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Imagine this…

You’ve never found a foundation that truly matches your complexion.

So five years ago, you gave up trying.

Not because you wanted to, but because every option made your complexion look ashy or two shades lighter than it should’ve been.

And instead of boosting confidence as promised, it just made you feel self-conscious.

But now, with a dream job interview scheduled for Monday morning, you’re holding onto a sliver of hope that things have changed.

Walking into a beauty store, you see shelves lined with foundations claiming to suit all skin types and tones.

Allegedly.

But after swatching numerous shades, you *still* can’t find one that matches.

Feeling defeated, you turn to leave—until a Fenty Beauty display catches your eye.

You’ve seen the social media hype but stayed skeptical.

But now you’re mesmerized by the 50 shades—from the lightest porcelain to the deepest ebony.

You grab a handful of shades that look like they might work. But when you swatch the very first one, you freeze.

For the first time in your life, a foundation is a perfect match.

You feel tears prick the back of your eyes—not only because of relief, but because you finally feel seen.

How did a foundation cause you to feel such powerful emotions?

In today’s special edition of Why We Buy 🧠, we’ll explore a well-known company to see how they use buyer psychology principles in their business.

This week we’re diving into Fenty Beauty—the cosmetic company that turned inclusivity into a movement, and made over $1,000,000,000 doing it.

Let’s get into it.
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🤑 A Look Inside Fenty Beauty

Rihanna spent two years creating Fenty Beauty for one reason: She “wanted everyone to feel included.”

At the time, many brands’ “inclusive” shade ranges rarely went beyond 20 or 30 options—and usually neglected deeper skin tones altogether.

That gap was a pain even Rihanna felt every time she left the makeup chair.

So in 2017, Fenty Beauty shocked the industry by launching 40 freakin’ shades of the now iconic Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation. (It has since expanded to 50 shades.)

But Rihanna’s mission of inclusivity wasn’t limited to shades.

She also wanted people around the globe to have access to her products and made it clear that they were created for all genders.

The result?

Fenty Beauty not only made $72,000,000 in the first month of launching, but they also reset the standard for the beauty industry with their painkilling messaging: “Beauty For All.”

This created the Fenty Effect where many cosmetics brands expanded their shade ranges after seeing the demand and profitability involved in creating truly inclusive products.
​

🧠 How Fenty Beauty Uses Buyer Psychology

Fenty Beauty’s success didn’t happen by chance. They used brilliant marketing techniques to turn beauty into a billion dollars (and counting).
​Here are some pretty *and* smart strategies worth stealing:

​
​Credibility

Rihanna leveraged the credibility of her powerful personal brand to create sky-high demand for Fenty Beauty—even before it hit shelves.

Given Rihanna’s no-BS brand, buyers were confident her new inclusive cosmetic company would deliver on its promises.

(This trust grew stronger thanks to Rihanna’s hands-on approach, shaping everything from formulations and packaging to marketing.)

Emotion

Fenty Beauty’s iconic messaging “Beauty For All” hits straight at a core human desire: belonging.

By embracing inclusivity (and, by default, the powerful emotions surrounding it), they tapped into a large market of underserved buyers who finally felt represented.

Their social media marketing amplifies this with user-generated content to demonstrate products—and the happiness felt when getting a perfect match.

Scarcity

Fenty Beauty products cause urgency—not because of expiring promos or limited releases, but because of demand.

​
The Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Foundation alone became a “must-have” because it was so popular that it was hard to find—especially in the darker shades.

By understanding their audience’s deepest pain, they also tapped into scarcity, turning product launches into hype-building machines that skyrocketed sales and emptied shelves.
​

🤔 Thinking About Your Business

You don’t have to be a cosmetic company to use buyer psychology techniques that attract (and land) perfect-match buyers.

Ask yourself…
​
​Q: How can you make your marketing not feel like marketing?​
Buyers want to know how everyday people (AKA not airbrushed models) view and like a product. For real. That’s why the best social posts, ads, and emails feel like getting helpful advice from a friend—not a money grab.

Q: What’s the painful problem your perfect-match buyers need to solve?
​When you understand the deepest, most painful problem that your customers are experiencing, you can flip that pain into an appealing promise. *That’s* what takes your product from a “nice-to-have” option to a “must-have” purchase that people flock to grab—even in a saturated market.

Q: Is your personal brand contributing to your business’ success?
​A personal brand done *right* doesn’t drive random likes and clicks. It attracts future buyers, just like Rihanna’s did. Even with Fenty Beauty’s powerful messaging, it likely would’ve taken much longer to achieve success without Rihanna’s personal brand fueling demand.
​

💥 The Short of It

Fenty Beauty’s success isn’t just about foundation and concealer.
​
It’s about recognizing the painful problem your audience has and turning it into a billion-dollar opportunity.

Until next time, happy selling!