The topic of skincare has at all times been a private one to Coreenna Ong, who used to expertise extreme outbreaks in her teenage years. In an effort to discover a product that labored for her, she ended up experimenting with blends of herbs, which led to her fascination with nature.
Established in September 2021, aspurely — previously generally known as Recherché — is an innovation-focused clear skincare model impressed by nature and science, with a deal with the utilization of pure, efficacious substances and formulation.
It goals to specific the imaginative and prescient that magnificence care may be clear, pure, holistic and excessive efficiency on the similar time.
“[W]e would love for folks to expertise how our clear and pure formulation might ship nice outcomes for his or her pores and skin whatever the pores and skin issues they could be going through,” shares Coreenna, co-founder and director of analysis and growth (R&D) of aspurely.
Gaining information and insights about skincare
Coreenna’s journey to founding aspurely was a protracted and treacherous, however fulfilling course of.
She shares that she first met her enterprise companion, who was in chemical manufacturing, in 1997 when she forayed into the skincare business. In these early years, she visited farms in Europe, China, Korea and Taiwan to find out about harvesting and processing methods.
With the assistance of her enterprise companion, she managed to kind in depth connections with a world community of scientists and laboratories, permitting her to realize extra information and insights into the scientific and technical facets of formulation and high quality management processes.
She then made the hassle to use her information and educate others on skincare by way of her work, the place she was a magnificence columnist for Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s largest Chinese language-language newspaper.
“As its weekly professional contributor, I shared the most recent analysis and applied sciences from the wonder business and addressed many readers’ skincare points and issues, providing magnificence suggestions, fast fixes, and insider information”.
She additionally authored two best-selling magnificence and wellness books with Marshall Cavendish: Nature’s Spa: DIY Magnificence Therapies and Nature’s Treats: Recipes for Wellness.
By way of this journey, she observed that some had the misperception that clear skincare shouldn’t be as efficient as standard skincare as a result of it’s “too pure”.
This hole in understanding was what finally drove her to discover this enterprise enterprise, in efforts to dispel the misperception by proving that clear skincare may be simply as environment friendly.
Aspurely’s skincare philosophy: concord and symphony
Aspurely believes that persons are all born with pure, pristine pores and skin.
Nonetheless, folks’s existence finally trigger doable alterations in DNA, inflicting the pores and skin to be in want of a treatment. The meals that we devour, the quantity of sleep earned, the quantity of stress surrounding oneself, are some components that may have an effect on one’s pores and skin well being.
“Whereas important life-style habits are laborious to vary, taking small steps to look after our pores and skin each day might go a great distance in enhancing pores and skin wellness,” says Coreenna.
She provides that by practising each day mindfulness and consciousness of what we give to our our bodies corresponding to skincare, the consequences of environmental stressors may be mitigated with a purpose to enhance wellbeing.
Specifically, aspurely’s skincare merchandise comprise lively substances that may assist management and regulate components that have an effect on epigenetics and pores and skin high quality, corresponding to pores and skin detox, renewal and restore cycles. They’re additionally hypoallergenic, which helps keep away from the set off of pores and skin allergy symptoms.
Their merchandise rejuvenate the pores and skin on the DNA degree by reactivating key gene expression, fibroblasts stimulation and mobile defences which might be wanted to keep up the pores and skin’s DNA at a wholesome, optimum state.
aspurely seeks to offer one coherent, harmonious symphony of advantages to at least one’s pores and skin by way of its clear merchandise. In line with Coreenna, they “faucet on the artwork and science of synergy, the place the sum of components produce mixed results larger than the sum of their separate results.”
Just like how every sort of herb utilized in Conventional Chinese language Medication have their very own particular person capabilities however play complementary roles to one another when mixed, this synergy that aspurely incorporates into its skincare merchandise seeks to realize an incidence the place formulation work together harmoniously to convey out the very best in each other.
The ultimate, totally mixed components would then be efficient and useful to the person, restoring concord and steadiness to the person’s physique and thoughts.
“That is what synergy is all about — and that is the heartbeat of our formulation methodology and every part else we do at aspurely,” says Coreenna, including that whereas there are key substances in every components, there isn’t any one “star” ingredient.
“To us, every ingredient we’ve rigorously chosen to be a part of a components is a star in its personal proper. Every ingredient has an necessary motive to be there — to work along with the opposite substances to make sure the ultimate components delivers the very best outcomes for you.”
With a novel philosophy on skincare, aspurely units itself aside from different skincare manufacturers, whereas additionally guaranteeing that solely all-natural preservatives constructed from eco-certified botanicals and vegetation are utilized in formulation to eradicate microbial contamination and product security.
