BEST FACE FORWARD

In the era of #skinpositivity, this home-grown spa chain helps build up your confidence, so you can step out without covering up.

There’s power in beauty. It can open doors that may not otherwise open, and give us confidence in life. The better we look, the better we feel. And Jenny Teng, co-founder and director aesthetician of local spa chain Porcelain, gets that, having suffered from problematic skin when she was young.

“I knew what it felt like—being selfconscious and sad because of how my skin looked,” she shared in a past interview with The Straits Times. “I think that’s why from the get-go, my aim was to do what I could to help people like myself.”

What set Porcelain apart from other spas when it was first established was the fact that it focused on deep extractions rather than quick fixes (read: superficial cleansing). Today, the cult brand is still known for its thorough and clarifying facials. Its ethos, though, has evolved into one that is more about holistic beauty than beauty that’s just skin-deep. Indeed, Porcelain encourages you to enhance your natural beauty so you can gain the confidence to step out barefaced, not conform to societal standards of beauty.

The ways through which this awardwinning spa empowers you are many. One: Its range of services, which runs the gamut from those targeting acne and scars to those that counter dryness and the look of signs of ageing. Two: Its products, conceived in-house based on interactions with clients and used by all Porcelain staff—a testament to how strongly they believe in their own creations. Three: Its therapists, all of whom undergo a minimum of three

months of intensive training; those who perform the spa’s signature Quintessential extraction undergo six.

Riding on the #skinpositivity movement (which empowers individuals to feel comfortable in their own skin) that took the beauty world by storm in 2018, Porcelain launched a #Barewithme campaign in collaboration with Wear Oh Where, a life/style website. Celebrating the beauty of realness, it is a platform for women from all walks of life to share their ideas of beauty and confidence as well as their personal journeys.

Moving forward, the end of 2018 sees a new addition to the brand: the Porcelain Academy, set up to facilitate the effective transference of skincare knowledge and practical skills across its therapists. To foster a more robust skincare industry, there are plans to expand outwards within the next few years, so the knowledge can be shared with external trainees. Readers will be happy to know that the Porcelain’s products can be purchased at its spas as well as online at Shopporcelain.com, which ships to 220 countries worldwide.

“Porcelain is not just another facial place; it’s in a class of its own. The staff…went the extra mile to make tweaks to the treatments based on my skin condition at every visit.” — Racheal Olivero, satisfied client