Nam Vo’s Dewing Dumpling Delights truck is back on the streets of New York City

Nam Vo was microdosing — which is where the celebrity makeup artist and content creator says she gets her best ideas — when she had an epiphany. She remembered hearing the sounds of the ice cream truck as a child, and the immense joy she felt running outside to get a great meal. “It created a lot of joy and was a fun memory for me,” she says. She wondered what if she could recreate this experience for adults. “I had this crazy idea, wouldn’t it be fun if there was an ice cream truck where makeup and skincare would fall out of it? Then I did some thinking.”

That’s how I came up with the idea for the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck. Essentially a food truck and beauty truck in one, Vu introduced it in New York City for the first time during Fashion Week in September 2022, and it was such a hit that she bought her own truck and is now back a year later. Every time the truck hits the streets of New York City, it teams up with one food company, and the last time it was bubble tea. With every food sale, customers receive free samples of skincare and makeup products.

“I want to do something fun that is a great experience; “I want to give people good memories,” Fu says. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, but on the first tour we literally shut down SoHo. We had five long lines like they were waiting for Beyoncé or something. I created a community for these people who stood in line and got their first Rod O lipgloss.” “Summer Fridays. It’s more special for them. And then the brands get a lot of digital impressions. It brings me happiness.”

As a long-time celebrity makeup artist—she’s painted the faces of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Paris Hilton, Kylie Jenner, and Chrissy Teigen, to name a few—Fu had already made a name for herself in the beauty world, but when she coined her “dewy pasties,” Her trademark term for gorgeous, glowing skin has catapulted her into the beauty stratosphere. “So, basically, I’m at a point in my career where everyone’s like, ‘Are you going to come out with a product?’ Says. “It would make financial sense for me. It’s just what people do. I like to do brand stuff because I like to keep the audience guessing. Everyone thinks I’m going out with highlighter. But unless I can do something groundbreaking, I’m not going to have a baby.” Producer for a salary only.

Instead, Fu decided to take the next step in her career: the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck. “Everyone is making more and more unnecessary products,” she says. “We don’t need another hyaluronic acid. We don’t need another lipstick. We need human connection and we need experience, and no one was creating experience. I learned that people want community.”

Aside from bringing joy, the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck is also an excellent marketing platform for both Vo and the brands they distribute from the truck. Some days are dedicated to exclusive brand acquisitions while others have multiple brands. In its second session, which will last four consecutive days starting September 21, it will distribute products from a range of brands throughout New York City. This time, Saigon Social, a Vietnamese comfort food restaurant, will be the food partner, which is also a nod to Vo’s Vietnamese heritage. She prefers to keep beauty brands a surprise, but in the past she has shared products from Rhode, Oribe, Summer Fridays, Hourglass, Matter of Fact, Peach & Lily, Riki Loves Riki, and more. Don’t expect travel sizes or mini sizes — Vo offers full-size products. “I always say that experience is like dreams and wishes,” she says.

To avoid chaos in the city, Vo posts the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck location two hours before the day of the event. “You get to wait on Instagram and stalk him, which makes it more fun,” she says. “You never know what surprises are going to come out of the truck. My friends actually call me ‘Sweet Santa.’

Eventually, Fu hopes to bring the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck to the streets of New York City three times a year, and later expand to other cities. In the future, she even dreams of owning a Dewy Dumpling Café, with beanbag chairs and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that look like dumplings. “I don’t know what the truck will evolve into, but I know it’s fun and we have to do something for the people,” she says. “Nobody was doing anything for everyday people. I felt like all the focus was on influencers — everything was for influencers — but no one was thinking about everyday beauty lovers.”

Vo has already witnessed the joy spread by the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck. One night she went to Pastis and the wait took two hours, but the hostess recognized her and helped her get a table. “She was like, ‘I’m Dewey Dumpling.’ ” “I came to your truck,” Fu says. “She said, ‘I went to the truck every day. When the truck happened, I had just started NYU and had only been in New York for two weeks. She said it was her way of making friends Just stand in line for hours.

Ultimately, that human connection that the Dewy Dumpling Delights truck brings is the best part for Vo. “I want to keep pushing for human connection in any way I can because I think this world is really lonely,” she says. “There’s not enough community and humanitarian experience. A truck is something a little different. I walk away and I don’t think about sales. I walk away knowing I’m making people happy, and that’s what makes me happy.”