The Rise and Potential Fall of Drunk Elephant 

Youre a phenomenal businesswoman, thank you so much for your ongoing support 🙌

Non-toxic too is a marketing term. Generally cosmetics are heavily about marketing really, very little is truly new and a lot is based on perception. Theyre luxury goods after all 🤷

True.

Certainly, while the term "non-toxic" and "clean beauty" can sometimes be used as marketing buzzwords, there is merit in recognizing that certain beauty products do adhere to higher standards of cleanliness and safety than others.

​@@user-ci2wg1pp4pI suggest you look into cosmetic chemistry on RU-vid. Because all labs have standard procedures. Regulations play a big part in that. Labs that don't follow regulations or standard practice, are often due to the result of human exploitation. Chemophobia has really rid the nuances of how products are produced.

⁠​⁠​⁠@@user-ci2wg1pp4p i would argue that’s not true. the word “clean” does not have any federal regulations, so brands can make up their own version of what it is and there’s nothing to stop them from lying

I’m sorry but this is hilarious

They found a way to market to a new market, time will tell if it made sense or if the stolen losses will not have been worth it 🤷

I Personally think it is overpriced. Just use bubble or something 1:14

This makes me so glad I don’t have a TikTok. Social media ignorance is absolute bliss.

Tik tok made me do it lol

Yeah, but thats kind of their whole thing, I dont think theyve ever not been transparent about that

@@underskinYT yeah agreed . I just figured because of the price point and fancy names , I figured I was getting the best of the best LOL. I guess the marketing worked

I used to use DE hoping for some miracle. Now most of my skincare is drugstore like ELF and Pacifica and I never looked better

I use The Ordinary products. I don’t feel a need to spend an arm and a leg on name brand Marula oil.

I checked skincare routine information provided by dermatologists online then came up with the types of products I wanted in my routine - retinol, antioxidant, chemical exfoliant, etc. Then I researched specific products for each and found products recommended by dermatologists, none of which cost more than $40. In fact most are under $30. There are pricier skincare products that are fine, and if the scents and textures are enjoyable there is no harm in many of them. But it’s not necessary to spend more.

They seem really popular on tiktok rn

I’ve been a hobby soap maker for 15 years and have been making my own skincare preparations. When I see someone made a multimillion dollar company based on a bar of soap for which the ingredients cost literally pennies, I struggle to comprehend what kind of people are actually buying into this stuff. I had a look on their website and diseected some of the ingredients list and I can tell you the stuff is truly nothing special. Their margins must be astronomical.

@@KsenijaCelner I'm starting (but struggling) to start my own makeup line. And along the way I've learned its all abt your integrity and creativity. Playing pretend wont serve anyone in the long run.

My 9yo niece asked my dad for a 70$ cream for her birthday. She's 9, she doesn't need that 🥲

@@underskinYTI think it’s bc the Kardashian kids posted a TikTok of them using the products. So of course other 9 yr olds want it.

I want to know what the profit margin was so bad 💀

I never liked their soaps. They leave my skin DRY and CRINKLY.

Depends what it costs to make

@@eatmyoctopusA lot of soap/skincare makers in the comments have said their ingredients cost pennie's

Shes very high on my list, Im interested to find out more

I think the price was so out of hand that I never even considered a serious buy for me

the controversies and prices of the brand have always kept me away. did get a sephora sample of a moisturiser once tho and i did really enjoy it. but i’ll never buy from them

Oh thats interesting

Yeah maybe I should have, I think its certainly a smart way for them to have started what I said in the end about finding a way to extend the brand’s lifespan

​@@underskinYTthey're not specifically marketing to tweens. It's social media type and word of mouth. I've spoke to brand reps and they are actually trying to pull away from that image by marketing and producing new products aimed at mature skin. Because while they have popular products amongst tweens, their once flagship products are becoming their worst sellers because of the active ingredients.

