About The KIMS Studio, A Korean Beauty Atelier in Shanghai
Key takeaways
The KIMS is a family-led Korean beauty atelier in Shanghai, founded by mother and daughter artists Jenny and Alice.
Jenny brings close to thirty years in beauty and cosmetic tattooing. Alice brings current Korean technique trained in Seoul, bringing a younger, internationally informed perspective. The studio is built on both, not around one artist.
The Korean techniques we work in prioritize softness, gradual layering and harmony with your existing features - the aim is that people notice you look better, not that you have had work done.
Consultations are conducted in Korean, English or Mandarin. For a semi-permanent result, being able to describe subtle preferences precisely is part of getting it right.
Every appointment begins with a complimentary design consultation, and the shape is mapped and approved by you before any work begins.
Our philosophy
At The KIMS Studio, we believe true beauty is never forced. It is carefully designed, thoughtfully refined, and tailored to each face.
That belief shapes everything about how we work. We focus on precision that feels subtle, techniques that adapt to your features, and results that heal naturally over time. Nothing harsh, nothing overdone — just a version of you that feels more complete, more confident, and more aligned.
This is a studio for people who want to enhance their natural beauty, not change it. For those who value softness, balance, and results that feel effortlessly their own.
Who founded The KIMS Studio?
Jenny brought nearly three decades of experience in beauty and cosmetic tattooing. Alice introduced a younger, more international perspective. Together they created The KIMS as a Korean beauty atelier that combines established technical expertise with modern design, personalised consultation and multilingual service.
Rather than building the studio around one individual artist, we created it as a family-led brand. Its identity reflects the shared experience, aesthetic judgement and complementary perspectives of two generations of Korean women.
What led us to cosmetic tattooing?
Cosmetic tattooing began with Jenny's long-standing career in the beauty industry. Over nearly thirty years she developed extensive experience working with different facial structures, skin conditions and client preferences. Her work was never only about applying pigment - it was about understanding how subtle changes to the brows, eyes, lips or hairline could improve a person's overall balance and confidence.
Alice entered the industry through that foundation. Growing up around Jenny's work gave her an early understanding of beauty design, but she later pursued her own professional training across Seoul, Amsterdam and China and developed her own approach as an artist.
What attracted us both to cosmetic tattooing was the combination of technical precision and visual judgement. It requires an understanding of skin, pigment, symmetry, facial anatomy and healing but it also requires restraint. The best result is not necessarily the most dramatic one. It is the result that makes a client look fresher, more balanced and more polished, without immediately revealing what was done.
That philosophy became central to The KIMS: cosmetic tattooing should enhance the individual rather than impose the same brows, lips or hairline on every face.
Why Shanghai?
It is also a city we understand personally. Alice spent important years growing up and studying in Shanghai, so it has never felt like a purely foreign market. It is a place where Korean, Chinese and international influences naturally meet.
We saw that Shanghai clients were increasingly sophisticated about cosmetic tattooing. They were not simply looking for a convenient or inexpensive procedure. Many were searching for natural results, better technique, personalised design, and a higher level of communication and service.
At the same time, Shanghai has a large international community. Because we work with clients from different cultural backgrounds, we became very aware that beauty expectations vary. Some clients want almost invisible enhancement; others prefer more structure or definition. Shanghai gave us the opportunity to create a studio that could understand those differences while maintaining a clear Korean aesthetic.
The city therefore became part of The KIMS identity: Korean in technique and philosophy, international in the way we communicate and serve our clients.
What does "The KIMS" mean?
We chose the plural form because the brand does not represent only one Kim. It represents the shared experience and perspective behind the studio: two generations, two artistic viewpoints, one family philosophy.
The name is intentionally simple and personal. It reflects that clients are not entering a large, impersonal beauty chain. They are coming to a family-led Korean atelier where each treatment is discussed, designed and performed with individual attention.
"The KIMS" also represents continuity. Jenny contributes decades of knowledge and experience, while Alice brings a contemporary, internationally informed perspective. The brand sits at the point where those two generations meet.
What makes the Korean approach different?
The techniques we were trained in place a strong emphasis on softness, subtle layering and harmony with your existing features. The goal is an effect that looks naturally integrated into the face rather than visibly drawn or heavily tattooed.
In practice that means three things. We begin from your natural facial structure, hair growth and skin tone rather than a standard template - and we may preserve a small degree of natural asymmetry where correcting it too aggressively would look artificial. We implant pigment gradually, building colour in controlled layers rather than chasing maximum saturation in one session. And we design borders to stay soft, so that brows, lips and liner blend into the surrounding skin.
What we do
Service area | Treatments |
Brows | Hairstroke brows, ombré powder brows, combo brows, brow lamination |
Lips | Lip blush |
Eyes | Eyeliner tattoo, lash lift |
Scalp | Scalp micropigmentation (SMP) |
Lamination / Lift | Korean Lash Lift, brow lift / lamination |
What to expect
Every appointment begins with a complimentary design consultation, and nothing is permanent until you have approved it.
We talk first. What you want, what you have been doing with makeup, what has and hasn't worked before.
We map the design to your facial proportions - not to a template or a trend.
You approve it in a mirror before any needle work begins.
We work. Unhurried, with breaks whenever you want one.
You leave with written aftercare, and we are reachable afterwards if you have questions.
Because we build colour conservatively, a touch-up session is a normal part of the process rather than a sign something went wrong. We establish a natural foundation first and strengthen it once we can see how your skin has healed.
Our goal is not just to create beautiful results, but to offer a space where you feel comfortable, understood, and confident in every step of the process.
Which languages do you work in?
Being multilingual matters more in cosmetic tattooing than it might sound, because the consultation is a major part of the procedure. You need to be able to describe subtle preferences - whether you want a softer or more structured result, how much daily makeup you normally wear, what concerned you about a previous procedure.
Clear communication also allows us to explain realistic expectations, healing, aftercare and the possible need for more than one session. For us, multilingual service is not simply a convenience; it is part of creating a safe, personalised and trustworthy client experience.
Book a complimentary design consultation
WeChat: thekims_sh
Instagram: @thekims_sh
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