I’m somewhat of a creature of habit. When it comes to skincare, I rarely do venture out of a tried-and-tested routine that I’ve adhered to for at least the past decade or so. It’s not perfect — there are the occasional stress-induced breakouts and climate-influenced abnormalities — but my skin is generally okay.
Or so I thought.
That may have sound unnecessarily dramatic (I agree; unnecessary) but a visit to Rationale’s Singapore flagship at Raffles City Singapore helped me discover more about my skin — it’s condition, what it’s lacking, and how to get it to a personally desirable state.
If the façade and interior of the flagship feels somewhat clinical, that’s maybe because Rationale started out in professional clinics. For about 20 years since its founding in 1992, the Australian luxury skincare brand was only available through dermatologists, plastic surgeons and cosmetic physicians.
Now, it counts 14 flagships across Australia, one in Los Angeles, and two in Singapore.
Rationale is built around its six collections that it refers to as the Essential Six. Each collection relates to a facet of skin health: resilience, vitality, brilliance, integrity, clarity and renewal. The entirety of each collection — from serums to eye creams — are all the products of intensive research from its lab in Melbourne, Australia.
I was attended to by Roxanne, a Rationale skin specialist who proceeded to usher me into one of the flagship’s facial rooms for my first consult. For a space that would usually be occupied by just two persons, it’s rather massive. And like the entrance to the flagship, everything is kept clean and minimal, washed with a single colour tone throughout. Right in the middle is a plush bed for procedures.
I changed into a T-shirt that was hanging in a closet (always a nice touch).
Roxanne sat me down and went through quite a detailed list of questions after I filled up a form of particulars and general skin-related information. I detailed my day and night skincare routines, pausing at times to google ingredients of specific products that I use. That’s how much information that she needed from me in order to fully understand what I’ve been subjecting my skin to on the daily.
“What would you like to achieve for your skin?” she asked.
“Oh where do I even begin,” I thought to myself. Realistically, I’ve noticed how the area around my eyes have begun to show my age — eye bags that could rival a Jacquemus Chiquito, punctuated by lines — and how my skin can get dull at times. I explained to her that I put on makeup almost daily, just in case it’s an important information that she needed to know. Turns out, it was.
Turning back to my list of skincare products used, Roxanne pointed out that my day routine was pretty extensive. And perhaps, unnecessary.
But before she advised any further, she had me lying down on the bed and proceeded to cleanse my face. After that, it was a skin analysis using the Visia skin-imaging machine. Now this was where it got interesting and revealing. Taking a few scans of my face, the machine analysed eight different areas of the skin: spots, wrinkles, textures, pores, UV spots, brown spots, red areas, and porphyrins. The last was especially new to me — a look at the concentration of bad versus good bacteria on my face. The analyses on UV and brown spots reveal skin damage beyond the superficial layer and provide information on potential issues that can be prevented before they surface.
Based on the skin analysis as well as her observations while cleansing my face, Roxanne deduced that I needed to focus on exfoliating my skin more, hydration, balance oil flow and couple of other things — in essence, my skin is okay but it could be better.
First consultations end with a complimentary 30-minute facial. Roxanne started with the #5 The Cleanser, a multi-vitamin infusion oil, and ended with a vitamin B mask. These were tailored for me based on what she’s learnt about my skin coupled with my skin goals.
At the end of the session, I looked at my bare face in the mirror. It was refreshed, felt moisturised and most importantly, looked healthy. I honestly couldn’t remember when last I could say the same about my skin without makeup.
What was even more amazing was the post-facial consultation. Considering that Rationale is a fully fledged skincare brand, I was half-expecting Roxanne to push the entire line to me. But instead, she helped rejig my skincare routines by simplifying them and inserting Rationale’s products where needed. I get to stick to some of my favourite products that I know work for me while at the same time, ensuring that my skin gets the much needed attention that it’s been lacking — brilliant.
Would I recommend Rationale? It’s a definite yes. There’s a lot of genuine care (and science) that’s evident throughout the entire process and quite honestly, it doesn’t get much more luxurious than that.
Rationale flagships are located at Raffles City Singapore and TANGS at Tang Plaza.