The tip product? Environmentally-friendly, cruelty-free, skin-friendly merchandise that ship seen outcomes persons are searching for.
Behind the scenes
Coreenna is passionately concerned with R&D, and has 25 years of expertise beneath her belt in skincare product growth. She emphasises that merchandise are totally examined earlier than getting into markets.
In addition to in-vitro assessments and lab screening assessments to determine the security and efficacy of the substances, to verify our merchandise will ship what they’re created to ship, they’re examined on human volunteers for a interval of three to 6 months the place we collect quantitative and qualitative information and suggestions.
Usually, the R&D course of takes about [six] to [nine] months for every product, relying on the product sort and the supposed function of the product.
– Coreenna Ong, co-founder and director of R&D of aspurely
One in every of its best-selling product is the Pure Amino Acid Cleaning Foam, which doesn’t have any low-cost sulfates and substances in its formulation.
Despite the fact that their merchandise could also be thought-about dear (costs begin from S$49 for a cleaning foam), product high quality is assured. Their merchandise make use of uncooked supplies and actives from pure sources that comply with stringent high quality management and security protocols.
“Lots of the substances that we use are COSMOS and ECOCERT licensed. So far as doable, we additionally select supplies which might be organically produced. Such substances and supplies don’t come low cost, in comparison with mass-produced petroleum-based supplies,” explains Coreenna.
Moreover, these sources are sustainability cultivated and processed utilizing strategies to make sure minimal carbon footprint. Product packaging can also be made biodegradable to cut back environmental impression on the setting.
Challenges of being “made-in-Singapore”
Gaining shopper base and assist proved to be difficult for aspurely. As a “made-in-Singapore” skincare model, they needed to compete in opposition to many greater and worldwide rivals.
She recollects that it was troublesome to beat shopper hesitancy as homegrown skincare manufacturers weren’t in style amongst customers.
Folks are inclined to belief established European, US or Japanese manufacturers. It was an uphill activity making an attempt to get folks to grasp that made-in-Singapore skincare is not any much less superior.
I used to be even suggested by many shut associates to only label our merchandise as ‘Made in France/USA/Japan’, for the sake of gaining simpler shopper acceptance, particularly [when we are] a brand new, unheard-of-brand. Nonetheless, be it nationwide satisfaction or private conviction, I refused to do this. Therefore, it was an enormous problem to beat folks’s mindsets.
– Coreenna Ong, co-founder and director of R&D of aspurely
Coreenna, who first ventured into the skincare business in 1998, additionally notes that the prevalence of social media was not as robust as current occasions. Efforts to promote have been futile, for promoting campaigns of bigger firms rapidly overpowered theirs.
“[W]e needed to begin selling inside our personal speedy members of the family, shut buddies and family members and requested them to assist unfold the phrase,” she says. This methodology proved to be efficient for them, as word-of-mouth promoting helped to construct the concept that they have been promoting really efficient skincare merchandise.
Finally, folks got here to just accept their skincare merchandise as aspurely lived as much as its title of delivering seen outcomes.
“At present, greater than 20 years later, it’s heartening to see many different made-in-Singapore skincare manufacturers making their mark on the worldwide stage,” says Coreenna, including that she was glad that she caught to labelling aspurely as a homegrown model.
Venturing into well being and well-being
When COVID-19 hit, Coreenna talked about that regardless of going through points just like the escalating price of enterprise operations and uncooked supplies — with the latter rising by as a lot as 20 per cent previously two years — it enabled them to change into extra versatile by way of the decentralisation of their enterprise operations and specializing in strengthening their web site gross sales.
Regardless of the COVID challenges, Aspurely has been steadily rising. A few of the companions they’ve established partnerships with embody KrisShop, Thomson Medical Centre, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Treasured Medical Group, Zest Clinic and Balanced Dwelling.
Sharing future enterprise plans, Coreenna says that moreover their topical and edible skincare, they’re looking for to proceed creating well being and well-being merchandise which might be clear and freed from components and fillers.
Aspurely additionally plans to work with aesthetic clinics and holistic well-being centres, as they deem them as appropriate channels wherein they’ll share and unfold their message of unpolluted magnificence and well-being in a scientific, attention-grabbing and academic manner.
“We imagine that magnificence is greater than pores and skin deep. True magnificence is one thing that radiates from inside our innermost being. Meaning the well being and well-being of our physique and thoughts performs an enormous half too,” sums up Coreenna.
Featured Picture Credit score: aspurely
