Happy New Year!
I’m so excited to kick off 2026 with you!
This year is all about serving creativity, inspiration, learning, and most importantly, building community. Because it's always better together, right?
Now, speaking of new year... anyone else's feed explode with "Year of the Fire Horse" content? Mine sure did. DMs, posts, emails everywhere. Naturally, I got curious, then one Google search turned into a full research spiral. Chinese zodiac deep dives, the whole thing.
So let me introduce you to 馬到成功 (mǎ dào chéng gōng), a Chinese phrase that translates to "instant success," but not the Silicon Valley kind. Not growth-hacking or founder theatre or hockey-stick projections. It means achieving victory with the grace and precision of a horse that knows exactly where it's going. Arriving at your destination swiftly and smoothly because you're not second-guessing the route, not polling your audience about which direction to run, not waiting for permission to move.
Some brands are horses. They run because they must, toward something specific, with directed force. Others are performing horses. Trotting in circles. Waiting for the rider to tell them when to stop, when to turn, what the audience wants to see.
2026 rewards the unbridled. But Horse energy isn't chaos; it's the opposite. It's movement with intention. Speed with precision. Independence with community. The question: Which one are you? Let’s take a ride 🐴
Wild vs. tethered: the core tension
There are two kinds of brands in beauty and wellness right now. The archetypal split runs deeper than positioning or price point; it's about whether you're running free or performing for approval.
Wild horses move with cultural positioning, founder-led conviction, and a tolerance for polarisation. They know where they're going. They build herd, not audience. They respond to cultural moments with instinct, not committee approval.
Tethered horses wait for permission. They optimise for algorithm approval. They soften their edges when controversy hits. They ask "what's trending?" instead of "where are we going?" They're performing, and everyone can feel it.
Horse energy brands (& why they qualify)
Rhode. Speed to cultural moments without the 18-month product development cycle strangling every instinct. Hailey Bieber's founder voice isn't diluted through brand theatre or corporate speak. When Gen Z wanted Pocket Blush, they moved. Not because a trend report said so, because the herd was already galloping in that direction. Pure horse energy: fast, instinctive, precise.
Ilia. Clean beauty before it was a trend. Sustainability before it was mandated. Sasha Plavsic didn't wait for the market to be ready, she ran toward something specific while everyone else was still tethered to conventional prestige formulas. A decade later, the industry finally caught up. That's what horses do: they don't follow, they lead the stampede.
Ceremonia. Latinx heritage as positioning, not costume. Babba Rivera built cultural codes into product ritual, not just slapping heritage onto packaging graphics for a Heritage Month campaign and calling it strategy. Scalp massagers and hair oiling aren't trends to Ceremonia; they're ancestral intelligence being reclaimed and elevated. The difference between cultural intelligence and cultural costume.
Violette_FR. French insouciance exported with zero apology to American beauty standards. Violette Serrat refused to play the DTC Instagram playbook, refused to explain herself through "relatable" founder content, refused to make French beauty digestible for algorithm approval. Just ran, straight into Sephora, straight into cult status. Horse energy incarnate.
Byredo. Ben Gorham built a perfume house that moves between fragrance, skincare, leather goods, and home because the brand codes allow it, not because "category blur is trending." That's the horse mentality: territory over trends. When you know where you're going, you don't need permission to cross categories.
Glossier (2014-2018). Early Glossier was wild horse. Into The Gloss community became herd. Emily Weiss moved with directed velocity, turning editorial conversation into product development, turning readers into believers, turning cult into commerce. Then something shifted. Corporate structure. Trend-following. The plot lost. By 2019, Glossier was tethered, and you could feel it. The recent comeback? An attempt to run free again. We'll see if the reins come off.
What happens when wild horses get tethered?
Here's the thing about tethered energy: it's not always obvious from the outside.
A brand can have beautiful campaigns, thoughtful founders, engaged communities, and still be performing. Still waiting for permission. Still optimising for approval rather than conviction.
The signs:
Launching products because competitors are, not because brand codes demand it
Softening POV when criticism comes (instead of standing ground or course-correcting with intention)
Founder voice replaced by "brand voice" written by committee
Pivoting positioning every quarter based on what's getting engagement
"Culturally inspired" collections that appear in February and disappear by March
The contrast:
Wild: Goop's unapologetic wellness POV despite constant mockery. Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't soften the edges, she sharpens them.
Tethered: Beauty brands rushing "empowerment campaigns" designed by committee, tested in focus groups, stripped of anything that might polarise.
Wild: Tower 28's rapid expansion into color cosmetics because Amy Liu knows her customer, knows her codes, knows where she's running.
Tethered: Brands launching deodorant, then sunscreen, then supplements, then candles because "wellness blur is trending" and they're chasing every shiny object instead of galloping toward mission.
Wild: Selena Gomez showing up as herself for Rare Beauty, not performing "founder theatre," just existing as the actual human behind the brand.
