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About
About Sabbatical Beauty
Sabbatical Beauty began as an academic experiment, not a business plan.
In 2015, while on sabbatical from a tenured professorship, Adeline Koh began formulating skincare because her skin had become unbearably dry and irritable after she moved to the United States to begin her PhD. Nothing she tried could reliably calm it down.
What frustrated her most was a pattern she recognized immediately: brands loudly advertised “active” ingredients, but those ingredients appeared in trace amounts on the label. The claims were bold; the formulations were thin.
So she started making her own — not to start a company, but to create formulas where the ingredient list matched the claims. Sabbatical Beauty is built on a simple principle: ingredients should be used at concentrations that justify their presence. That means fewer fillers, fewer symbolic inclusions, and formulas where the base of the product — not just a headline ingredient — actively supports skin function.
The line is Korean-inspired as a formulation philosophy, not a trend: layered hydration, barrier repair, and the generous use of botanicals like ginseng, rice, sea kelp, centella, and camellia — ingredients Adeline grew up trusting in Singapore, and that modern cosmetic science supports when used properly.
When Adeline shared early formulas with friends, the feedback was consistent: calmer skin, reduced redness, better hydration, and visible texture changes within weeks. That response — repeated again and again — turned a kitchen experiment into Sabbatical Beauty.
Today, Sabbatical Beauty formulates small-batch, high-concentration skincare for people who are tired of beauty industry promises that never deliver.
Our products have been featured in Elle, Allure, Slate, Shape, and The Guardian, and Sabbatical Beauty has been named Best Local Skincare Line by Philadelphia Magazine.
What This Means In Practice
Sabbatical products are formulated with ingredient levels that do real work, so you actually see visible change in your skin.
Why Concentration Matters
At most large skincare brands, ingredients highlighted in marketing appear at levels too low to meaningfully affect the skin.
At Sabbatical, concentration isn’t a marketing choice — it’s the foundation of every formula. We design products where even the base is functional, so each layer supports skin behavior rather than masking problems temporarily. This is why results tend to be cumulative and noticeable over time.
What "Korean Inspired" Actually Means
“Korean-inspired” at Sabbatical does not mean trends, novelty textures, or packaging cues.
It refers to a systems-based approach to skin health: layered hydration, respect for the skin barrier, and formulations that prioritize long-term function over immediate sensation. Many of our formulas draw from Korean skincare traditions — including fermentation, botanical extracts, and multi-layer hydration strategies — applied with modern preservation, stability testing, and clear formulation logic.
What Sabbatical Won't Compromise On
Sabbatical Beauty products are formulated in small batches, not optimized for mass production.
We:
- use all active ingredients (including botanicals) at meaningful concentrations
- build formulas around functional bases, not marketing claims
- prioritize skin barrier repair and reducing inflammation
- make products that do what they promise.
If you’ve felt disillusioned by big beauty promises, we recommend starting with a sample and letting your skin decide.
What Sabbatical Means Here
Adeline formulating in the Sabbatical Beauty Lab, 2020.
A sabbatical is a period of work and rest outside a larger system.
Sabbatical Beauty is named as such because Adeline began formulating in her kitchen while on an actual academic sabbatical — and because the work proved rigorous enough for her to leave a tenured professorship and run the company full time.
Taking your skin on sabbatical means stepping away from diluted formulas, symbolic actives, and products designed to look appealing without doing much. It means giving skin the ingredient levels and structural support it needs to function better, with less effort and less noise.
Sabbatical Beauty exists to make that possible.
About Adeline
Adeline Koh is the founder and formulator of Sabbatical Beauty.
She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan and is a former tenured professor of English, with fellowships at the National University of Singapore, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Formula Botanica graduate, with formal training in organic skincare formulation, preservation, and stability testing.
Her approach to formulation is shaped by close reading, pattern recognition, and an insistence on coherence — skills honed in academia and applied directly to ingredient lists, formulation logic, and skincare education.
Sabbatical Beauty is the result of that crossover: research-driven, herb-forward skincare for people who want substance over signal — and products that do what they say they do.