It was with surprisingly little fanfare that Canadian beauty and skincare company Deciem opened the doors to its London flagship store in Old Spitalfields Market last month. Surprising, because if the Internet’s reaction to ‘The Abnormal Beauty Company’ and its range of innovative but affordable skincare brands is anything to go by, The Queen herself should have turned up for a cleanse/tone/moisturise.
Founded in 2013 by Toronto-based serial skincare entrepreneur Brandon Truaxe, Deciem is an umbrella to brands like NIOD and The Ordinary that aim to shake up the beauty industry through innovative, functional products that don’t cost the earth.
Deciem really hit the heights in the UK midway through last year with The Ordinary, a line of 10 high-performance serums priced from £4 to £12.70 that, by all accounts, work just as well as their far more expensive counterparts.
All the formulas are kept simple, with just one or two active ingredients per serum so the brand is able to formulate and sell each at a price that is less than what most people spend on lunch, sending beauty fans into meltdown and, eventually, on to waiting lists for most of the range.
Alongside The Ordinary, lesser known brands that have amassed their own cult followings include ‘dermal science’ cult range NIOD, anti-aging favourite Hylamide, men’s body products AB Crew, and haircare line HIF (Hair is Fabric).
Initially available online, Deciem’s opened the doors to its first ever London flagship on 10 March following successful bricks and mortar launches in Canada, Australia, Mexico and Korea. It joins a quietly expanding cohort of big name beauty brands based out of the shopfronts lining Spitalfields Market, with MAC, Benefit, Jo Malone and Bobbi Brown among those jostling for a slice of the ‘lunch hour shop’ from occupants of the offices surrounding Liverpool Street.
Truaxe, however, was far more romantic about the reasons for his decision to set up shop in Spitalfields. “I haven’t experienced love at first sight too often because I generally overthink everything – but a rare occurrence of such form of love happened when I first visited the Old Spitalfields Market many years ago,” he says.
“The humble beauty of the environment, the people, the buildings, and the large amount of calorie-rich nutrition St John Bread and Wine had just finished serving made me do what has never worked for me in business: make an emotional business decision. “If you run into me in the area, it is very likely I will hug you.” Let’s just hope for his sake The Queen doesn’t stop by.
Deciem, 18 Lamb Street E1 6EA