Tethered: Celebrity founders who announce launches on Instagram and then disappear until the next funding round needs PR.
The difference isn't budget. It isn't scale. It isn't even success. It's conviction vs. compliance.
馬到成功: Speed + precision as strategy
Here's what the phrase actually teaches: 馬到成功 isn't about moving fast. It's about moving with directed force.
A horse galloping toward something specific vs. a brand flailing between trends.
Three characteristics of 馬到成功 brands
1. Velocity of expression (not just production)
Traditional beauty operates on 18-month product development cycles. By the time the trend report becomes the brief becomes the prototype becomes the launch, the cultural moment has passed.
Horse brands move differently. They respond culturally, not just commercially.
When Rhode launched Pocket Blush, it wasn't because market research identified a gap. It was because the herd was already asking for it. The velocity wasn't about rushing production; it was about cultural instinct meeting founder conviction meeting speed of expression.
Compare: Legacy prestige brands watching TikTok trends for 6 months, commissioning focus groups, developing "Gen Z strategy decks," launching products 18 months later to an audience that's already moved on.
Horse brands don't wait for permission. They run.
2. Precision in positioning
You know where you're going. You can articulate it in one sentence. You're not hedging.
Westman Atelier: Luxury clean beauty by a celebrity makeup artist with skin-first formulas. Crystal clear.
Moon Juice: Adaptogenic wellness queen Amanda Chantal Bacon, zero apology, zero dilution, zero corporate softening.
Aesop: Botanical skincare with literary sensibility and architectural retail. 37 years, same codes.
Now compare to brands that pivot positioning every 18 months:
"Clean beauty for millennials" → "Science-backed skincare" → "Wellness-meets-beauty" → "Dermatologist-developed solutions"
That's not evolution. That's flailing.
Horses run marathons, not sprints—but they run them in one direction.
3. Endurance through consistency
Here's the paradox: Horse brands move fast, but they don't rebrand every 3 years to "stay relevant."
They understand that cultural intelligence isn't about chasing every micro-trend. It's about knowing your codes deeply enough to stay consistent while the world shifts around you.
Aesop has the same design language, the same literary product descriptions, the same architectural retail philosophy it had in 1987. They don't pivot to millennial pink or dopamine colours or "coastal grandmother." They run their race—and the culture keeps catching up to them.
Byredo doesn't explain itself through founder story arcs or relatability content. Ben Gorham just keeps building: fragrance, then leather, then home, then eyewear. Same codes, different applications. That's endurance.
Ilia could have pivoted when "clean beauty" got trendy (and then controversial, and then oversaturated). Instead: same mission, deeper formulations, expanded category. Stayed the course.
The tethered rebrand when anxiety hits. The wild run harder.
The Fire horse framework: four diagnostic tensions
Want to know if your brand has Horse energy, or should lean in? Map yourself against these four tensions.
1. Wild vs. tethered
Ask: Is your brand running free or performing for approval?
Wild indicators:
Founder-led creative direction (even if founder isn't the designer)
Cultural positioning over aesthetic trends
Willing to be polarising
Community feels like herd, not audience you're extracting value from
Tethered indicators:
Every creative decision goes through testing, committees, approval chains
Positioning shifts based on what competitors are doing
Softening edges to avoid criticism
Audience metrics trump cultural instinct
Where to look:
Does your founder show up as themselves, or perform "founder content"?
Can you articulate your brand codes in one sentence, or does it take a deck?
When controversy hits, do you stand ground (or course-correct with intention), or immediately soften?
Examples:
Wild: Into The Gloss becoming Glossier. Community became product development. No committee, no testing, just: "What does the herd want? Let's build it."
Tethered: Brands with huge Instagram followings but zero cultural cohesion. Customers, not believers.
2. Speed vs. flailing
Ask: Is your movement purposeful or reactive?
Speed indicators:
Fast to cultural moments (not trends)
Product development aligned with brand codes (not market gaps)
Can say NO to opportunities that don't serve the mission
Flailing indicators:
Launching products because "everyone else is"
Expanding into categories because they're trending
Saying yes to every retail opportunity, every collaboration, every PR moment
The key difference: One gallops toward mission. One chases every shiny object.
Examples:
Speed: Summer Fridays started with Jet Lag Mask, a cult product born from founder Marianna Hewitt's actual beauty ritual. Then expanded thoughtfully into skincare aligned with the same codes: effortless, effective, elevated. That's directed velocity.
Flailing: Brands with 47 SKUs across 8 categories within 3 years. Not expansion, panic.
3. Power vs. force
Ask: Is your authority natural or manufactured?
Power indicators:
Founder voice isn't diluted through "brand voice"
PR doesn't sound like every other beauty press release
Cultural credibility earned through consistency, not claimed through marketing
Force indicators:
Wellness brands using clinical language to sound "science-backed" when formulas are basic
Celebrity founders who show up for launch PR and then vanish
Brands claiming "clean" or "sustainable" without infrastructure to back it
Examples:
Power: Rare Beauty's approach to mental health isn't a campaign, it's embedded in business model (1% pledge), product design (accessible packaging), and founder presence (Selena Gomez actually talking about her experience).
