18/03/25 – BY APRIL BUTTEN
How Cult Beauty Brands Hook You Without Screaming ‘Buy Me’
And the power of staying true to your roots.
We all know that if you’re having to scream for attention, you’ve already lost.
In love and in sales 😉 Because the best beauty brands don’t chase, they attract. They don’t push product, they shape culture and make your feel like you discovered them first.
Take Rhode for example. No Black Friday discounts, no flashing red sale banners. Just a well-timed product drop, and within hours, the internet was ablaze. The product didn’t just sell, it was claimed. It’s a masterclass in controlled scarcity, an artful balancing act between availability and absence. When a brand can make you feel lucky enough to have secured a checkout, rather than just able to order it any day of the week, they’ve cracked the code. (Look at Maebe’s launch history).
WHO IS ELIJAH operates differently, but the psychology is the same. Their ad spend is aggressive, but they don’t rely on overt selling. They lead the narrative, dictating the brand image with a precise mix of cultural alignment and aesthetic curation. They don’t just hijack viral trends—they create the conditions for virality, ensuring their fragrances become social currency before the customer even realizes they want in. This is a product you don’t just wear, you get noticed in. And in a world dominated by digital noise, the power of being remembered in real life? That’s priceless. And yes, almost as hard as selling scent through a screen.
The psychology of chasing what you can’t have
Cult brands understand better than anyone else, the human need for belonging. The best ones don’t market products, they sell access. There’s always an inside and an outside. A membership, a waitlist, a first-to-know club. The most talked-about brands are never fully available. Because when people have to work to get something, they value it more. This doesn’t mean limiting supply, but rather making the act of acquiring feel like an achievement.
And then there’s the social dynamic. Nobody wants to be sold to, but everyone wants to be in on something. That’s why UGC isn’t just a marketing tool, it’s the backbone of cult brands. And the best brands don’t just encourage content, they direct the conversation. They dictate the aesthetic, the language, the emotional cues—until their customers unknowingly become extensions of the brand itself.
The result? Every interaction feels personal, even when it’s been orchestrated from the start.
The art of always being ‘sold out’
The best beauty brands aren’t shouting, they’re setting the stage for desire. They operate with a level of control that makes it look effortless, but nothing is left to chance. Packaging, PR placements, sold-out notifications—every touchpoint feeds into a larger story of aspiration and exclusivity.
Looking closer at the mechanics, the timing of product drops isn’t random. It’s built on behavioral insights, peak online engagement, and social listening data that pinpoints when anticipation is highest. Even the most “organic” viral moments can be traced back to meticulously placed PR seeding, influencer exclusives, and algorithmic precision.
And then there’s the psychological masterstroke—artificial scarcity. The “sold-out” moment isn’t an accident, it’s a signal. When a brand is always on the verge of unavailability, it triggers an instinctive response: loss aversion. The fear of missing out becomes real, making the next drop feel like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This isn’t marketing, it’s conditioning. And the demand it creates is self-perpetuating.
Where cult branding is heading next
The playbook is shifting. Artificial scarcity won’t be enough forever. Consumers are sharper, savvier, and more skeptical. The brands that rely on hype without substance will collapse under the weight of their own emptiness. The next evolution of cult beauty brands will be about inevitability rather than exclusivity. Not just making a product desirable, but making it feel like the natural choice—the thing you were always meant to have.
We’re already seeing this shift. The new frontier isn’t just ownership, it’s integration. Refillable perfume bottles that evolve with you. Skincare that customizes itself over time. Beauty memberships that aren’t just about product drops but full lifestyle immersion. The cult brands of tomorrow won’t just sell products, they’ll become essential parts of how people live.
Virality will shift too. The next wave of desirability won’t come from brands trying to manufacture social proof, but from those embedding themselves so deeply into culture that proof isn’t needed.
The future isn’t about being exclusive. It’s about being inevitable.
The brands that don’t just sell, they seduce
Cult beauty brands understand something fundamental. The second you have to beg for attention, you’ve lost your grip. The power lies in making people feel like they’re part of something rare, something desirable, something worth talking about. They master the tension between accessibility and exclusivity, using scarcity not as a tactic but as a philosophy.
And that’s the difference. Some brands sell. Others make you want.
The ones that get it? They don’t need to tell you why they matter. You already know.