Meet the Founder - Belantara Luxury Skincare
Join us for a conversation with Shawn Ng, CEO and Co-Founder of Belantara to discover the history and inspiration that led to the launch of this brand of luxury skincare products made in Singapore.
Q) Hi Shawn, what is your story?
A) I spent most of my career in aviation as a flight attendant for 15 years, until the Covid pandemic disrupted that. Like many others, I realised it was time to rethink work and life priorities and to find a new path and purpose.
I always had a passion for self care and a very demanding job taught me the importance of skincare as part of my general wellbeing.
Q) How did Belantara come about?
A) Belantara came about almost as a happy accident, when we started experimenting with cooking techniques and cosmetics ingredients in the tail end of the pandemic.
We experimented with many different ingredients, and that led to the discovery of Mango butter and its incredible properties for the skin.
Our first experiment was a hand and body wash, and we spent 18 months formulating what became the Belantara Mango Butter Hand & Body Cleanser. We first started it purely as a hobby, without any intention of launching a commercial product.
However, the product turned out so good that I quickly realised this was the chance for a new beginning, a real purpose and the perfect opportunity to follow my passion of sharing our vision for skincare.
Q) What was the inspiration behind Belantara?
A) Belantara draws its inspiration from the tropical rainforests of SEA, as a way to share the nature and heritage of this region. From our regular travels to Spain, we realised Southeast Asia carries a halo of wonder and mystery as a remote and exotic location, with frequent questions about Singapore, and in a sense, Belantara became the way for us to share our adoration for Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Belantara is our love letter to Singapore, its rich cultural heritage and the lush nature we have the privilege of being surrounded by. This is our way of sharing with everyone the wonderful benefits of the ingredients that are found in the rainforest around us.
From the onset we wanted to focus on very high quality products, with natural ingredients and with mango butter as the star of the show.
Q) How about the fragrances? What is the story behind them?
A) We wanted to create sophisticated fragrances inspired by tropical notes that would transport our customers to the many paradises of Southeast Asia, so we spent months testing combinations of various iconic scents.
The vision was to showcase a product with different personalities through the use of enchanting fragrances, deeply rooted in familiar aromas - and we settled for our three unique fragrances: Frangipani & Ambergris, Lemongrass & Pandan and Ylang Ylang & Pear.
Belantara is not just about skincare; it’s about connecting with nature, embracing well-being, and discovering the true essence of luxury.
Q) What are your future plans for Belantara?
A) We are in the advanced stages of R&D for our next product, which will be a rich hand and body lotion also based on mango butter. We are also working on our third product and we are looking at expanding the brand into beauty and even lifestyle - so stay tuned!
