Author's Note: Before you read this review, you should know that I am not paid to write this nor does the brand know about the development of this article. I am doing it because I truly love Alcheme A LOT and have been using their products since their start about 2 years ago. Thank you Tuyen & Constance for sharing the wonders of Alcheme with me!
About 8 years back, I grumbled about the lack of an affordable customised skincare brand in Singapore – heck, we barely even had any local skincare brands! I couldn't help thinking, wouldn't it be great to have skincare products that required no experimentation and I know would definitely work for me? The bespoke skincare brands that I had seen online were all based in the States and a hefty price tag came with all of them.
Fast-forward to the present moment, I am proud to say that the beauty scene in Singapore has evolved greatly and today I will be sharing one of my favourites with you, Alcheme Skincare.
I started using Alcheme 3 years ago in 2018. They had only 2 products then, a serum and an emulsion. Today the company has evolved their product range and now has toners, cleansers, makeup removers, eye creams, sleeping masks... and I am pretty sure they have more tricks up their sleeves, waiting to be unveiled!
I love that the company never settles. They are constantly improving. It almost seems like they don't ever take a break – which trust me, is a compliment! They are always either finding ways to improve their formula, looking for a better ingredient, coming up with new products, working on the texture of their existing products, figuring out how to make their packaging more user-friendly & eco-friendly, etc etc. Ths team of busy women never stop and they are truly amazing!
My first two bottles of Alcheme Skincare in their old packaging
Now onto the actual product itself and how I fell in love with it. I had my doubts when I started using Alcheme. The formula back then was a lot thicker and my skin was a lot oilier. I was worried that their products would cause my skin to break out and held back from using it as frequently as I should.
Then July came along... the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival. A lot of paper and joss-stick burning. It didn't help that in the same year, in the same month, haze hit Singapore. My skin went crazy! I was going through weeks of annoying acne and inflamed skin, my face was like crap.
Alcheme dropped me a text to ask how I was doing, how was the serum that they had sent me and I was honest with them. I hadn't dare to use their products because of the effed-up state of my skin. I was worried that the heavy texture and its customised skincare benefits - I had ask for more hydration because I wanted the "Korean Glow" - would do more harm than good to my skin.
Now you gotta understand that I had been fighting with my crazy face situation for days now, throwing all sorts of acne cleansers and pimple creams but nothing worked! I went through 3 range of products and the state of my skin was like a roller coaster, except that the ride never came down, it just went up, HIGHER up, down a little bit but never hitting the ground. I was incredibly sad and desperately wanted back my smooth canvas.
The team at Alcheme are my skincare guardian angels. They could have left me to figure out my skin alone and waited till it calmed down – which to be honest I had no idea how long it would take and back then, it seemed like I was doomed to live with acne for the rest of my life. Instead of all that, the team said that they would get her chemist to quickly put together a serum to combat acne/pollution issues and have the serum sent to me! THAT SERUM WAS DA BOMB!
Within 3 days, the serum cleared away all the acne that I had been fighting for weeks. My smooth canvas returned. Alcheme gained a new loyal fan. If you are wondering, that wasn't the only occasion where I used the serum. I kept and continued using the serum for months to come, especially during the week of my menstrual period when I know that my skin is more likely to break out. The serum helped to keep my acne in check and curtail the break-out.
In 2019, they created a Personalised Eye Serum and their own Cream Mask
Alcheme also has these pre-concocted serums for those who aren’t keen in personalised ones. I was given a bottle of this pre-concocted serum at a separate event (it was in the event’s goodie bag) and because I already had my personalised serum, I decided to share the pre-concocted one with my mom.
Now here’s what you need to know about my mom. Before I became a beauty guru and forced a skincare routine upon my mom, she had no skincare routine at all. She was too lazy to do anything to her face and her “skincare routine” comprised of a facial cleanser just to wash her face... and that’s it! 😱
She had no idea of what to put on her face (she still doesn’t 😂 and so I’ll routinely check on her facial condition, prescribe her a bunch of products and she diligently follows thru with my instructions) and before my intervention amongst my mom and her seven sisters, she didn’t have the worst complexion but it wasn’t the best either. I am proud to say that my mama now has THE BEST complexion – her sisters envy her good skin and I take full credit for it! Woohoo!
Back to my story on the pre-concocted serum, so I gave my mom a bottle that was meant to combat anti-aging issues with instructions to apply every morning. One month later, her skin was glowing! The skin dullness was gone, we noticed that the fine lines were gone, and the wrinkles had faded by a little. And this is the story of how I converted my mom to become a loyal fan of Alcheme as well!
