- - Everything We Know About Shay Mitchell's Gen Alpha Skincare Line, Straight from Shay Mitchell (Exclusive)

Catherine SantinoNovember 17, 2025 at 1:00 AM

0

Rini

Shay Mitchell and Esther Song for rini. -

Shay Mitchell says that her new kids' skincare line rini is a "solution" to a parenting problem

"This is needed, and needed right now,'" the actress and entrepreneur tells PEOPLE

The brand was inspired by Mitchell's own daughters, 6-year-old Atlas and 3-year-old Rome

The idea for Shay Mitchell's kids' skincare and play brand, rini, was born from an unfortunate face painting incident.

The actress and her 6-year-old daughter Atlas attended a birthday party for her longtime friend Esther Song's daughter Paloma, where the girls had their faces painted.

"It looked amazing at the time, until they wanted to take it off," Mitchell recalls to PEOPLE. "Paloma went into the bathroom, used water, came out and her face was purple. It didn't come off."

She continues, "We both looked at each other like, 'Can we use a bum wipe? Can we use our cleanser? No, their skin barriers are so much thinner and way more sensitive [than ours]. Do I use a makeup wipe? No, that probably has a lot of stuff in it too. What are we using to take off the face paint that was at a kid's party?' Nothing."

Mitchell says she had a similar experience when she took Atlas and her 3-year-old daughter Rome to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disneyland. "They're putting on sparkles. They're putting on eyeshadow, nail polish, hair gel, everything. I get home... how am I taking this off?"

These moments led to a conversation with Song, during which both moms agreed that suitable products for their kids' skin didn't exist.

"We've both done our due diligence and research and looking out in the market to see if there are these products that can be the solution to the problems we're finding as mothers," Mitchell explains. "Nothing. And I think that's when we were like, 'This is needed, and needed right now.'"

Rini

Esther Song and Shay Mitchell.

Mitchell and Song also both noticed their daughters' interest in skincare and beauty from an early age. As young as two-and-a-half, Mitchell recalls, her kids were asking to try on lip gloss."I've had to tell them no so many times," the Pretty Little Liars alum says. "[They ask], 'Can I do that? What are you doing that for? Can I try that? Can I put that on my face?' I had a little tub of vitamin E that I would let them put on their face, and it was very exciting, so that they could kind of feel like they were participating in my routine."

Mitchell's daughters eventually asked for more products to try. "It got to a point where I was like, 'Okay, this is crazy. I think there needs to be something out there that you can actually use and have fun with and be a part of this with me,'" she recalls.

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

And so, rini was born, with Mitchell's partner Matte Babel joining the venture. Inspired by the founders' Asian heritage, the brand is inspired by Korean beauty practices and all of its products are manufactured in Korea. The name, rini, is even Korean slang for "kiddos" or "little ones."

Rini

rini skincare.

Rini's initial launch features hydrating hydrogel masks and 100 percent cotton sheet masks that come in animal prints.

The goal, according to Mitchell, is not to implement a strict skincare routine for kids. Fragrance-free and formulated with gentle ingredients like vitamin B12 and aloe vera, rini products offer a fun activity with added benefits.

Rini

rini skincare.

"This is not brightening. It's not any of the stuff that we have for us," Mitchell explains of the products, which are formulated for kids ages two to 12. "This is genuinely just replenishing the hydration that is lost maybe from a little too much sun. This is more fun than just slopping on lotion."

The brand also seeks to open a conversation about skin health between parents and kids.

"We had the education of, 'You need sunscreen,'" Mitchell says of her own experience growing up. "Did my parents ever really have the conversation about what was in certain things? No. I'd see a cute lip gloss at the store. I got it. I used it. I didn't know what was in it, and frankly, my parents didn't either."

Rini, she hopes, "can sort of set the tone for them when they're older and being more conscious about what they're putting on their skin."

Ingredient transparency is at the core of the brand, which is why Mitchell and Song published rini product safety reports on their website.

"We are working with a regulatory firm in New York that we trust and a pediatric toxicologist, so we obviously go through pretty rigorous testing," Song says. "So when you buy this, you'll be able to actually see the test results and what's in it.""We wanted to go through all the appropriate testing and all of that to make sure that what we were putting out there was genuinely the safest and most gentle for our kids," Mitchell adds.

"I feel really, really proud," she says of the brand. "We both do. I think it's a solution for experiences that we have both had. It's just a really good feeling."

rini is available to shop now.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”