The Leader

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Versed, Natasha Denona, and now cults in the making Danessa Myricks, Laneige, SuperGoop! And Youth To The People. What, in your opinion, are Cult Beauty’s hero brands? This is a di cult question as they are all heroes in their own right, however, the ones really hitting the zeitgeist right now are: ∙ Supergoop! – like SPF 2.0, the hero product Unseen Sunscreen not only protects brilliantly from UVA & B, it also blocks blue light radiation from screens and works invisibly on darker skins too. ∙ Olaplex – o ered the haircare market the dream that no one believed was possible – you can process your hair incessantly then turn back time – this technology has gone from being the holy grail for those in the know, to a collective (ab)solution for all our hair sins. ∙ La Bouche Rouge – high-performance, clean indie makeup in beautifully cra ed, refillable containers. Everyone asks where their lipstick is from when I get it out of my bag. ∙ Medik8 – the future of clean is ‘cleanical’ (a natural/lab-grown amalgum), and this high-tech insider skincare punches way above its price point. I’ve never met a Medik8 product I didn’t instantly love! Cult Beauty is well known in the Middle East. What have you learned about the region’s approach to beauty in terms of your clients? I’ve Cult Beauty launched over a decade ago. always seen Middle Eastern beauty as more sensorial and ritualistic, which is something The goal was to “curate only the best beauty the rest of the world has finally embraced in a huge way during lockdown as well as look for and wellbeing products in the business.” moments of self-care amongst the madness. We ship to the UAE and all over the Middle East Co-Founder and Co-CEO Alexia Inge and are looking to add more shipping, currency and payment options in the next year to make discusses how the brand continues to lead shopping from Cult Beauty even easier. What is at the core of Cult Beauty’s brand DNA? the way in in the commerce scape My mission for Cult Beauty has always been to, ‘be the most trusted beauty retailer in the world’, which was lauded as a bit ‘old fashioned’ when we launched back in 2008. But as we move Can you talk us through your career – how did up the business and building the website and into an increasingly impersonal, AI-dominated you find your way into the beauty space? When launched just as the global economic meltdown consumer experience I think the need for trust I le university I really had no idea what I was gaining pace. In the first year, we would and humanity will only grow in resonance. wanted to do and was o ered the opportu- sometimes go for days without an order, no What have been the hurdles you’ve experinity to be a model, a role that took me all over banks would lend us money and we didn’t have enced throughout your career? I think my the world and gave me a fantastic, behind the any money for marketing. So, I got creative, for main hurdles have been internal, jumping scenes window into the fashion and beauty the first three years I spent every waking hour over my own lack of self-confidence to folworld. I learned many beauty tips from the promoting the business – whether pitching low what my gut was telling me was right. professionals backstage, but also saw the dis- stories to journalists about our unique concept When you are trying to build things di erconnect between what the artists were using, and undiscovered indie brands, going to events ently you come up against a lot of barriers and the sponsored products displayed for the every night to get the word out or network the and lack of imagination – unused paths are cameras. A back-breaking car crash put a stop industry to sign up new brands. It was utterly overgrown and inhospitable, but they can to my catwalk days, and I moved into fashion exhausting, and in 2011 we found ourselves in a lead to amazing discoveries and once you’ve and beauty journalism and then brand build- financial bind with three weeks of cash le , we cut a way through it does get easier. ing and PR – storytelling became my living. managed to find some investors at the 11th hour On the opposite end of the spectrum, what have What inspired you to start your own brand? I who bought us enough time to build the brand been the key milestones? There are the growth was a beauty obsessive who found myself too and get the business o the ground. milestones, hitting certain turnover figures and regularly being oversold products. I met my co- How has Cult Beauty evolved since it launched growth velocity, landing the exclusives for cerfounder socially in 2007, we bonded over cos- in 2008? Our brand stable gets better and bet- tain brands and winning awards like WWD Emetics, the highs and lows of the hunt for the ter, but we have never veered away from our Tailer of the Year, but the thing that makes me gems and walked away from the evening with core values to ‘tru e hunt’ and curate only the smile the most is meeting a total stranger who homework – to go home, collect all of the beauty best beauty and wellbeing products in the busi- knows Cult Beauty and loves what we do; talkproducts in our home that we hadn’t used in over ness, and to deserve the trust of our customers. ing to someone who is as passionate about the three months and tote up how much money we’d What were the very first brands you had on the hero products we sell as I am. wasted. Our totals were horrifying, but we found Cult Beauty website? We were the first Euro- This is ‘The Beauty Issue’ – how do you define we were not alone and this was the beginning pean retailer to sell brands like Escentric Mole- beauty? The wonder of beauty is its diversity. It impetus for us to start a curated retailer that cules perfume, BeautyBlender, Anastasia Bev- can be simple, glamourous, fun, sexy, artistic, only sells cult products that exceed expectations. erly Hills, Sunday Riley, Huda Beauty, Briogeo, scientific, eccentric and contradictory, but I What was the process of starting your own brand Glow Recipe, Milk Makeup, Tata Harper, The think the core definition of beauty is that it reslike? We invested all of our savings into setting Inkey List, Summer Fridays, Drunk Elephant, onates in your heart and elevates your mood.