Force: Mental health awareness campaigns that run for a month, generate PR, and then disappear until next May. BYEEEEE
4. Freedom vs. loneliness
Ask: Are you independent but community-oriented?
Horse energy isn't about isolation. Wild horses run in herds.
Freedom indicators:
Community built around shared codes (not just product fandom)
Education and storytelling create belonging
Independence doesn't mean doing everything alone
Loneliness indicators:
DTC brands with followers but no believers
Founder operating in isolation without collaborators, advisors, community
Brand codes so niche or opaque that no one else can participate
Examples:
Freedom: Ceremonia educating customers about Latin American hair rituals, ancestral ingredients, cultural heritage. The community doesn't just buy products—they become evangelists for the intelligence behind them.
Loneliness: Beautifully designed brands with impeccable aesthetics and zero cultural cohesion. People buy once, never come back, can't articulate why they chose you over anyone else.
The difference: Horses build territory. Lonely riders just pass through
Fire element strategy for 2026
So what does the Fire in Fire Horse actually mean for brands this year?
In Chinese cosmology, Fire amplifies: passion, innovation, brightness, assertiveness, leadership. It brings visibility, heat, intensity. It rewards boldness but demands grounding.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
1. Amplify founder voice
2026 rewards visible leadership, not "founder story" buried in the About section, but active, present, opinionated human leadership.
This doesn't mean performing. It means showing up.
Violette Serrat teaching French makeup techniques on Instagram, unfiltered and unapologetic
Hailey Bieber responding to community requests in real-time, moving Rhode with cultural instinct
Gwyneth Paltrow doubling down on Goop's POV despite mockery
The Fire element doesn't hide. Neither should you.
2. Take creative risks
Anti-fluency aesthetics are rising. Bold, disruptive visual language. Refusal of the algorithm's beige.
Aesop's synaesthetic collaborations (translating scent into visual abstraction with Jack Coulter)
Pat McGrath's glass-skin mask look for Maison Margiela
Brands that let consumers interpret, not prescribe
Fire energy doesn't explain itself. It provokes.
3. Speed to expression
Not just product launches - cultural commentary.
Move between categories (beauty, wellness, ritual, art, home) when your codes allow it. Don't wait for permission.
Byredo launching leather goods because the brand codes support it
Glossier (in comeback mode) potentially reclaiming the Into The Gloss editorial energy that made them wild in the first place
Rhode moving with the herd, not leading them on a leash
The Fire Horse year doesn't reward 18-month development cycles. It rewards instinct.
4. Community as co-creation
Herd building, not audience extraction.
The original Into The Gloss model: community became product development. Readers became believers. Conversation became commerce.
That's horse energy. Running together, not performing for spectators.
But fire demands grounding
Here's the catch: Fire without structure burns out.
馬到成功 isn't reckless velocity. It's directed force.
Movement with intention (not chaos)
Speed with precision (not reactivity)
Passion with strategy (not impulsiveness)
The brands doing this well in 2026:
Violette_FR expanding from makeup into skincare - category blur, yes, but grounded in French beauty codes. Not random. Intentional.
Ceremonia deepening ritual positioning without dilution. Not launching candles because "wellness" is trending. Staying rooted.
Rhode moving fast, but every move traceable back to: What does the community want? What do the brand codes allow? Where are we going?
That's the Fire Horse balance: Run fast. Run hard. But know where you're galloping.
The question
2026 doesn't ask if you're ready. It asks if you're already running.
Are you galloping toward something specific? Or trotting in circles waiting for permission?
馬到成功 isn't about being the fastest brand in beauty. It's about knowing where you're going and moving with grace. Achieving success swiftly and smoothly, not because you're hustling harder, but because you're not second-guessing the route.
The Fire Horse year rewards:
Directed velocity over scattered hustle
Cultural intelligence over trend compliance
Independence with community
Founder-led conviction over committee design
Movement with purpose over motion for motion's sake
Some brands are horses. Some are performing horses. The difference? One runs because it must. The other performs because it's tethered.
Which one are you?
Let's stay connected
Hi! I'm Paula Ironside, and I'm so glad you made it here. I'm the founder of Hunter & Florence (my newly launched baby 💛), a strategic brand consultancy based in Oslo working with wellness and beauty founders across Europe.
My thing? Helping brands build with cultural intelligence and authentic positioning, structure and soul, not cookie-cutter DTC formulas.
Every week, I'm publishing deep dives like this one: cultural frameworks, brand strategy breakdowns, positioning tools you can actually use. If you want these insights delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe below.
And if you're a founder or work in this space, genuinely, send me a DM. I'd love to hear your story, your ideas, or explore ways we could collaborate. Community first, always.
Because it's better when we gallop together. 🐴
xx P