OH!!! This explains why the DE testers are DISGUSTING AF!!!! I don't use the testers but I walk by the DE to get K18 & CosRX, and every DE tester looks as if a foundation, bronzer, blush, moisturizer & serum got drunk, mated & then threw up simultaneously.

Yeah but also half the product 😢 that’s the thing about Paula’s choice, they seem cheaper but most of their products are half of what you get from Drunk Elephant

@iiswhoiisss4410 I know, I'm very torn between the two but if I only have 45 bucks the paulas choice works nor quite as good as baby facial but I just can't afford it right now

Which PC product?

@Maidenhair it is the skin perfecting 25%aha+2%bha exfoliant peel rinse off mask. Sheesh it's a mouthful but it's great

@@Knuckles2868doesn’t the ordinary aha peel work similarly

That is the reason it is falling. Once the tweens get a hold of something the older groups stop buying. It becomes “uncool” and tends to shrink in the market

I think its certainly a strategy theyre going for for brand extension, and it seems to be working. Young people have a lot of buying power bcs of their parents and getting them in young has the potential to make life long customers

@@underskinYTI think the hype of this brand within tweens would eventually fade out (as trends do) and then the brand would eventually TANK

Oh I just went to a skin1004 event the other day (I was a +1) and their marketing team was so incredibly nice!

Brilliant, thank you 🙌

I've seen christmas wishlists from kids on X (which were posted by their relatives) where the children are asking for skincare from Drunk Elephant and lipoils from Dior. Why are these kids watching skincare content? Otherwise why would they ask for these products?

IMo its all to do with social media, its just the modern form of advertising, and especially now advertising on TV is so heavily regulated towards children while its so unregulated online, it leaves more space for influence

@@chandelierprincessAlso the DE packaging with bright colors appeals to teens. The price though 😮

I noticed that too and now seeing that animation sequence at the end of the video, I can see that this is no accident.

It’s true!!

Honestly influencers arent my forte tbh, I dont follow the scandals very closely, I guess Im just more interested in branding and retailing than I am in individuals as people. I watch them mostly to see how products are received by the public than the people themselves tbh, so I often just dont see when they have problems like this. So thank you for the information 🤍

Well said! Although I still wish more brands formulate skincare without fragrance simply because alot of us don't react well to fragrance. But ofcourse, fear mongering is always a big red flag in a brand.

What 4% salycid acid that weird for friendly brand skincare

​@@anamikakhan593have you try Cetaphil? I can use fragrance in my skincare routine cause it's get me the feel of shower

​@anamikakhan593 I agree, I can not handle fragrance but maybe it's fine for some

Its expensive for marketing not for product. But then if we exclusively wanted good product thered be no need to keep changing bcs we would all stick to the same

Hmm yeah that is suspicious

I had the same experience, I feel you.

SK-II essence was the ABSOLUTE WORST!!! I broke up and it lasted for DAYS!! Horrible product IMO.

I am always cautious of brands that have only positive reviews for that reason, it cannot be possible and usually is because money has power over the reviews.

@dreamcatcher75418 right?! Everyone was pushing it so hard on YT, & it didn't do anything except give me a rash/acne. I asked around & people were telling me it was the "purge" period, so I used it for a week like a dummy. My local Sephora was shocked to see a SK-II product get returned, but no way I'm keeping using something that expensive that ruined my skin (for 3 months). Also, is it just me or was the smell vile as it dried?

I could be wrong, a couple people coented about CH so thts why Im asking, but I dont think she ever made a video about it no? I included Hyram because he gave a rundown of what happened is all

@@underskinYT she never made a video about it, but posted about it on her website. That’s where I read about it. Hard to put stuff from a blog in a vid like yours. Loved your work, DE will probably continue to rise, but I am cool with not contributing to it.

