Left to Right: Natassia Siu and Emily Yiu | Co-Founders of SKNEDIT Singaporean self-care business
All about timing
Natassia had graduated from university with a degree in communications. She had work stints in public relations in New York and Singapore.
Both were both searching for a passion project to bring to life, and the best friends realised this was the perfect opportunity for them to create something special together.
Two months later, SKNEDIT was born.
The Yin and Yang of a business
Natassia, a self-professed skincare lover and had been immersed in the world of skincare for years.
She was always the go-to person when friends sought a new skincare routine or needed product recommendations. The pair also wanted to go beyond skincare and shine a spotlight on self-care, especially relevant in these pandemic times.
“I love the feeling of being able to help people feel better about themselves, and I only recommend products I believe in, and we carry that philosophy over to SKNEDIT.”
A Package of SKNEDIT Products
“Emily is in charge of the finance, operations and everything else that makes SKNEDIT an actual business,” she said.
“Covid created many challenges and difficulties, but SKNEDIT was one really good thing for us that came out of it,” Natassia said.
On being ghosted
That is not to say creating SKNEDIT did not come with any difficulties. One of their biggest challenges was getting brands to take SKNEDIT seriously.
In the initial stages, Natassia and Emily faced countless rejection emails from brands they wanted to stock. Even worse, however, was when brands could not even bother to respond.
“We were ghosted – a lot,” Natassia admitted. “We just had to be persistent and continue to follow up with the brands, until they realised how sincere and serious we were.”
One of the first brands that teamed up with SKNEDIT is a local vegan skincare brand, Two Halves.
Discovering niche brands
“There is a unique story behind each of the items we stock. They’re all products we use ourselves and love,” Natassia shared.
Case in point: The bamboo salt toothpaste available on SKNEDIT is created by Youn Chang, a mother who couldn’t find fluoride-free options she was happy with for her child. Youn Chang set out to create a product she was happy with, also wanting to bring Eastern wellness to our daily rituals, and her toothpaste creation was born. The SKNEDIT founders got to know about her product through friends.
A Dental Set From the SKNEDIT Line
“We liked her philosophy and we loved the actual product. Now it’s one of our best sellers,” Natassia said.
SKNEDIT also carries a range of scented candles from Canadian brand HollowTree ski town whistler. They are the exclusive distributor of these candles in Singapore.
The Hollow Tree Candle from SKNEDIT
The pair discovered the brand when they were in a ski town in Canada.
“We fell in love with their scents years ago, and when we started SKNEDIT, I really wanted to carry them. We wrote in to tell them how we found their candles, how much we loved them and asked if they would allow us to stock them,” Natassia said. “And they did!
The future of SKNEDIT
SKNEDIT Christmas Edition
Scented candles, moisturisers and other skincare products are big in the self-care sphere. Many skincare and self-care platforms stock a wide range of such products. Yet, the ones at SKNEDIT are unique.
The candles didn’t just come from Canada; the toothpaste didn’t just come from New York; everything on SKNEDIT came from a genuine passion for skin care, self-care and friendship.
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