MeetTheShop, just like MeetTheBrand, is a window on the world of emerging and independent shops in Italy. The time of a break from work or the evening appointment you’ve been waiting for, to hear the voices of the founders. Everything you wanted to know about cosmetics and the world of beauty entrepreneurship. A column that stops the hands of time, new discoveries and insights.
Today the MeetTheShop lounge hosts Ezio and Leonardo, founders of Soul4Skin. A Korean cosmetics shop, which they started thinking about in 2017, the year of their wedding. This shop reflects them in their entirety, starting from the passion for oriental cosmetics, passing through design and ending with the attention to the “tailor-made” customer.
Hi Ezio and Leonardo, thank you for accepting my invitation. I would like you to tell me something about you, who are you inside and outside Soul4Skin?
Thanks to you for the invitation Alessia.
“2020-21 two hearts and a shop” could be the title of our adventure in this period. Inside and outside Soul4skin we are the same, but with different prerogatives. In the shop, albeit in a friendly way, we must guarantee a professional “customer service” that is attentive to the needs of our customers. We try to recommend the right products for every occasion and need: skins in need of help, gifts to give or simply want to experience something new in your skin-routine.
Outside, however, we are friends and relatives. A few reads, walks in the fresh air, Netflix series and a sofa in the evening…
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When did you start developing interest in the field of cosmetics?
We have always been passionate about cosmetics, even as consumers. Gradually, this topic has absorbed us as it hasn’t happened for a long time. Korea, and in particular Seoul that we visited, offered us the opportunity and the inspiration to evaluate and touch the “cosmetic culture” of that country. We consider it exceptional in several respects: technology, natural ingredients, competitive prices, attractive packaging.
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How and when was Soul4Skin born?
As they say “Take the bull by the horns”.
So it was. At a certain point in our personal and working life, we understood that everything had to take on a complete meaning in terms of the present time, but also and above all the future.
So in our head SOUL4SKIN was born more or less in 2017, the year of our wedding.
Like an epiphany, the trip to the East has mixed up all the cards, but at the same time we found the joker in that deck.
At the end of 2018 I (Ezio) left my job, with the awareness that a new adventure was making its way, at least in my head, even if I still didn’t know how.
On the other hand, many things often coexist in my mind at the same time, ça va sans dire.
I took some time to think about the so-called “sabbatical”. I began to inquire and resumed my studies, qualifying myself with a diploma in natural cosmetics and I read a lot. In conclusion, everything happened in a much more fluid way.
The project started in May 2019. Like any novelty, it was initially not well defined. We only knew that we would have liked to introduce this incredible cosmetic reality, which comes from afar. It was not easy to find the way, but with determination you get everywhere.
The store in via Rosolino Pilo opened to the public on November 9, 2019.
It is a concept brand that starts from cosmetics, and comes to identify a range of possibilities: wellness in a broad sense, the desire to convey attention to green certifications linked to the ingredients of our products, the expertise of holistic medicine from Eastern countries such as China, Korea, Japan. But also the packaging attentive to waste, which does not lose sight of aesthetics and craftsmanship both in the design of the store and in the tailor-made service that we dedicate to our customers.
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How did the idea of a place that encompass the innovation of Korean skincare, based in Milan, come about?
SOUL4SKIN represents a very clear and simple concept: the experiential aspect linked to cosmetics, in particular the Korean one, must be understood in a broader sense. The routine originates from small gestures dedicated to body care, which at the same time reach the deepest sphere of ourselves. Through attention to the body, we also give the right attention to the soul.
As RuPaul would say: “If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”.
Furthermore, Milan, the city where we live and work, is very receptive and its inhabitants are a melting pot of diversity and inclusion. Fashion goes hand in hand with design, ethnic restaurants are starred and if you go for a walk in the neighborhood below the house you can find: the artist who produces for Cattelan, the Persian carpet weaver Patina and the hair stylists dedicated to afro hair super cool, as happens precisely in Porta Venezia.
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How is the shopping experience in your store constituted?
Our small shop offers about 70 brands. In 23 square meters more souls coexist peacefully: brands known worldwide such as: Klairs, Cosrx, Mizon and smaller, niche brands such as Haruharu Wonder or Iunik. Or for example brands with organic heritage like Toun28, kawaii like Frudia, simple but super performing like Pyunkang Yul.
The list is long, but we assure you that every single brand has peculiarities that make it unique, special and suitable for solving or improving the needs of the skin.
Because she has so many. Know that!
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What if I want to buy online?
We have also recently opened an online site, which is part of a “club of shops”. Because we want to be a point of reference in our own small way, maintaining the same prerogatives of excellence as regards the service. How small shops and shops can and know how to offer.
Any anecdotes about your shop that you would like to tell the readers?
A beautiful woman, a little agé and a little supported, one day shows up in the shop. After explaining to her for about an hour, both our cosmetics philosophy and the brands and products present, she tells us, with an exhaustive grimace, that she was not convinced of anything.
“You know … all these news”. We insist on letting her try samples of a snail slime line – a very popular ingredient in Korea – especially suitable for “experiential” skins.
After about a week, we are in the shop, not yet open, and we hear a loud knock on the window. She was the same lady as above. She walks in and says firmly, “I want the whole snail drool line you made me try. My husband comes out last night wondering what I did to my face, saying I was younger and more beautiful. Of course she won’t look like it. a great deal, but forget it, he hadn’t paid me a compliment for 22 years. ”
The Power of Love!
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What do you think of the beauty world today?
In reality nothing is missing, perhaps we have too much.
We Westerners lack the method, which is instead present in Eastern culture, particularly Korean.
Often in the store the opening words are: “But oriental women already start with beautiful skin”: FALSE.
Behind that porcelain skin there is often a lot of dedication, rules, “resilience” and love – often emulated by familiar gestures and handed down stories.
Our grandmothers scolded us for sneaking candies, they still do it there today if you haven’t put SPF at the end of your skin routine.
Pros and cons?
Pro: it teaches us to better understand the needs of our skin and to define, based on these, the choice of the necessary products.
Cons: it can often be time for us.
When you think about the 10 steps of the Korean routine, you are already discouraged. Also in this case, we must consider that the time we dedicate to it is aimed at ourselves and our needs. Also, it would be helpful to change the perspective. Moving from the concept of duty to the concept of pleasure.
Do you have any new projects in mind? If you can reveal it to the readers.
We have recently launched the online shop and this already represents a new project.
In autumn, however, there will be surprises related to the store. You can take advantage of a small workstation, to brain the skin, the absolute protagonist of our tiny-store. We cannot reveal more.
What would you say to those who still don’t know you? What sets you apart?
We are one of the few shops in Italy that deals with Korean cosmetics. We are small and interesting. You can come to us for the news and to discover something more about your skin. We are curious and we love our work.
We chose this profession a long time ago. Working in contact with the public and interacting with it can be tiring. It is common opinion that the return is never equal to the investment, but not for us. We are often amazed at how much more interesting people are than what they want us to believe. Often they don’t even realize it. If you work with people and are open it is not difficult to find your job enjoyable. Then we love news, cosmetics, the Orient, color, design and all this is in our work. Lucky, we know.
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The Word of Beauty Editor:
Under the advice of Ezio and Leo we have selected a tailor-made routine, which you can consult in the slideshow below. A starting point to immerse yourself in the Soul4Skin universe, where they will be ready to advise you on the best proposals for a tailor-made routine that leaves nothing to chance.
Info & Contacts
Website: soul4skin.business.site
Online shop: soul4skin.bottegheemercati.it
Instagram: @soul4skin
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