@@mprice333 Okay I see, thank you for the information. I definitely do use blog posts as text in my videos, so yeah, Ill be more careful to include the original source instead of using another's summation (or I could do both) Thank you 🤍

Exactly! I feel this lady want them to fall... but DE here in Canada are going strong , now recently we have them in shopper drug mart too , not just Sephora

What Im forseeing is a rebrand down the line to move the packaging onto something newer while keeping the product the same/similar. I dont want them to fail, my opinion is moot really, but having been going so long, any brand will need to switch it up to keep fresh

I feel like the OG consumers STILL love their products.

I dont think it will be tbh, getting a younger consumer base on board is nearly always a way to guarantee future success. If you can get brand loyalty early on then you can get a lifelong customer, its why Europe is so careful about it and why so many brands (think like McDonalds) had to change so much

You didn't ask for anything like this when you were a kid? I asked for so many random things, OPI or Jessica nail polish, Garnier caffeinated eye roller, a bunch of stuff

@@underskinYTgood point. But the question is...did you get all that as presents? I do recall asking for a Clarins body oil when I was twelve year old I think, and I did receive it. But it was just that. (I saw it on vogue I guess, which was as damaging for a twelve year old to read back then as tik tok nowadays). I may have the wrong idea, but I do feel that parents buy a lot more and more expensive beauty products for their children.

Thank you!!

Well, they say that they are not doing any kind of social media marketing, so whether they are actively doing it or whether it has naturally been picked up by younger kids that still up for debate

Its so frustrating that this is often the case

I didn’t have and issues with the retinol. It has amazing reviews.

So many complaints about the retinol, I didnt realise it wS so widely hated

@user-mz7de3kc3d That's irrelevant to me though, as it ruined my skin for over a month after I used it. The ingredients list for the retinol is extremely long, which makes it more likely to irritate the skin. And Drunk Elephant advising customers that they could use it with their glycolic serum was just plain irresponsible - that's a recipe for destroying the skin barrier.

If theres one thing my skin hates more than anything else its scents. Immediately if it has a scent I know I will react to it and I hate that bcs so much of it smells so good

Thank you so much 🙌

I do wish I knew more about the chemical side and the biological side of cosmetics, I think that’s one area where my knowledge is really lacking

Im so glad you enjoyed it, I thought the start of DE specifically was so interesting

@@underskinYT definitely! I’m coming to understand marketing and advertising so much more. Especially how it can potentially make or break everything

Im so glad you enjoyed it! The marketing and retailing of cosmetics is just fascinating to me

Yeah, Caroline Hirons was a huge supporter until she wasn’t. She interviewed Tiffany twice! But then DE’s socials recommended some sketchy “cocktails”, she called them out and then they personally attacked her. Hyram was responding to DE being awful to her.

I thought I was clear in adding CH from the Hyram video that explained it, because I dont think she ever made a video about it? (I could be wrong) On the PSA tho, I dont mnow if anyone would listen to that? Didnt your parents by you clealry older products when you were young? I had a bunch (St Ives comes to mind 💀💀)

@@qwp0983probably she got paid by DE until she wasn’t. I used to follow Caroline but eventually I realised she is not a dermatologist and she makes a (very good) living out of brand sponsorship (she would promote creams from Chantecaille and stuff like that). Since I only have limited time for RU-vid, I decided to follow real experts like dr Dray instead.

Do you know, I was really interested in doing a rise and fall of glossier, but since the book came out, it seems that every channel has exactly that video, and I just want to be able to provide more value than that. So for now I’m waiting, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t have something later

oohhhh great idea, I didnt think of them before, let me add them to my list

The two big ones for DE were Alix Earle and Hyram which is why I talk about them specifically in the video. They had such an impact that Tiffany herself thanks them in interviews. They grew pretty hard from influencer endorsement (which they claim to have never paid for)

I work for Ulta and this holiday season I can’t begin to tell you how many kids that were under the age of 14 asking for Drunk Elephant.

