Argentum Apothecary founder Joy Isaacs never expected her brand to become a phenomenon in China, but social media renown has a funny habit of shifting expectations.
In 2015, Chinese singer Faye Wong’s 9-year-old daughter posted a picture of her mother’s vanity featuring Argentum’s La Potion Infinie. “Everyone was very interested in what beauty products this very beautiful lady was using. And, of course, our jar was front and center of her dressing table,” recounts Isaacs. “The demand came thick and fast.”
Argentum was interested in capitalizing on the demand, but, at the time, wasn’t sure how to comply with Chinese cosmetics regulations without animal testing, which the brand refuses to do. Back then, cross-border e-commerce was a workaround to the animal testing policy. The policy has since been eliminated, but Argentum relied on the cross-border e-commerce model until its elimination.
“Now our product is CFDA [China Food & Drug Administration]-registered and available on the ground in China,” says Isaacs. “This has massively opened up our growth.”
When Argentum originally entered China, it had multiple distributors on various platforms and in several regions. It had a team member in London, where it’s based, and a team member in Shanghai liaise with them. Argentum had been advised to take that approach to cover as much of China as possible. However, it became rather chaotic.
“Turns out, this can cause enormous friction,” says Isaacs. She continues that, with authorized resellers and sub-distributors in the mix, “it ended up being a real struggle to keep pricing in check, not to mention the destructive competition created between the different partners we were working with.”
Ultimately, Argentum inked an exclusive partnership with luxury beauty brand group Ushopal, which acquired a minority stake in the brand in 2020. Founded in 2017, Ushopal bills itself as “the fastest growing brand management group in China” and specializes in scaling gen Z-oriented luxury brands. After forging a relationship with Ushopal, Isaacs says Argentum’s business in China stabilized.
In 2022, the brand was acquired by Ushopal. In 2021, Ushopal closed a $100 million funding round that pushed its total funding to $200 million. Among its investors are FountainVest Partners, Cathay Capital, Zhongyuan Capital, Hengxu Capital and Dazhong Zhongsong Fund. Last year, the publication Women’s Wear Daily reported Ushopal is aiming for an initial public offering.
Isaacs says, “We stayed indie for as long as possible, not because that’s always the best route, but because I had to let the brand mature enough before we took on a growth acceleration.” Since the acquisition, Argentum has doubled its global footprint. In 2022, it surpassed $50 million in retail sales, and it anticipates registering record sales growth in 2023.
“The China beauty market is fascinating, and I am so happy it has ended up being our strongest,” says Isaacs. “Having investors that understand and know your most important market is crucial. Ushopal are global growth accelerators and are also our Asia distributor, so they understand our business from a grassroots perspective. They give us immeasurable support as we scale our growth globally.”
“The China beauty market is fascinating, and I am so happy it has ended up being our strongest.”
In 2022, Ushopal-owned luxury beauty retailer Bonnie & Clyde opened a store at the Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex in Sanya. Popular with tourists, the city is on China’s Hainan Island. The store features four luxury beauty brands in Ushopal’s portfolio: Argentum, Bulk Homme, Juliette Has a Gun and Natura Bissē.
Additionally in 2022 Argentum opened a flagship skincare and fragrance shop with a café in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood. At the store, Isaacs says, “We are able to physically share the magical world of Argentum in the most beautiful, convivial environment.”
Shoppers in the flagship receive guidance in choosing a scent from the brand’s latest launch, its Archetype fragrance collection. They can pull a custom oracle card from a deck that has cards representing each of the 12 scents in the collection. There’s a virtual version of the card-pull for online shoppers.
The collection was in development for seven years. Isaacs says, “Because our formulations are bespoke, with the added uniqueness of our patent, we can take years to launch a single product with upwards of 35 to 40 iterations.” Argentum’s patent involves the combination of silver hydrosol with hyper polymerised deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA HP), a marine-based polymer that has hydrating and antioxidant properties.
The Archetype collection’s scents fall into four categories: Fire, Air, Earth and Water. The perfumer is Inspiration Libre’s Delphine Thierry. The fragrances are housed in custom black bottles with tight-fitting fragrance lids and an atomizer that’s easy to unscrew. The bottles are intended to protect the perfume from light damage and extend its shelf life. Enclosed in the lip of the lids is a sterling silver talisman that’s meant to be worn. The fragrances are priced at 228 pounds or about $281.
The fragrance development process involved a patented water plant emulsion technology. According to Isaacs, the technology gives the fragrances the longevity of eau de parfum without the alcohol or solvents. “It was important to us that we created scent which is kind to skin and hair,” she says. “All our products are cohesive and reflective of our values of beauty in balance.”
The bestsellers in the fragrance collection are currently Lover, with key notes of raspberry, rose, pink peppercorns; Magician, a spicy blend of cedar wood, myrrh, and black pepper; and Ruler, which has lemon, ginger and tuberose. Next month, Argentum plans to introduce the Archetype collection to Asia, where the bestsellers could change.
“This is a growing category that is starting to capture the imagination of the Chinese customer, although skincare is still No. 1. We believe our Archetype fragrances will resonate perfectly with gen Z,” says Isaacs, emphasizing, “We are looking forward to seeing Chinese tourism recover as we have certainly felt its loss over the last few years.”
“I never planned to move toward beauty. It moved toward me in an unexpected way.”
Just as Chinese consumers’ acceptance of Argentum was a surprise to Isaacs, so was her entrance into the beauty industry to begin with. “I never planned to move toward beauty. It moved toward me in an unexpected way,” she says. “I awoke one morning from a dream about using silver in skincare. I knew there was something more to it.”
Before that fateful 2010 dream, Isaacs had left a marketing job at the luxury menswear brand Gieves & Hawkes to become a full-time mom. She previously had a few entrepreneurial ideas, but none moved her the way the idea of putting silver in skincare did. Although it occurred to her in a dream, the idea wasn’t completely out of the blue. Growing up in South Africa, Isaacs’ mother sprayed colloidal silver to treat injuries.
For the next two years, Isaacs poured her energy into developing a versatile face cream. “I wanted to create a product that stripped out all the layers,” she says. “Something that could be used on the face, eyes and neck—a multitasking product that had multiple functions to support the overall health of your skin and any concerns around that. Now we have created it with our patented formula.”
Argentum launched in 2012 with a single hero product, La Potion Infinie, a restorative day and night cream designed to fight fine lines and wrinkles, acne, blemishes, pigmentation and inflammation. Its aforementioned patented ingredient complex has hydrating and antioxidant properties. The unisex product is for all skin types.
From one product, Argentum’s assortment has expanded to around 40 stockkeeping units across skincare, accessories and fragrance, everything from a silver soothing tonic water priced at 82 pounds or about $101 to an illuminating silver cleansing bar priced at 82 pounds or about $102 and a silver cosmetic spatula priced at 97 pounds or about $120. In 2014, Argentum bowed on Net-a-Porter, but it’s primarily sold in direct-to-consumer distribution.
Argentum has partnered on and off with retailers in the United States such as Project Gaia New York City and Carasoin in Los Angeles, but Isaacs remarks it hasn’t “fully dived” into the market. “There’s a feeling of wanting to make a splash,” she says. “And, for that, the timing has to be right. Having said that, sometimes you need to open up and just start. So, that is what we plan to do.”
For the U.S. expansion, the brand is leading with luxury fragrance. It’s not a strategy Isaacs would likely employ elsewhere, but she asserts the category is “where all the buzz is at” in the U.S.
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