Au naturel
Lush
IT'S back. Lush, the cosmetics brand known for handmade soaps so fragrant that you often smell a store before you see it, will be teasing olfactory glands in Singapore once again with a 600 sq ft outlet set to open in the basement of Wisma Atria this November.
The all-natural UK cosmetics brand first appeared in Singapore in 1998 with two large outlets in Wisma Atria and Suntec City. It quickly garnered a strong local following but pulled out in 2001 due to an alleged conflict between its local partners.
The new store will be under a completely different management this time. Singaporean Nafees Khundker - together with his wife and cousin - is the sole licensee for the brand in Singapore and the plan is to open at least seven outlets here in the next five years.
The trio contacted Lush's UK head office with its interest to bring the brand to Singapore more than a year ago and was selected from among 100 other local licensee-hopefuls last August. The UK office will have a 35 per cent stake in local operations, while Mr Khundker and his team own the other 65 per cent.
Lush was founded in Poole in the UK's Dorset region in 1995 by husband-and-wife pair Mark and Margaret Constantine, who had been supplying soap and bath products to The Body Shop for more than a decade. Inspired by German cheese shops and fish counters, the founders opted for a deli-style approach to their store, which means soaps are displayed in chunks resembling cheese blocks, sold by the weight and packaged in greaseproof wrapping paper.
The Singapore store is expected to stock the whole line of Lush products - which have giggle-worthy names like Honey I Washed the Kids and Happy Hippy - and talks are underway to also line their shelves with Lush's full perfume range, which is rarely carried outside of the UK.
Local price tags will be comparable to those in Lush's other outlets in Asia, says Mr Khundker, starting from about $5 for a "bath bomb", or a dissolvable sphere of bubble bath salts, to slightly more than $100 for a 30ml bottle of Imogen Rose perfume.
The brand's eco-conscious emphasis on minimal packaging - customers can opt for gift items to be wrapped with recycled scarves rather than layers of plastic wrap - also means that extra care has to go into air-freighting the products over from the UK.
For items with shorter shelf lives, such as fresh face masks which have a 30-day use-by limit, Mr Khundker plans to lease an air-conditioned office here where professionally trained staff can prepare them from scratch using imported ingredients. "Because 60 per cent of our products don't contain any preservatives, their maximum shelf life is at most six months," he says.
A former banker of 16 years, Mr Khundker says he met with a steep learning curve in adapting to the brand's business philosophy: "In banking, it's only about profit, profit, profit, but Lush is all about doing everything ethically. It is a whole lifestyle change for us."
For example, the Lush head office prescribes that all furniture for their stores must be sourced from wood suppliers who are not illegally cutting down trees, that all its employees' business cards be printed on recycled paper and that only fair-trade and organic coffee be provided for shop staff and vegetarian food served at any business events. Even the cleaning liquids used in stores must be made from natural products, says Mr Khundker.
To fully get on board with the brand's philosophy, Mr Khundker and his wife spent two weeks with the brand's UK headquarters earlier this month. Besides donning the brand's uniform to work the retail floor for about four days "to fully understand the unique story behind each product", the couple also met the brand's founders and got a glimpse of their frugal lifestyle despite the brand's growth into a global network spanning 700 shops in 46 countries.
Says Mr Khundker, who has switched to using only Lush products since discovering the brand several years ago in Dubai: "Lush is all about passion. There is a honest and consistent philosophy behind it, which I think more Singaporeans are starting to appreciate, and it's much cheaper than other similar big brands out there today."
Nail it right
SpaRitual
VEGANISM is not just a lifestyle choice when it comes to food. Now, you can opt to go vegan when it comes to painting your nails too.
Since July this year, eco-friendly Hollywood cult brand SpaRitual has been slowly making its way into high-end spas and nail salons in Singapore. All of its nail and bodycare products have been certified by the US to be organic and "vegan", meaning they are not tested on animals and are free from animal by-products, synthetic dyes and carcinogenic chemicals such as formaldehyde and toluene. Its products' packaging is also made from recycled materials.
"Like the concept of slow food, there has been an increased appreciation of 'slow beauty' in Singapore in recent years. People care more about the processes that go into their beauty products as they do the end result and take the time to find out about them," says Jamie Kao, marketing executive for SpaRitual Singapore.
SpaRitual is the high-end offshoot of Orly International, the nailcare brand which popularised French manicure in the 70s. The fashion photography background of its founder Shel Pink, who is also the daughter-in-law of Orly founder Jeff Pink, is evident in the brand's chicly designed bottles and publicity materials.
Angelyn Lim, SpaRitual's local importer and distributor, said she was initially hesitant about branching out into nail products because they were "too mass market", but realised "after seeing how many people here have poorly kept and damaged nails" that there was a demand, particularly among the increasingly well-travelled top-end of the market who have life philosophies similar to those championed by SpaRitual.
Ms Lim met Ms Pink in Washington DC last year and discussed bringing it here. The brand is currently stocked at high-end spas at Traders Hotel and the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. Products retail from $13 for a 13ml mini bottle of nail lacquer to $94 for a 30ml bottle of hand serum.
Said Ms Lim, a professionally trained aromatherapist, who is also a spa consultant: "Going to the spa can be seen as an education, which makes you more aware of your own health and the environment around you, rather than simply a form of relaxation."
SpaRitual's nail and bodycare products have been certified by the US to be organic and 'vegan', meaning they are not tested on animals and are free from animal by-products, synthetic dyes and carcinogenic chemicals.
Cell-deep beauty
Noesa
ITS products are so specialised that their ingredients even get their own self-prescribed names such as Alchemetics and Danadem.
According to luxury German skincare label Noesa, Danadem, which comprises phospolipids and ceramides naturally found in human skin, does better to nourish the skin than the regular creams available on the market, which merely supply the outermost layer skin with cream and water.
Alchemetics, on the other hand, are extracted from the biophotons produced naturally by wild-growing plants and work to stimulate cell growth and regeneration.
The combination of the two ingredients exclusive to the brand therefore work together to provide skincare based on "cell care", or caring for the skin by penetrating through to the bottom layer of the skin to feed and regenerate it from the inside out. On top of that, all products are made of completely natural substances and have no synthetic perfumes, dyes, silicons and additives.
Noesa was started in Berlin in 2004 by spiritual life coach Gerd Gerken after 10 years of experimentation and will be available locally once the brand launches its 1300 sq ft flagship store in soon-to-be-completed retail mall Scotts Square in December.
It currently has two outlets in Hong Kong, on top of its showroom cum headquarters in Berlin. But all this biologically driven beauty does not come cheap. Prices are expected to range between $150 and $400 for the basic cleansers, toners and moisturisers while its top-end Highness range of anti-ageing and lifting products can cost around $1,000 to $2,000 per bottle.
Writes Noesa founder, Gerken, on the company's website: "You should also care for the skin as you care for an organ. Nobody would think, for example, of painting their heart or their liver (organs as well) or carving them with a scalpel to 'optimise' its form."