They are buying the bronzi and rosy drops mostly

For a long time they had a wonderful differentiator, of course times have changed but they certanly used to be able to justify well

Ill add it to my list 🤍

Full if essential oils

Thats great! Im glad you found something you love 🤍

Thank you so much! And yeah, thats what cosmetics is right? Its cosmetic, it finds our insecurities and sells us stuff to ‘cure’ them. Fascinating industry

@@underskinYT I'm still glad for deodorant becausepeople be really sweating and smelling REAL bad without them, that's not a problem "created" by the marketing industry imo 😭 (unlike body hair)

Glad you enjoyed it 🙌

Elephants do not eat food from the ground by choice 🤍

The juju bar? Or pekee?

They claim not to spend anything on influencer marketing, so Idk if this is grey area and gifting isnt spending for them, but its oft championed for sure

Glad it was helpful!

Okay but we stan Cerave here, Im too sensitive int he skin not to stan Cerave 💀

Im glad, marketing is powerful, one should always be sceptical (but fair too)

Oh thank you for that, I havent tried it myself because I have such sensitive skin and often kind of have to stick to moisturisers

Look at the main ingredients of the moisturisers and buy a version from Cetaphil, Dermaveen, Alpha Keri, La Roche Posay etc. Paula's Choice as well. Spend money on your serums, but not necessarily your moisturiser.

Yep I agree with you. Cerave PM has been my savior for years. Also I refuse to spend on a cleanser that is just going to go right down the drain! Simple is better & I need to be better about not wanting to try new stuff with cute colors haha

@@abbyc.4458 the Cerave PM has niacinamide in it. Great moisturiser. I buy the Cetaphil Advanced Daily Hydrating Lotion. I need hydration more than moisture on a daily basis. I love it. In Australia, I like buying the Mecca own range of serums and oils, as they are more affordable alternatives to luxury brands and do just as good a job.

Honestly, same, I love some of their products. Personally, the Vitamin C serum, B-Hydra serum, Maracuja oil, and Jelly cleanser are great. It really depends on someone's skin. Though people often criticized their ingredient lists, I remember James Welsh mentioned one time (unrelated to DE), that even if the ingredients are the same, the quality (where they sourced it from), the formula or procedure they used to create their products would still be different. Just like how, 2 chefs could have the same ingredients to make a cake, but the cakes can still be different from each other.

So Im now going to need to see that training video 💀 (Also Id love to do that too)

This isn't a takedown, it's an examination that tries hard to be objective about the companies featured. One thing left out about their hostile social media presence was how they would weaponize their fauthful customers to help attack critics as well as people innocently asking questions about the products. Some people started referring to the behavior as cult-like. It seems that aspect of the company hasn't changed much.

@@LPno.9 how is this an objective video when in the first 30 seconds they say, and I quote VERBATIM “… everything has gone to pot and the company has lost ALL of its initial buzz” That statement is objectively UNTRUE when, DE quite literally found new buzz with a new younger demographic and had massive stock outs this very year due to its continued popularity. It actually says so much about the state of our society that the average beauty consumer will watch these factually untrue videos designed only to put coins into the content farm’s pockets, and actually think they’re getting some juicy comeuppance scoop

I think youre both right tbh, the title and the intro is meant to draw in people, thats its job, but the rest of the video is meant to be unbiased review of the company and how its reached the status it got to. Unfortunately using hyperbole like that at the beginning of the video works and is a necessary evil if I want anyone to click or watch to actually see the useful and informational content behind it 🤷 I too wish that wasnt the case, but most simply wouldnt have watched or commented without it and we all just have to pick our battles