To use Alcheme, you have to be very patient. They are unlike the typical big brand products where the results appear instantaneously. Their products take a couple of days and depending on your formula and benefits, it can sometimes take up to 28 days. Alcheme uses all-natural ingredients, nothing too harsh nor too potent and that is why, the results take time to happen.
I am currently using their Gentle Cleansing Gel, Rejuvenate Me Toner, Personalised Serum and Personalised Moisturiser. I have also tried a sample size of their Exfoliating Cleansing Gel.
My top favourites are their Personalised Serum, Exfoliating Cleansing Gel and toner.
I find Alcheme's serums to be incredibly effective on my skin and as mentioned in my raves above, their Personalised Serum is my go-to when my skin breaks out!
As for the Exfoliating Cleansing Gel, I would highly recommend everyone to try this. Tuyen shared with me on the story behind this creation and it is a very interesting one! We all know that typically exfoliation is an extra step in our skincare routine and this step occurs only every once a week (because our skin is delicate and we should not exfoliate on a daily basis). It is easily forgotten, especially when our week becomes crazy and we lose track of 'extra steps/things' in life during those times.
Tuyen said that she often forgets to do her once-a-week exfoliation and finally one day, she had had enough of this problem and thus turned to their in-house chemist to see if she could develop a solution to this problem! And that is how the Exfoliating Cleansing Gel came about! This baby is a facial cleansing gel with added AHA natural fruit extract to help cleanse and exfoliate the skin. It was made to be gentle enough for daily usage! This is the perfect night-time facial cleanser to use every day.
Now as for their toner, I love the texture of their toners – the one that I am using now is Rejuvenate Me Toner. Their toners are a tad more viscous than water (really just a slighttttt bit! it is barely noticeable) but still lightweight and fast to absorb into the skin. The toner is alcohol-free and makes a good first step in any skincare routine!
After reading this lengthy review, I hope it has given you more insight into Alcheme and its products.
Once again let me re-emphasise that I am not paid to write this review. I have worked with the brand on numerous collaborations and have truly enjoyed their products and felt that they deserve more recognition and good word on the internet. Because the prices of their personalised products are a tad steep, ease away your pre-commitment hesitation by trying out a sample of your personalised blend for just $10. Only if it works, then get the full-size bottle! Here is a promo code [ SOPH20 ] for 20% off with min spend $120.
I hope you'll fall in love with Alcheme as like how I did! (Srsly, best skincare brand ever!)
About 8 years back, I grumbled about the lack of an affordable customised skincare brand in Singapore – heck, we barely even had any local skincare brands! I couldn't help thinking, wouldn't it be great to have skincare products that required no experimentation and I know would definitely work for me? The bespoke skincare brands that I had seen online were all based in the States and a hefty price tag came with all of them.
Fast-forward to the present moment, I am proud to say that the beauty scene in Singapore has evolved greatly and today I will be sharing one of my favourites with you, Alcheme Skincare.
I started using Alcheme 3 years ago in 2018. They had only 2 products then, a serum and an emulsion. Today the company has evolved their product range and now has toners, cleansers, makeup removers, eye creams, sleeping masks... and I am pretty sure they have more tricks up their sleeves, waiting to be unveiled!
I love that the company never settles. They are constantly improving. It almost seems like they don't ever take a break – which trust me, is a compliment! They are always either finding ways to improve their formula, looking for a better ingredient, coming up with new products, working on the texture of their existing products, figuring out how to make their packaging more user-friendly & eco-friendly, etc etc. Ths team of busy women never stop and they are truly amazing!
Now onto the actual product itself and how I fell in love with it. I had my doubts when I started using Alcheme. The formula back then was a lot thicker and my skin was a lot oilier. I was worried that their products would cause my skin to break out and held back from using it as frequently as I should.
Then July came along... the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival. A lot of paper and joss-stick burning. It didn't help that in the same year, in the same month, haze hit Singapore. My skin went crazy! I was going through weeks of annoying acne and inflamed skin, my face was like crap.
Alcheme dropped me a text to ask how I was doing, how was the serum that they had sent me and I was honest with them. I hadn't dare to use their products because of the effed-up state of my skin. I was worried that the heavy texture and its customised skincare benefits - I had ask for more hydration because I wanted the "Korean Glow" - would do more harm than good to my skin.
Now you gotta understand that I had been fighting with my crazy face situation for days now, throwing all sorts of acne cleansers and pimple creams but nothing worked! I went through 3 range of products and the state of my skin was like a roller coaster, except that the ride never came down, it just went up, HIGHER up, down a little bit but never hitting the ground. I was incredibly sad and desperately wanted back my smooth canvas.
