Like in every other Metropolitan city with its citizens becoming increasingly conscious of the way they consume, such as in New York City and Hong Kong, Singapore has followed suit with the rooftop/ urban farming trend.

There may already be a few farm-to-restaurant table rooftop gardens in the city, but Spa Esprit’s Farm-to-Beauty salon concept is the first.

With a chain of at least 25 outlets, with the brand names Browhaus, Strip, and We Need A Hero, the Spa Esprit Group is always forward-thinking and creative with its business strategy.

Four years in the making, the 10,000 sq ft rooftop garden at Raffles City Shopping Centre in Singapore is where Spa Esprit grows its crop of 16 varieties of herbs and other plants; that are eventually turned into calming teas and beauty balms that are stocked at its outlet in the mall.

Working with the Edible Garden City  to battle windy conditions, pests, and watering hiccups, Spa Esprit’s current rooftop garden harvest includes aloe vera, spearmint, passion flower, chrysanthemum, lemon balm, Mexican tarragon, and blue pea flower.

To close the loop on this effort at social consciousness, the plants are sorted, dried, and processed by those at the Autism Resource Centre.

The first of Spa Esprit’s Farm to Beauty products are the A Cool Aloe Cooling Gel made with aloe vera (from the rooftop garden), sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, macadamia oil, lavender essential oil, and geranium essential oil, to soothe wax burns and sunburnt skin.

The Om, Calendula! Calming Cream is a rich and moisturising cream with calendula blossoms (from the rooftop garden) to soothe sensitised skin.

The teas are delicious too, and we can’t wait to see what other formulas will be concocted with the Beauty Rooftop Farm produce.