In a sea of launches, some brands deserve the hype. Verity Clark breaks down the business behind cult beauty buys‘Can you get me one of those yellow tubs of moisturiser that smells like a beach holiday?’ As a beauty editor, I am used to receiving requests for in-demand products, but this message has been a repeat offender. For the last six or so years it’s pinged in from a random rotation of my 30-something friends. Yes,is one of only a handful of items that’s reached cult status.
Like all good brand founder stories, Sol de Janeiro’s started with a ‘eureka’ moment. Unlike most brand conceptions, however, this one took place in a string bikini on a Brazilian beach. When co-founder and CEO Heela Yang, a Harvard Business School alumna and beauty industry veteran, relocated to Brazil, she was struck by the lack of judgement that she encountered as a pregnant woman wearing – by her own admission – a ‘tiny’ two-piece.
But how to swerve the fate of being a one-product wonder? Go viral. In 2023, ‘Sol de Janeiro’ was the second most searched-for beauty term on Google; there are over 100 million video views of the brand – and it cornered an untapped area of the beauty sphere:More affordable than the luxe fragrances frequenting bathroom shelfies of the last few years, Sol de Janeiro’s floral, fruity sprays hit the sweet spot with a younger consumer.