Sisterly on the move, from London to LA

One brand shaking things up in the booming world of essential beauty supplements is Sisterly, which has been staging pop-ups and activations from London to LA.

Last month, it debuted in Harrods’s beauty section alongside brands like Armani and Augustinus Bader. Uber model Jade Parfait, a huge fan, starred in Sisterly’s campaign, which was shot by Alex Antich and displayed on big screens in the department store.

In February, Sisterly introduced the brand to the UAE. Back in October, Sisterly tag-teamed as the nutrient element to the venerable jewelry marque Boodles’ presentation at the St. Regis Hotel in New York.

Some 80% of sales are online, with shipping worldwide. The D2C brand scores 20% monthly sales rises and a 60% retention rate. Sisterly also sells in happening destinations like The Ned, Soho House, and Dr. Galyna’s famed Wellness Hub in London. Last month, British Vogue named the brand the best multivitamin for hormone health.

The brainchild of three Irishwomen – Jennifer O’Connell, Aoife Matthews and Louise O’Riordan, a lawyer, a banker and a brand expert, respectively – Sisterly has stood out since its launch thanks to its cult following on the West Coast and its highly distinctive packaging. Think The Row of sensible yet chic supplements.

“During Covid, when I was in LA, Aoife in Madrid and Jennifer in Dublin, we’d get on a friend-check Zoom – sharing checks and tips about staying healthy,” explains Louise O’Riordan, an expert PR and marketing executive who cut her teeth with Nadine Johnson in New York, was a global brand officer of Quintessentially, and latterly handled LA’s fashion-friendly insider hotel Petit Ermitage.

In LA, where biohacking is rife, O’Riordan could not help noticing how clients in the VIP Club Boutique of Petit Ermitage were packing themselves with the popular longevity drug NAD or spending $450 for cell renewal.

“I would see friends taking eight tablets a day, and we could not find anything we could afford or relate to. We all shared a common frustration with the supplement space. What’s clean and what’s synthetic? Most multi-nutrients are designed for men. Then they shrink and pink them. But the female body does a lot more things,” she opines.

Pulling together resources, Sisterly formed a crack quartet of doctors, food scientists, female health specialists, and powder makers and surveyed 200 women to find out what they were looking for. Energy was very much the number one answer.

“Everyone is feeling the juggle of job, family, health, so women needed something to provide energy, immunity, hormonal balance and beauty,” explains O’Riordan.

The result is Sisterly, a daily supplement that packs 23 nutrients. It is optimally dosed, female-focused, and without fillers, agents, or sugar. It contains key hero ingredients like CoQ10, a coenzyme that turns food into energy.

“At 20, our CoQ10 is at peak levels, and after 40, it’s half, and after 50, it’s a depressing story,” adds Louise.

Over the counter at Whole Foods, a supply of CoQ10 would cost €50 per month. With Sisterly, it’s just one of 23 ingredients included in a bundle priced at €86 per month. Other ingredients, such as biotin and zinc, are incredibly healthy for lustrous hair; vitamin C is for collagen formation and a bounce in your skin, while vitamin A supplies retinol to stop aging.

Sisterly’s pristine white packaging is designed not to jump out, unlike brash-colored supplements, which are quickly banished to the back of a kitchen cabinet. Its sachet is hygienic; its taste has a slight mandarin flavor. One puts it in water or juice in a morning ritual with a new, sleek Sisterly electric whisk.

The brand struck an immediate chord with health-obsessed LA and with serious athletes and nutritionists. Like Sonia O’Sullivan, the Olympic silver medalist and former world record holder, who has become a huge advocate for the marque. O’Sullivan now trains future Olympians in sport-obsessed Ireland, and Sisterly is sponsoring her next annual 10-mile run to Cove this weekend in Cork and sharing its training schedule on its Instagram account.

Meanwhile, Rio Olympian silver medalist Annalise Murphy is leading a Sisterly cycle from Dublin Yacht Club. Other Sisterly sisters stage a monthly swim and yoga class at the famed Forty Foot, the site of the opening scene of Ireland’s most famous novel – Ulysses, by James Joyce.

The trio launched Sisterly in September 2023 in Dublin’s classiest hotel, The Merrion, and now sells in the Irish capital’s top department store, Brown Thomas. The Merrion Spa even provides Sisterly’s Elevator Spa Treatment, tag-teamed with premier French marque Biologique Recherche products.

“Sisterly is for our mothers, sisters, girlfriends and ourselves. That’s our North Star. We are a one-product brand that love hearing people say, ‘Have you taken your Sisterly today?'” insists the voluble O’Riordan.

Talking of elevation, Boodles also partnered with Britain’s most exciting racing week, Cheltenham, to create an “elevated bar,” where a supply of bubbly led to Sisterly Mimosas in champagne. And it’s staged talks with nutritionists and fashion editors with sustainable body care brand Bamford. Though globe-trotting, Sisterly’s next stop is again LA, where producer, writer and all-around it-girl Kinvara Balfour will host a breakfast for the brand in LA.

Any chance of a Brotherly sachet soon, one wonders? “Watch this space. But we have registered the name,” chuckles Louise.