5 SGLIFESTYLE QUESTIONS WITH Claire Au Auolive

BEAUTY OF THE AUOLIVE TREE

Homegrown skincare company, AUOLIVE, burst into the scene in 2016 and went on to win multiple awards. Our editor, Angela, sat down with Claire Au, founder of the award-winning brand to find out more about her personal and business philosophies.

Angela: Tell us the rationale behind the name AUOLIVE. Is it a word play on your surname?

Claire: Yes, it is. It’s “Au” + “Olive” (pronounced olive), a combination of my family name and the olive tree, an enduring symbol of strength and beauty as the tree can last for 1000 years. There are so many uses of the humble olive tree: you can eat its fruit, cook with olive oil, remove makeup, or use it as a hair treatment. It was even used for dressing wounds in biblical times. Similarly, AUOLIVE creates multi-functional skincare to save women’s time.

Angela: There are only four products in your range of skincare. Why only four?

Claire: AUOLIVE is all about empowering women. We simplify skincare and help them skip the traditional multi-step regimen, so they need to use only one product instead of three or four. Why spend 30 minutes when you only need two minutes a day?

As a busy mother and entrepreneur myself, I aim to help women save time and money. You can snooze a little longer in the mornings, catch up on more beauty sleep, or unwind over a cup of coffee. We intend to continue developing more of such products to help women simplify their skincare routine.

AUOLIVE Founder Claire Au with Product Group Shot 2_Oct2020
Claire with AUOLIVE’s skincare range

Angela: Why did you enter this competitive industry?

Claire: I love reading articles on skincare since I was quite young. With the knowledge I’d gleaned, I’d experiment with making my own facial masks and explore new beauty trends.

When I was a little girl, I watched my mum spend hours applying layers of creams and lotions on her face and wondered to myself if that was the only way to have beautiful skin.

I grew up knowing the three-step routine of Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise as the holy grail. Over time the number of steps grew to include serum, pre-essence and lotion essence, etc. Skincare got more confusing, overwhelming and too time-consuming. A friend of mine religiously carried out a 10-step skincare regimen, which I felt was too much for the average person. Hence I started AUOLIVE to address the market gap.

AUOLIVE founder Claire Au with her mum
Claire with her mum

Angela: What do you think makes your brand unique?

Claire: AUOLIVE is here to simplify things and to provide busy women with high performance and effective skincare with as little time and as few steps as possible. I have only a handful of minutes daily for my skincare so AUOLIVE’s range fits my packed day.

Angela: Many small and medium-sized businesses have shuttered since the advent of the Pandemic. How are you managing?

Claire: Interestingly, the pandemic has made people value self-care and skincare even more! It boils down to a few factors: stress levels sky-rocketing during the Circuit Breaker where everyone was cooped up at home for two months. Hence, people turned to self-care to de-stress and to feel good. Also, the need to look good increased exponentially with countless Zoom meetings – AUOLIVE skincare helps busy women achieve glowing skin with a one-minute, one-step philosophy, and this really resonates with customers as they got even busier working from home as they have to juggle work and family at the same time.

We started off as an e-Commerce business to begin with and ventured into physical retail along the way, as customers requested to see and try out our products in person. So that really helped as customers could purchase our products online even with stores shuttered for a good two months during the Circuit Breaker period.

The pandemic made us focus more on digital platforms. Hence, besides our online store www.auolive.com.sg, we are also listed on all major marketplaces (Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10 and Amazon) to make it convenient for people to shop for our products. We also started Social Media Livestreaming and customers can now purchase our products directly from our Facebook Live sessions.

Bonus Q: Any skincare tips to share?

Claire: We see more cases of Maskne (Mask+Acne) as mask-wearing is mandatory now. Long hours of mask-wearing can wreck havoc on our skin, causing breakouts. Skip the foundation if possible, and focus on eye makeup if you absolutely need to, in order to prevent your skin from being clogged.

Apply a thin layer of moisturiser and sunblock to create a protective barrier for your skin to prevent abrasion and skin irritation from mask-wearing.

***

Claire’s Skincare Routine:
7:00 AM: Cleanse face, apply AUOLIVE Eyes Lifter and AUOLIVE Day Glower
10:00 PM: Cleanse face, apply AUOLIVE Eyes Lifter and AUOLIVE Night Booster.
Twice a week: AUOLIVE Radiance Revealer to exfoliate skin and remove dead skin cells and to brighten skin, reduce redness and clean up pores

To read more on AUOLIVE’s products, click here: https://www.auolive.com.sg/


AUOLIVE’S 11.11 Promotion (6 to 11 November 2020) 

Enjoy S$78 off AUOLIVE’s Day Glower and Night Booster bundle, and enjoy 11% cashback on all orders when you use Hoolah to pay.  

Promo available at https://www.auolive.com.sg/pages/shop

AUOLIVE X SG Lifestyle Giveaway

AUOLIVE is extending a special offer to SG Lifestyle readers. Purchase the travel size AUOLIVE Night Booster (3ML) at S$4.90 (UP SS$20).

Valid till 30 November 2020 (limited to 1 purchase per week or until stocks last)

AUOLIVE Night Booster Travel Size
AUOLIVE Night Booster Travel Size (3ML)

Scan the QR Code below to purchase now.

QR to NB Travel Sized

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