GEEIQ
essence cosmetics
How essence cosmetics drove 75 years of engagement on Roblox using GEEIQ
The company
Owned by Cosnova, essence cosmetics is an award-winning makeup brand. It is known for providing affordable, cruelty-free beauty products and its commitment to openness, inclusivity, and creativity.
The challenge
The essence team approached GEEIQ with a clear mission. They wanted to build a values-led Roblox experience that celebrates self-expression and inclusivity. This meant creating something that felt native to the platform, loved by players, and tied directly to performance KPIs like awareness, engagement, and brand affinity.
The solution
Working closely with essence and its existing developer, GEEIQ’s experts crafted a long-term Roblox strategy to build a values-led, story-driven brand world. Leveraging their virtual expertise, they took the Roblox experience in a creative direction that would drive high engagement, retention, and joy among essence cosmetics’ target audience.
In November 2024, they launched ‘Kingdom of Essentia’.
So, how did it work?
Kingdom of Essentia is a tycoon-style experience where players build and defend their own slice of the Essentia universe. Through gameplay, users unlock customization options, earn in-game currency, and redeem branded items, all while engaging in a world designed around positivity and self-expression.
Seasonal updates, like Frosty Falls, introduce fresh gameplay and environments. This keeps the experience feeling fresh and aligned with players’ expectations on the platform. For example, in the aforementioned winter-themed update, players explore a magical island, complete mini-games like Color Splash and Frosty Hover Rush, and work together to battle negativity by spreading positivity across the map.
essence’s iconic Lash Princess mascara is brought to life in-game, playing a central role in both the narrative and gameplay. The result is an immersive and flexible experience that celebrates the brand’s values of creativity, inclusivity, and fun.
The results
essence cosmetics’ long-term strategy on Roblox has successfully driven:
1. High platform engagement
With over five million total visits and players spending an average of 10 minutes per session, Kingdom of Essentia has generated more than 75 years of engagement.
2. Sustained audience growth
The experience now sees 400k monthly active users and maintains a 96% approval rating, with 71k community members grown organically through consistent content and gameplay updates.
3. Strong virtual item redemption
44k branded items have been redeemed, proving the effectiveness of developing cute, creative Roblox items in line with the community’s tastes and linking real-world product favorites, like Lash Princess mascara, to in-game mechanics.
How did GEEIQ help essence cosmetics succeed?
GEEIQ helped the brand:
1. Translate brand identity into platform-native UGC items.
GEEIQ leveraged its Virtual Items data to shape the UGC strategy. This included identifying high-impact item types, like hair, which are both scarce and consistently high-performing. This approach led to viral successes like essence’s Princess Hair, which generated 1.7k favorites and quickly became a community hit.
2. Optimize UI and game mechanics to increase stickiness.
Pre-launch, GEEIQ’s experts conducted a full audit of the experience, analyzing gameplay loops and the in-game progression against top-performing activations, according to the GEEIQ platform. This included making recommendations for improved navigation (e.g. way-finding arrows), more immersive navigation mechanics, UI refinement, and game loop improvements. Text and dialogue were streamlined, and the in-game economy was reviewed. This ensured the experience delivered both creatively and technically.
GEEIQ also developed a Private Data Dashboard for the essence team to track key metrics, including player engagement, session time, and item redemptions. This allows the team to benchmark success, identify opportunities, and iterate based on player behavior.
3. Drive qualified traffic with a data-led paid media strategy.
To maximize campaign visibility and performance, GEEIQ provided essence with a tailored paid media plan built on its data. This included a recommended budget split and strategic use of high-impact ad formats.
Post-launch, GEEIQ supported the team with real-time performance tracking, using platform insights to optimize UGC strategy, paid media campaigns, and game updates. This ensured spend translated into measurable impact, rather than just impressions.
Key takeaways
essence cosmetics didn’t just show up on Roblox. Its team built something enduring that fostered a sense of community around their brand.
Now, the partnership is evolving into long-term planning, including strategy workshops to align future activations with broader brand goals.
Sara Apaza, Senior Brand Manager at essence cosmetics, expanded on this:
“We didn’t want to create just another branded space. We wanted to build a world our community could see themselves in. GEEIQ helped us turn our brand values into gameplay mechanics and community touchpoints, creating a Roblox experience that’s not just fun, but deeply relevant to how Gen Z expresses themselves today.”
