Shoppers who once packed suitcases with innisfree products on trips to Korea were given a reason to travel lighter. The Korean natural beauty brand opened its first Singapore store on 22 November 2013, at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, #B2-34/35.
The launch put a brand built on Jeju Island ingredients within reach of Orchard Road shoppers. At the time, innisfree was billed as one of the first Korean brands to put sustainably sourced natural ingredients at the centre of its products.
Why the opening mattered
K-beauty was gathering pace across Southeast Asia in 2013, and innisfree was a name many Singaporeans knew mainly from holidays in Seoul or Jeju. A permanent counter meant no more stocking up abroad.
The name means “free island”. The brand is owned by Amore Pacific, which launched it in 2000 as its first eco-friendly label, and it takes its name from a W. B. Yeats poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”. Its products draw on resources from Jeju, and the opening coverage named pesticide-free green tea, canola and crushed volcanic stone among them.
The hero product
Among the launch-time favourites was the Green Tea Seed Oil, priced at S$57 for 30ml in 2013. The brand described each jar as holding the oils of 151 organic green tea seeds. It suited dry-skin days, and could be used as a nightly leave-in treatment on cuticles and eyebrows.
Packaging and ingredient promises
The brand made its green credentials part of the pitch. In 2013 it said it used recyclable materials and biodegradable soy ink for its minimalist packaging. It also said its products were free of four things associated with conventional skincare: parabens, animal ingredients, artificial colourants and mineral oils that can clog pores.
The face of the brand then was the actor Lee Min Ho, innisfree’s global ambassador at the time, who fronted its campaigns.
What has followed
The Takashimaya store remains listed on innisfree’s official Singapore website, with opening hours of 10am to 9.30pm daily. The listing is undated, so check before making a trip. The brand’s Singapore pages also point shoppers to an online shop.
A deals website reported that the Takashimaya outlet unveiled a new look on 19 April 2024. Another store directory describes innisfree as having been in Singapore since 2013, and lists a dozen outlets. That count is unconfirmed by the brand and may have changed. The listed locations include Northpoint City, Paya Lebar Quarter and NEX.
Thirteen years after the first counter opened (2026 minus 2013), the brand’s Jeju-led approach is still the line it uses to describe itself: a natural K-beauty label that brings the benefits of the island’s nature to skincare.