AIPPO

AIPPO is a South Korean skincare brand based in the Gangnam district of Seoul. It grew out of a professional spa practice and positions itself as a "home spa" line — formulas meant to bring the kind of care normally given in a treatment room into an everyday routine at home. The brand is operated from Korea by STARLUXE, a Seoul brand-management and distribution company, and ships its products to markets across Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe.

The cosmetic brand, marketed as AIPPO SEOUL, was launched in 2016 [9]. Its lineage reaches back further: the founders first opened an aesthetic spa, AIPPO SKIN&BODYCARE, in Seoul in 2010, and the brand's own website dates the name to "SINCE 2011" [2] — a figure that appears to fold the spa's origins and the later cosmetics launch into a single rounded year.

According to an English-language account of the brand's story, AIPPO began in 2010 when a group of professional therapists in Seoul opened the AIPPO SKIN&BODYCARE spa, located in the Sinchon area near Ewha Womans University [9]. The company says it spent those years developing skincare without harmful artificial chemicals, drawing on its hands-on treatment experience. In 2016 that work became a consumer cosmetics brand, AIPPO SEOUL, built for at-home use [9].

The individual founders are not named in available sources, which describe them collectively as a group of spa therapists. The company's registered representative is listed as An Jong-hun, recorded as the chief executive on AIPPO's Korean company-information page [2].

AIPPO is operated by STARLUXE, a Seoul-based company that manages and distributes a portfolio of more than thirty brands across fashion, accessories, jewelry, food and cosmetics [7]. STARLUXE and AIPPO share the same Gangnam address, and AIPPO's customer-contact email addresses use the starluxe.co.kr domain, indicating close operational integration. STARLUXE functions as a brand-management and distribution operator rather than a conventional parent in the sense of an originating owner; the precise nature of the relationship is not spelled out in public sources. AIPPO therefore sits within a larger Korean brand-portfolio company rather than operating as a fully independent house.

AIPPO presents itself as a home-spa skincare brand, summarised on its site by the tagline "every moment of giving rest to the skin." The company frames its approach around what it calls a "Subtraction Campaign" — an emphasis on leaving out ingredients it considers irritating or unnecessary. In statements quoted by an independent reviewer, the brand says it never uses harmful chemicals or preservatives, keeps prices down by removing inefficient steps from its process, and treats simplicity as a core identity, choosing packaging that protects the formula while avoiding excess [9].

That positioning is aimed at people with sensitive or stressed skin. The Korean review platform Hwahae describes AIPPO as offering gentle, low-irritation, "clinic-grade" products for at-home spa care, and notes that the line is oriented toward soothing tired skin and addressing signs of ageing [8]. On the international retailer YesStyle, the brand describes itself as making "ordinary but special" skincare with a focus on the user's experience [10].

AIPPO's range is organised mainly into an Expert line and a Daily line, spanning ampoules, serums, creams, balms, masks, toners and cleansers. Among the products cited by reviewers and retailers are the Expert Soothing Cica Cream, the Expert Hydrating Ampoule, the Expert Soothing Ampoule, the Expert Hydrating Mask and the Expert Glutathione Collagen Cream, along with a daily sun cream.

The formulations lean on ingredients common in Korean skincare, including Centella asiatica (often called cica) and its derivative madecassoside, hyaluronic acid, panthenol, licorice extract and marine and algae extracts [9]. The Expert line also features glutathione, collagen and peptides. Hwahae attributes a proprietary "SOOTHING CICA" approach to the brand and notes formulas described as dermatologically tested and using EWG green-rated ingredients [8]. AIPPO states that its products are made entirely in Korea [10].

AIPPO has been covered on the Korean beauty review platform Hwahae, which profiles it around sensitive-skin care and its SOOTHING CICA positioning [8], and reviewed by independent K-beauty writers who recount its spa origins and product range [9]. No industry awards are recorded in available sources.

AIPPO is active. It continues to operate from Seoul and offers international shipping to sixteen destinations, among them the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and several Southeast Asian markets [4]. It is also carried by international K-beauty retailers and maintains a presence on Instagram under the handle @aippo.official. The brand's own shipping list does not name any Nordic country, so its availability in the Nordic region appears to run through third-party retailers rather than direct sales.