Ange Gardien was founded by Singapore-based company SCGE International. The company marked the launch of the brand with a range of fine fragrances that were unveiled last October.
The company had always intended on expanding the brand to include more products centred around women’s beauty and lifestyle.
Claudia See, branding director of Ange Gardien told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that since the pandemic hit, the company’s entire business and brand strategy has shifted remarkably.
“When we introduced the fragrances, it was straightforward. It was about helping women express their personality, it was very emotional. We focused a lot on the story behind the brand and products.”
The pandemic forced the company to make huge changes in a very short period of time.
“It was quite impressive how fast the team was able to adapt and change in such a short span of time. We had to change our products in terms of claims and functionality in March, so we were really working hard with our suppliers to change everything to accommodate to this situation for around six to seven months,” said See.
Staying relevant to the times
One of the major shifts the brand had to take was creating products that would fit into the ‘COVID lifestyle’, such as frequent use of protective face masks.
“In terms of product development, we had to tweak them to stay relevant to the current situation. For instance, we couldn’t launch lipsticks with a glossy texture – such a sticky product is no longer relevant, or viable even anymore due to the mask-wearing. So, we launched transfer-resistant lip lacquers instead,” said See.
In light of COVID-19, See said the brand would be emphasising a lot more on product functionality.
“The brand has transformed quite a bit this year. We going to highlight a lot more of the technology and formulations that have a lot of practical and relevant benefit to our consumers,” said See.
For instance, the company has incorporated skin care actives, such as acacia peptides in its lip sticks and vitamin A in its eyeshadows to cater to the increased interest in skin care and protection.
“We wanted our products to kill to birds with one stone, and who wouldn’t like a product that makes you look good while helping from a skin care perspective?” said See.
Despite the downturn in sales of colour cosmetics this year, the company decided to go ahead with the launch as it believes the category is poised to bounce back and has timed its launch exactly for that moment.
“We’re already seeing some countries easing their restrictions. People want to get back to normal life. Once they go back to work or school there will be the need to look good and feel good again. In fact, it will be even more compared to pre-COVID. We would like to catch that phase,” said See.
Future plans
Aside from Singapore, the company is also launching in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
For the next six months, the company is aiming to build its brand awareness in these markets.
Next, the company is aiming to release new colour cosmetic products every quarter in 2021.
“We never stop on the product development side of things. The pipeline is pretty tight for next year. We are looking into new launches every quarter. We can expect eye liners, eyebrow products and not forgetting the extension of our fragrance line,” said See.
Additionally, See revealed the company was currently working on a skin care line.
Though she remained coy about the details, See said the range is currently set to launch by the end of 2021.