”, L'Oréal Travel Retail asks. The “Sense of Ultimate Luxury” ignites your senses, drawing you into a realm where every detail embodies unparalleled prestige and artistry. Haute Parfumerie aims to offer an olfactory path where every note tells a story of pure mastery.

Haute-Parfumerie: Experience the ultimate in perfumed elegance

For the first time ever, six of the world’s most prestigious luxury fragrance brands unite in an exclusive high-end collection for travel retail. Crafted with rare ingredients and exceptional artistry, each scent embodies the pinnacle of olfactory luxury. Curated to deliver a unique and elevated sensory journey, this unprecedented collaboration redefines sophistication in fragrance. Consumers are encouraged to experience the ultimate in perfumed elegance—"now within reach at the world’s leading travel retail destinations”.

6. Sense of Gifting

According to L'Oréal Travel Retail, 39% of duty-free shoppers are seeking the perfect exclusive gift  and 31% better quality items.

This is the essence of “Sense of Gifting”, which elevates every airport visit into a pinnacle of indulgence, making each purchase a treasure hunt, unleashing the pure joy of giving. And what could be more exceptional than our exclusive sets, ensuring you find extraordinary means to delight loved ones.

Travel retail exclusive set room: Reimagine beauty gifting experience

To reimagine beauty gifting, L'Oréal Travel Retail’s brands have expressed their most inspiring creativity, by reinventing exclusive Travel Editions: L’Oreal Paris Parisian Look Trios, colorful Biotherm Sun Drops, Lancôme Travel Essentials, First-Class “Travel Like Helena” trunk, La Roche Posay’s SKIN SOS kit and Kiehl’s Ultra facial Refill-to-go.

The Refill Movement

While 78% of consumers express interest in buying more sustainable products, many remain unaware of refillable options and their lower environmental impact.

In line with L’Oréal’s Groupe’s long-term commitment to offering more sustainable solutions to consumers, one of the company’s biggest priorities is to go big on refills. As an example, using 1 refill of Prada Paradoxe fragrance instead of 2 x 50 ml classical bottles allows you to save 74% carbon.

All bestsellers are now refillable. And by the end of this year, over one-third of L’Oréal’s travel retail sales will offer refillable options, encompassing top-selling products. Pricing being a key success factor, L’Oréal’s also proposes very successful refill travel exclusive sets.