Singapore doctor who left plastic surgery training to build a skincare brand gets New York debut

SINGAPORE – Among Dr Shauna Tan-Chiam’s many achievements for her skincare brand Bareness Skin, a handful stick out.

Scoring a feature in fashion magazine British Vogue; having her products used by the make-up artist to KPop Demon Hunters (2025) singing star Ejae; and getting scouted by an American agency to have her brand carried in New York and Paris.

On April 4, the aesthetic doctor hosted a pop-up in New York City at Flying Solo, a retail platform that helps independent designers debut at fashion weeks and grow internationally. The New York-based, originally fashion-focused platform has been trying to grow its beauty arm, and reached out to her in end-2025.

“It’s a dream for any Singaporean entrepreneur to make it in the US market,” the 31-year-old tells The Straits Times. “We’ve built our community slowly, kind of like a ‘cult’ following that I always saw as a flaw – but that actually paid off because that’s the kind of brand Flying Solo was looking for.”

She absorbed the costs of tariffs to keep prices under US$65 (S$83), and made a five-day trip to the Big Apple amid the ongoing air travel chaos to be present for the milestone.

As part of the seven-month contract, Bareness will get shelf space in Flying Solo’s stores in New York and Paris, as well as marketing and product fulfillment handled by the company.

It is quite the coup for a home-grown skincare brand barely two years old.

Dr Tan-Chiam, who practises at E:thos Clinic at The Heeren in Orchard Road, admits that she never dared to dream big or think her brand would “exist outside a clinic space”. In Singapore, Bareness is physically stocked at retailers Design Orchard and The Paper Bunny and is available online at barenessskin.com

One would think a medical student who had the guts to drop out of residency would have a healthy risk appetite. Her journey into entrepreneurship was one-of-a-kind.

Tackling insecurities

She had always wanted to be a fashion designer, but the Hwa Chong Institution alumnus felt societally pressured to apply to study medicine, dentistry and law. Around that time, her mother had to undergo a mastectomy and breast reconstruction as part of breast cancer treatment.

“When I saw how people said to her, ‘Oh, you don’t even need a breast reconstruction, just get the cancer out’, I was very disturbed,” Dr Tan-Chiam recalls. Those comments pushed her to set her sights on becoming a plastic surgeon.

But after completing six years of medical school at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, in her second year of residency, she felt pulled in different directions. Surgery as a career is very time-consuming, life-consuming even, she says. “It came to a point where I had to ask if that was something I wanted for myself.”

Leaving the prestigious residency in 2022 was “very taboo”, especially given that she was one of five plastic surgery students in her batch and had got in on the first try. The fallout from professors and senior doctors who had put their faith in her was bad, she recalls.

In the first six months, she got by as a general practitioner for telemedicine provider Doctor Anywhere. Her peers assumed she was happy to leave, but inside, she was struggling. Feeling lost, she felt she had failed herself and the system.

Then came her clarity: She realised she wanted to help people with their image insecurities.

She herself has struggled with self-image since a young age, having grown up an “insecure fat kid” whose weight fluctuated based on people’s comments. The recurring cycle of “not feeling accepted at any weight” led to body dysmorphia that she continues to manage today, says Dr Tan-Chiam, who is married to a 35-year-old Singaporean naval officer.

She decided to go into aesthetics to help people love themselves – rather than diagnose or point out their flaws.

“I wanted to change the narrative that appearance is just superficial because it’s not. Some people are treated poorly because of how they look. With a little bit of help, they can be treated fairly. And if I couldn’t do surgery, how else could I possibly help?”

To be able to practise aesthetic medicine, she spent the next six months getting the relevant accreditations and doing locum work at various aesthetic clinics. It was at one of them that she met her Bareness co-founder, a marketing professional who convinced her to start a skincare brand together, but later left due to other commitments.

Entrepreneur era

Though this step into entrepreneurship was accidental, Dr Tan-Chiam felt her purpose returning.

It took two years to develop Bareness, carving out a focus on skin cycling, a skincare regimen that alternates between using potent active ingredients and having recovery nights to repair the skin barrier.

It launched online in 2024 with three products formulated in Singapore and South Korea: a retinaldehyde serum ($88), exfoliant tonic ($78) and barrier restore cream ($68).

“Everyone told me to just start with a gentle milk cleanser and hydrating serum. ‘Sure can sell’,” she recalls. “But I always wanted to focus on skin health first.”

While many local skincare brands tend to focus on gentle products, she believes Bareness stands out by pushing boundaries with uncommon products.

The inspiration comes from her time in clinics, where she has been a full-time aesthetic doctor since 2023. The importance of sanitisation to reduce breakouts led to the Rescue Calming Mist ($48), a hands-free hypochlorous acid spray with anti-inflammatory properties that helps to neutralise bacteria.

The Revive Eye Serum ($78), which aims to help smooth fine lines and crow’s feet with advanced peptide complexes, was loosely inspired by Botox.

She also launched a sunscreen ($48), SPF blushes ($38) and a pocket sunscreen spray ($38), inspired by her love for sunscreen.

Dr Tan-Chiam is most thankful for understanding employers who have allowed her to run her business in tandem, and even stock her products in their clinics. She works on Bareness after hours and is still a one-woman show.

Setbacks came in the form of rejections – from retailers or for brand partnerships – which have been “humbling”, but there have been bright spots. British Vogue found her brand via Instagram in 2025, as did US-based celebrity make-up artist Kevin Cheah, whose clients include Ejae.

Next up in her line is a MagSafe blush that will launch at local shopping event Boutique Fairs in May. September will see another pop-up at Flying Solo in Paris – which she hopes will lead to stocking in more overseas markets in the future.

It all comes back to sharing knowledge that can help people with their image-related insecurities, says Dr Tan-Chiam, who shuns marketing language like “glass skin” or “Korean skin” as these promote “unrealistic ideals”.

“Seeing patients in the clinic is great, but that impact is confined to the four walls of my space. Now, we’re halfway around the world. Being able to just share my knowledge in such a wide way is really precious to me,” she says.

“As a solo entrepreneur, you always link the brand to yourself. The closer the brand comes to my vision, the more traction and growth I start to see. And it’s empowering; seeing that trusting my gut has brought it better success has shaped me personally.”