@@awlmut You may be quoting that line verbatim (no yelling caps needed because I think you can see the words here like I can), but you still removed it from its context and ignored whole other lines saying that it isn't actually falling off. The company experienced controversies that plummeted its credibility with a lot of people for a while. The video cites some well-known influencers who came out against the company because of their poor ethics. Other people disliked their unscientific marketing. They faced a major lawsuit. Had not this video explained that it's still a successful company, I would have thought they were on their way out. But note that the title says there could be a potential fall and not a fall full stop. Again, clear contextual information that the video is not asserting that the company is done. And of course it goes on to very clearly say that a fall may not actually come because the company has rebounded from their earlier problems and is doing well in Asia's huge and competitive skincare market. The available information about the company is what it is, and this channel is reporting on what has happened. No one is telling you or anyone else that the products are bad and shouldn't be used. I don't know if the phenomenon of very young people causing the brand to trend again was purposely left out (if I didn’t miss it), but I would understand if it was just to avoid people in that demographic getting angry and lashing out at the video without understanding that the company isn't being harmed.

Im so glad you found soemthing that works so well for you!

I would love to do that, but itd definitely be on my fashion channel

I vote on this one too!

Most people dont need much more than that for sure

Thank you!!

Even though you moved on, Im glad you found something that worked for you and brought you joy to look at though, that in itself is so difficult these days

Oh thats not great, I didnt hear that myself

I agree that there are so many products, its a bit like fashion in that way, its just so so hard to know where to go for what will suit you best and isnt just hype

Isnt tatcha under Unilever though? They tend to have cheaper price points

Oh thats so crappy, noone likes bad packaging

Theres always so much hate for CeraVe but I also love them 💀

It was very invalidating for sure

Same here

If you like the product then there really isnt a reason to stop. So much of beauty is marketing, cosmetic if you will, that if you find what works its just best to stick to it

Added to the list 🤌

I honestly wish I could use more products. I test them if I can get my hands on them, but my skin is so painfully sensitive that I just have to love skincare and makeup from afar. Maybe thats why Im so fascinated with the marketing and history side, because its my way of engaging with it 🥹

Okay thank you

My perfume videos dont traditionally do as well tbh, I did want to initially, but to grow I kind of have to go where the views are 🤍

For sure, totally impossible, but great for marketing

Oh thats actually a great idea

Not at all! Some of us with horribly sensitive skin rely on those products! (Im so bad I cant even use Aveeno on my face anymore)

I think thats part of the brand extension I go over at the end, but Im not sure if its purposeful so Id rather have that for a follow up when we know more 🤍

I have stupidly sensitive skin, I wish more companies did free samples (or i wish I had more confidence to ask for it it haha)

Okay now lets talk about Mecca because what a phenomenal company. Really the only retail store to successfully stand against LVMH’s Sephora, absolutely incredible the deals they did with the brands, just phenomenal, I respect Jo Horgan so so much as a businessperson

I don’t think it’s very fair to call their customers ignorant, they just have a different set of values and drunk elephant has found a way to market towards those values. That’s just what brands do, they find what we want, or what we are insecure about, and market towards that, drunk elephant is no different too most of brands in that respect

Esp in cosmetics yeah

Hate when comments disappear, its such a red flag to me

Drunk elephant moisturiser?

I had similar discussions with parents, mostly online and one in real life. How on earth is it normal to buy adult pricey beauty routines, you say tweens, but I actually talked to parents of a 8 year old. 😮. I already commented above so I don’t want to repeat myself but this year, not only I heard of a lot of parents buying DE as a gift, as well luxury beauty advent calendars...what??

I feel like we were like this too as kids though, different price point but St Ives, the Garnier eye roll on, YSL touche eclat, like why would I possibly need that at that age? But thats what I wanted, just because of marketing rly

@@underskinYT nah, it's really not. our equivalent would be if we were asking for Chanel or Calvin Klein, not some st ives from the drugstore. it never would have occurred to us to ask our parents to buy us luxe products from JC Penney's beauty counter, & our parents never would have considered actually doing it for a minute.

So much of Kbeauty makes my skin scream though 🥺 I want to cover more kbeauty brands/stores though bcs my Korean is actually pretty good and Ive been travelling there for about a decade, so I think I could provide extra info to them. Any favourites? (Mine WAS etude house but noone voted for it in the poll 💀)

What was the problem with it?

