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Tinder has partnered with e.l.f. Cosmetics in a new collaboration to promote self-confidence and self-expression when heading out to meet someone new.

The partners are launching the “put your e.l.f. out there” Vault collection, which introduces new beauty products designed to help Tinder users “face the first date.” The collection includes three exclusive products: All Slick, No Ick Face Primer and Set-uationship Setting Mist, packaged in a “Flame Changer” makeup bag.

In addition to the exclusive products, the collaboration includes the dating app-focused Tinder Box Lip Trio, which has lip oils like Spice Things Up and Keep Your Cool. The makeup also includes a red lipliner called Red-Y for Anything.

The idea for the collaboration began with a study that found 35 percent of singles see first dates as a great opportunity to try new makeup looks. Researchers at Censuswide, a member of the British Polling Council, surveyed over 4,000 daters ages 18 and up across the UK and US in late August.

Dating app companies like Tinder and The League are betting on in-person events to drive engagement on their online platforms and help attract new users.

According to The New York Post, dating app The League organized high-end events in New York, the Hamptons and even at the U.S. Open to drive engagement on its platform as well as to generate revenue. In fact, senior VP and head of marketing Lisa Kraynak told the Post: “It’s the beginning of a hybrid model in our largest market. The future is some combination of in-person, online and artificial intelligence.”

Dating apps have seen a decline in paying users in recent quarters, leading companies to try new features and even branch out into event organizing to appeal to daters who have become burned out from swiping. This hybrid model could prove effective, since dating apps are still the most popular way to meet people, according to recent studies, but coupling that with in-person events give people a better chance at connecting.

Popular dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Grindr are building and testing out virtual wingmen and other AI-driven tools on their platforms to help generate icebreakers and offer instant feedback, according to a new feature in The Financial Times.

Grindr chief product officer AJ Balance told the Financial Times that the gay dating app’s chatbot assistant called Grindr Wingman would help users with their dating “pain points,” like helping them initiate flirty conversation via curated prompts based on user profiles and chat histories.

“It’s that friend in the bar who’s helping you to ask someone out — but in the virtual context,” Balance told FT, saying that using AI in this way could help take the hard work out of online dating.

Image: Tinder

Tinder has released new features and added perks in time for college students headed back to campus. The move signals the company’s continued priority to market to younger Gen Z singles.

One interesting perk is that Tinder will offer college students a 50% discount for any of its premium services of Plus, Gold, and Platinum, according to Tech Crunch. This comes after the dating app company has struggled to retain paying users, reporting a loss of 400,000 paying users in the last quarter.

Tinder also announced a series of updates to Tinder U, its in-app feature for college students to find others on their campuses to connect with. One new feature for Tinder U includes new badges to add to their profiles, such as graduation year, major, clubs they are a part of, and their fraternity/ sorority life.

The United States military has allegedly run an ad campaign on dating app Tinder in Lebanon warning the app users that it is “fully prepared” to “protect its partners” according to The New York Post.

The news comes as tensions are rising in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. One journalist Seamus Malekafzali posted on X that he was on the dating app while in Lebanon, but instead of being presented with potential matches to swipe through, he saw an ad from CENTCOM (US Central Command).

The ad he saw read that CENTCOM is: “fully prepared and ready with F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Tudor Bolt supersonic fighters currently in the region,” written in Arabic, along with a photo of an A-10 warplane, according to The New York Post.

Dating app Hinge has taken marketing its product to a new level by creating an online zine with stories of six real-life Hinge couples. The anthology series is written by literary stars like Roxanne Gay, John Paul Brammer, R. O. Kwon, Isle McElroy, Oisín McKenna and Brontez Purnell, and is titled “No Ordinary Love.”

According to Marketing Dive, the anthology plays into Hinge’s current marketing campaign of “Designed to be Deleted.” The campaign is meant to encourage people to get off the app and meet each other in real life, and that most love stories aren’t linear and straightforward, and that’s okay.

The anthology is live with a dedicated website (no-ordinary-love.co) and will also exist as an 80-page print zine that will be available in New York and London starting September 9th.