The team at Alcheme are my skincare guardian angels. They could have left me to figure out my skin alone and waited till it calmed down – which to be honest I had no idea how long it would take and back then, it seemed like I was doomed to live with acne for the rest of my life. Instead of all that, the team said that they would get her chemist to quickly put together a serum to combat acne/pollution issues and have the serum sent to me! THAT SERUM WAS DA BOMB!
Within 3 days, the serum cleared away all the acne that I had been fighting for weeks. My smooth canvas returned. Alcheme gained a new loyal fan. If you are wondering, that wasn't the only occasion where I used the serum. I kept and continued using the serum for months to come, especially during the week of my menstrual period when I know that my skin is more likely to break out. The serum helped to keep my acne in check and curtail the break-out.
Alcheme also has these pre-concocted serums for those who aren’t keen in personalised ones. I was given a bottle of this pre-concocted serum at a separate event (it was in the event’s goodie bag) and because I already had my personalised serum, I decided to share the pre-concocted one with my mom.
Now here’s what you need to know about my mom. Before I became a beauty guru and forced a skincare routine upon my mom, she had no skincare routine at all. She was too lazy to do anything to her face and her “skincare routine” comprised of a facial cleanser just to wash her face... and that’s it! 😱
She had no idea of what to put on her face (she still doesn’t 😂 and so I’ll routinely check on her facial condition, prescribe her a bunch of products and she diligently follows thru with my instructions) and before my intervention amongst my mom and her seven sisters, she didn’t have the worst complexion but it wasn’t the best either. I am proud to say that my mama now has THE BEST complexion – her sisters envy her good skin and I take full credit for it! Woohoo!
Back to my story on the pre-concocted serum, so I gave my mom a bottle that was meant to combat anti-aging issues with instructions to apply every morning. One month later, her skin was glowing! The skin dullness was gone, we noticed that the fine lines were gone, and the wrinkles had faded by a little. And this is the story of how I converted my mom to become a loyal fan of Alcheme as well!
To use Alcheme, you have to be very patient. They are unlike the typical big brand products where the results appear instantaneously. Their products take a couple of days and depending on your formula and benefits, it can sometimes take up to 28 days. Alcheme uses all-natural ingredients, nothing too harsh nor too potent and that is why, the results take time to happen.
I am currently using their Gentle Cleansing Gel, Rejuvenate Me Toner, Personalised Serum and Personalised Moisturiser. I have also tried a sample size of their Exfoliating Cleansing Gel.
My top favourites are their Personalised Serum, Exfoliating Cleansing Gel and toner.
I find Alcheme's serums to be incredibly effective on my skin and as mentioned in my raves above, their Personalised Serum is my go-to when my skin breaks out!
As for the Exfoliating Cleansing Gel, I would highly recommend everyone to try this. Tuyen shared with me on the story behind this creation and it is a very interesting one! We all know that typically exfoliation is an extra step in our skincare routine and this step occurs only every once a week (because our skin is delicate and we should not exfoliate on a daily basis). It is easily forgotten, especially when our week becomes crazy and we lose track of 'extra steps/things' in life during those times.
Tuyen said that she often forgets to do her once-a-week exfoliation and finally one day, she had had enough of this problem and thus turned to their in-house chemist to see if she could develop a solution to this problem! And that is how the Exfoliating Cleansing Gel came about! This baby is a facial cleansing gel with added AHA natural fruit extract to help cleanse and exfoliate the skin. It was made to be gentle enough for daily usage! This is the perfect night-time facial cleanser to use every day.
Now as for their toner, I love the texture of their toners – the one that I am using now is Rejuvenate Me Toner. Their toners are a tad more viscous than water (really just a slighttttt bit! it is barely noticeable) but still lightweight and fast to absorb into the skin. The toner is alcohol-free and makes a good first step in any skincare routine!
After reading this lengthy review, I hope it has given you more insight into Alcheme and its products.
Once again let me re-emphasise that I am not paid to write this review. I have worked with the brand on numerous collaborations and have truly enjoyed their products and felt that they deserve more recognition and good word on the internet. Because the prices of their personalised products are a tad steep, ease away your pre-commitment hesitation by trying out a sample of your personalised blend for just $10. Only if it works, then get the full-size bottle! Here is a promo code [ SOPH20 ] for 20% off with min spend $120.
I hope you'll fall in love with Alcheme as like how I did! (Srsly, best skincare brand ever!)