I thinkk you could be right honestly, it seems as if theyve retargeted back to a younger audience. Maybe Ill have to make a follow up about it actually, because if it goes well it'll be a good study in retargeting

Im curious if it irritated your skin? Mine is so sensitive that I can use extremely little. I literally mostly go cosmetic shopping to look at the branding now 🥺

@@underskinYT I don’t remember any products irritating my skin at the time. I have dry combo skin. But I had acne and it didn’t do much for me in that regard. Can always patch test products.

Its well branded, that allows them a nice margin

Oils like that can be really tricky for skin, mine often go red from it too (but then I am painfully sensitive

💅

I get it, but it doesnt seem like this was intentional from the brand, almost like theyve got caught up in it. Perhaps Ill do a follow up some time in the future though because it has affected them and theyve even made statements about it since this video came out

The packaging is made in Korea, I believe the same factory as Dr Jart

Did you see the videos of the children with Stanley cups? It reminds me of when I was a kid and wanted bathroom scales and a very specific fountain pen. Marketing is a wild thing

@@underskinYT what’s so jarring is that (at least for me) it feels like kids now want all the expensive brands like SDJ, drunk elephant, etc. i’m gen z and when i was a kid the hype was around drugstore brands like EOS, baby lips, lipsmackers

I agree with the name being weird. Even for adults, worse being target literally for kids.

​@underskinYT for my generation, it was pink Princess phones.

I think thatll be their plan for brand extension too tbh, aiming young gains lifelong customers often

Tbh testers give me the willies for this exact reason, its often so bacteria-full-looking

Theyve primarily got a young audience

@@underskinYT and they eat it up, I’ve seen 8 year olds throw a fit because they can’t get the bronzi drops or the retinol

​@@georgianewman4549 As a fellow Australian, this is equal parts sad and hilarious.

Have you tried it?

@@underskinYT I was in the Glow Gang since day one (ok after they released their Sleeping Mask) but I used to love Glow Recipe beyond any brand. Today, I only use the Toner… everything else feels like a cash grab. I loved their sent, the product were great and it was a must have in my bathroom cabinet 🥲 now I stick to Paula’s Choice, The Ordinary and The Inkey List

Good social media is so key these days, its a wonder how brands continue to get if wrong 🤷

Cosmetic history is completely fascinating to me for this reason. None of it was a ‘problem’ until it was. Literally all of skincare, all of make up, all of perfume. And its right in the name - its ‘cosmetic’. Just adore adore adore it

Its certainly up there in price

Its a different demographic, I totally get it

Yes, their products are certainly marketed into their higher price point, but seemingly only to the joy of consumers, who, as you say, are really popular right now

So maybe your professor hadn't research that topic completely before they talked about underarms smell and leg hair. It to become a lot more common in the 20th century because that was the rise of the middle class from the working class they were before, and even some people of the working class gained access to a lot of consumer goods, and of course they would want to be like the rich people

I dont know 100% about the origin of perfume, but I assume that came as a cosmetic for people to show off wealth and be seen as attractive (which would be an invented problem) tho I could be wrong, I dont think it had the primary use of cleansing. But in regards to shaving, youre describing cosmetic uses of it. We know the earliest razors were donkeys before our first modern razors and we assume women used them, not for hygiene but for cosmetic purposes. Perhaps I shouldve said repopularisation of razors because its effectively the same thing modern marketers did. Convince women specifically that their body hair was a problem to make sales off of their cosmetic insecurities. I think it stuck because people enjoyed the feeling of it, and then it became something of sexual desire also 🤍

Did you buy anything?

@@underskinYT nope! I don't need to rn I was just scouting for potential additions to my routine. I haven't had any western brands in my (minimalist) line up in years.

I never understand why brands dont hope for positives and negatives in a review becasue if youre negative-free thats a huge red flag that the review isnt honest or is heavily biased

Certainly high, but it adds to the marketing well