Aesthetic doctor Dr Iroshini Chua and her daughter Aiyana spent a year perfecting a moisturiser built for Singapore’s heat and humidity. We put it to the test
Anyone who has smoothed on a rich European cream before stepping into a Singapore afternoon knows the result: a slick film that sits on the skin rather than sinking in. It is precisely this problem that Alaaya Skin, a new homegrown label, has set out to solve.
The brand is the work of Dr Iroshini Chua, an aesthetic doctor with 23 years in practice and a friend of Robb Report Singapore, and her 19-year-old daughter Aiyana, who is reading Biochemical Engineering at University College London. The pair came at the problem from opposite ends. In her clinic, Dr Iroshini saw patients whose sensitive skin reacted badly to existing products, and at home, Aiyana was living the same frustration as a consumer.
Their answer is the Brightening Moisturiser, developed with a specialised Korean laboratory over a year and six iterations. It combines four actives: niacinamide to calm breakouts and even out tone, sodium hyaluronate for weightless hydration, glutathione for antioxidant defence against the equatorial sun, and a blend of salmon PDRN and salmon sodium DNA, the regenerative ingredient du jour, for repair. Rather than chasing high percentages, the founders calibrated each active to deliver results without irritating sensitive skin. The formula is fragrance-free, non-comedogenic and gentle enough for use after lasers, IPL, and peels.
In practice, the gel-cream lives up to its billing. It absorbs quickly, leaves a dewy rather than greasy finish, and layers well under sunscreen and make-up for us. Our one quibble is the packaging: in this day and age, dipping fingers into a jar feels decidedly old-fashioned and potentially unhygienic; a spatula, or better still a pump bottle, would make it far less so, we think.
The 30ml Brightening Moisturizer ($65) is available here, Dr Kevin Chua Medical & Aesthetics, and Avenue On 3, alongside the brand’s Stem Cell Face Mask and tinted Sunblock SPF 30.
