‘Guilt-free beauty’: Porcelain launches first make-up line that is ‘rooted in skin care’

Founded in 2009, Porcelain is a facial spa founded by mother-daughter duo Jenny Teng and Pauline Ng. The company owns three outlets in prime locations and has developed a skin care range of products to complement its treatments.

In March, the company made its foray into colour cosmetics with the debut of its new brand Ukyo Beauty, a clean and minimalist beauty range.

“We have always preached going foundation-free and till today, we believe that because the ultimate goal for us is to help you get healthy skin from the inside out. Along the way, we learnt that our customers were looking for possible [make-up] solutions that doesn’t compromise on their skin care routine,”​ Ng told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.

She elaborated that there was a gap for make-up that could solve issues such as skin redness, uneven skin tone, and the appearance of tired skin while “allowing the skin to breath”.​

“We wanted to create something that can meet in-between – a product that can behave like a colour cosmetic but is at the same time rooted in skin care.”​

Ukyo launched with two products. The first was a colour correcting primer that claimed to minimise the appearance of redness while soothing, hydrating, and offering protection against external aggressors like UV rays and free radicals.

The next was a face powder available in two shades. that claim to smoothen and mattify the appearance of skin while also soothing and hydrating it.

According to Ng, this project has been five years in the making. The launch has been timely as consumers’ beauty routines have changed drastically over the COVID-19 pandemic, and there have been more demand for make-up that goes beyond skin deep.​

“There is an overall trend going in that direction, so you can say we got a bit lucky. Being too early into the game would require you to do a lot of education which is not easy for a small brand like ours. But now with these trends, customers are naturally driven to find these solutions.”​

Additionally, Ukyo taps into the clean beauty movement, which till now mostly focused on skin care products.

“Going clean is transferring into colour cosmetics, which is interesting. It’s all still very fresh, the whole space is new and I’m excited to see what’s next. I’m especially interested to see what other players are going to do, especially the big beauty brands,” ​said Ng.

With such a ‘fresh’ idea, the company is taking its time to learn what else consumers will want from it.

“This is a very new brand and concept, so we want to gather more customer feedback to understand what exactly they are looking for before we start to develop more products,”​ said Ng.

Furthermore, the company is also working on other product development projects, including Porcelain Plus+ range that targets pre-ageing, something Ng believes is becoming even more of a concern in today’s modern climate.

“We all know that stress can cause our cells to decay more quickly. Things like pollution, things we ingest, and the chemical stress we undergo from using different products and treatments. These are the stressors that can cause premature ageing.”​