The Art Of Shaving Co-Founders Shutter Clean Skincare Brand Ingredients

Ingredients, the clean skincare brand from The Art of Shaving co-founders Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka compared to The Ordinary and The Inkey List for its ingredient transparency, is shuttering after three years on the market. 

The beauty industry has its fair share of serial entrepreneurs—think Jones Road founder Bobbi Brown, Caliray founder Wendi Zomnir, Neen founder Jeanine Lobell, Beauty Pie founder Marcia Kilgore and All Golden Beauty founder Sarah Kugelman—but Ingredients’ demise demonstrates that nothing is a given in it, and even the most seasoned founders face immense challenges navigating a tough landscape for brands. Elevated customer acquisition costs, fast trend cycles, the expense of retail, brand proliferation and funding constraints are squeezing brands of all sizes and pushing many to call it a day.

LOLI Beauty, Supernal and SunKiss Organics are among beauty brands that closed prior to Ingredients. Similar to Ingredients, they were impacted by consumer preferences shifting from clean and sustainable to clinical skincare as well as the debilitating macro conditions. 

“We had a clear vision, a product line we were proud of and a loyal customer base, but scaling a niche brand in today’s hyper-competitive market is no easy task,” says Zaoui. “Sometimes staying true to your values means recognizing when it’s time to step back and reassess the best way to bring your mission to life.” She adds, “Many consumers express concern for health and the environment, but their purchasing habits often lean toward products that promise immediate results regardless of formulation. Greenwashing only further complicated our efforts.”

Zaoui and Malka are turning their attention back to Strategy Brand Investments, an angel investment vehicle they established in 2014 and stepped away from in 2021 to run Ingredients. It typically invests in founder-led brands in skincare, wellness and men’s grooming that haven’t yet reached the series A stage. In 2022, Strategy Brand Investments exited investments in skincare brands Dr. Loretta and Cosmedical Technologies. Zaoui created Dr. Loretta in 2018 with dermatologist Loretta Ciraldo. Last year, it invested in men’s haircare brand Jack Henry. Barbarino, an Italian men’s grooming brand and barbershop chain, entered its portfolio this year.

Ingredients kicked off with 16 products priced from $18 to $48 across skincare, body care, personal care and wellness, making it more expensive than The Inkey List and The Ordinary. Each product was formulated with eight or fewer active ingredients sourced from around the world. The brand was out to provide the cleanest plant-based formulations as transparently as possible. 

Ingredient lists and concentration percentages were printed directly on the packaging of Ingredients’ products in a move Zaoui touts as “an industry first.” The brand regularly audited its suppliers to ensure ingredient purity and ethical and sustainable farming practices. “It was one of the most ambitious projects Eric and I have incubated,” says Zaoui. “We wanted to disrupt the clean beauty industry.” 

Ingredients’ main problems were due to execution rather than conception, according to Zaoui. She pinpoints that its biggest problem was an aggressive launch strategy in which the brand over-invested in direct-to-consumer distribution and over-expanded in retail distribution. In its first year, Ingredients landed at over 100 retailers in the United States and Canada, including Beauty Heroes, Onda Beauty, Verishop and Hudson’s Bay. It also traveled to the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Australia. 

Zaoui says, “By the time we understood what we needed to do to be successful, we had already invested $1.7 million into the business.” 

In hindsight, she recognizes its initial assortment was too broad and a tighter collection would’ve allowed it to better test and learn from its audience in advance of large commitments to product development. Ingredients’ bestsellers were $38 Plant Water Mist, $36 Face Cleanser and $48 Face Serum. It had planned to branch into haircare, sexual wellness and oral care.

Describing Ingredients as “one of the most sustainable and clean brands” in beauty, David Pirotta, founder of David Pirotta Brands, a brand management, distribution and logistics agency that worked with Zaoui and Malka on Ingredients, The Art of Shaving and Dr. Loretta, identifies packaging design as the brand’s principal issue. “It wasn’t captivating and didn’t speak to the end consumer. It was a bit too clinical and drab,” he says. “Consumers are looking for brands that bring them joy, that have strong identities and a strong sense of who they are.”

Ingredients’ revenues decreased in 2022 and 2023. Zaoui and Malka, who sold The Art of Shaving to Proctor & Gamble in 2009 for an estimated $60 million, explored selling the brand to at least three different companies earlier this year, and a deal never materialized. Unwilling to keep pumping money into the struggling brand, Zaoui and Malka decided to cut their losses. Ingredients is currently discounting its products up to 80% on its website to clear remaining inventory. 

“We strongly believe Ingredients has tremendous potential, but we had to ask ourselves, are we willing to do what it takes to build this brand?” says Zaoui. “We realized that, at this stage of our life, we are no longer interested in operating a brand directly, especially a startup.”