Beauty

Skinsider’s K-Beauty Unwrapped event with Jina Lee of Urang

My second skincare event in a month!

This time it was an event put together by Karolina of Skinsider. I’d met her at the last K-Beauty event I went to and when I found Skinsider on Instagram I came across this event. It was an interview with the founder and CEO of Urang, Jina Lee. I’d received some of her products as part of the goody bag from the ABLondon event but hadn’t got round to using them yet. The Urang brand caught my eye as something a bit different from what you’d usually see in K-Beauty. Her products centered around the use of essential oils. 

Given how much I enjoyed the last event I decided to sign up for this one. For £25 you received entry to the event at the The Club at The Ivy, drinks and nibbles and a goody bag.

Location

I’d never been to The Ivy before and so naturally I spent ages debating about what to wear! I’m more of a dress down kinda girl so the thought of going somewhere so upmarket was a little daunting. I need not have worried though, everyone was lovely and welcoming and I wasn’t the only one wearing Converse! As we entered the event we were greeted with a choice of champagne or elderflower fizz. Unable to resist anything elderflower, I opted for that.

The room we had was lovely – a nice stage set up for the event, a Skinsider pop up shop and beautiful product displays.

Front and centre of the pop up shop was Urang’s newest product (and the main reason for the event) the Pink Everlasting Ampoule. As I don’t have an ampoule in my routine yet, I was tempted to purchase.

The waiters came around with canapes while we were meeting one another. Karolina and Jina were both mixing with everyone and making us all feel very welcome. There were others there alone too and it was really easy to find people to chat to.

The event

At 2pm the event kicked off proper. The first part was an interview between Karolina, beauty blogger Zarah (seoulfull_star on Instagram) and Jina herself. It was really interesting to hear how Jina started making products for herself to get away from using harsh chemicals, spurred by the birth of her first child. I love hearing how small business owners started their journey and always find it so inspiring.

After a Q&A we then had a break. Time for some wine and more delicious nibbles. The pop up shop also opened where I couldn’t resist and picked up a few bits to try. 

I bought the new product, the Ampoule and the Rose pH Balancing Mist Toner. The Rose Mist Toner is only made once a year and thanks to some special event pricing, I just had to give it a try!

The second part of the event was Jina talking about skincare routines and how she developed the Pink Everlasting Ampoule. It was nice to hear a different perspective on skincare. None of her suggested routines had a full ten steps and she rarely uses any actives. Her skin was absolutely glowing and given I’m in the middle of a nasty breakout it was easy to get caught up in what she had to say.

After that part had wrapped up it was time to mingle again, with more food and drink. Jina was so approachable she was more than happy to answer any questions and take pictures. I asked her a question about oils as while I’ve got oily skin, I feel like I want to add one to my routine. She suggested the blue oil which happily, is what’s in the goody bag!

Goody bag

On our way out we were able to grab our goody bag and a sheet mask kit Jina put together for us – she showed us how to make our own in the second part of the talk.

The goody bag was a Urang travel kit and a great introduction to the brand. There were two cleansers – foaming and oil; the Balancing Mist Toner I’d purchased, an Essence, the Blue Oil Serum I’d been recommended and finally the Rose Ceramide Cream. I basically have a routine ready to take away on holiday. I know I won’t be waiting for that though, and I’ll be trying most of these pretty soon. Particularly as I’m running out of both essence and moisturiser.

Urang was a new to me brand that I’m now pretty excited about. I’ll be trying my new purchases and will be following up with a review soon. In the meantime I’ll be keeping an eye out for any future K-Beauty Unwrapped events. I really enjoyed this one and how well put together it was. Once again it’s also so nice to talk to people with similar interests and it’s great to start seeing some familar faces at these kind of events now.