At its new home in BGC, Alpina is creating a space where beauty, restoration and the pleasure of taking care of oneself meet.
September slipped away on a celebratory note at One Uptown Residences.
Guests gathered for the opening of the new Alpina Lounge & Wellness, dressed for an afternoon that felt equal parts beauty launch, social gathering and new beginning. The room was warm with conversation. Gift bags appeared in different shapes and sizes. Flowers, photographs and greetings filled the space.
And at the center of it all was Kathryna Yu Pimentel, Alpina’s founder, beaming.
Kathryna Yu Pimentel, President and Owner of Alpha Lounge & Wellness Spa
It was perhaps the most fitting introduction to a wellness business: its founder looking genuinely happy to be opening its doors.
The ribbon-cutting was led by First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos, who arrived in a pink ensemble that seemed perfectly at home amid the warm, wellness-inspired atmosphere. A priest blessed the new space, amid lighted candles and guests began to explore the lounge.
First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos leads the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Alpina Lounge & Wellness
For a moment, the rituals of an opening ceremony, ribbon, blessing, candlelight, seemed to mirror what Alpina hopes to offer its guests: a reason to pause, mark a moment and make time for oneself.
Beyond the beauty appointment
Alpina’s new home is designed around a premise that feels increasingly familiar in contemporary wellness: looking good and feeling well do not necessarily have to occupy separate worlds.
The space brings together aesthetics, wellness, longevity and lifestyle under one roof, with a range of services that includes advanced skin and aesthetic treatments, massage and wellness therapies, IV drips, body sculpting, hair and scalp care, salon services, nails, lashes and brows.
But the more interesting proposition is not the menu of treatments. It is the experience surrounding them.
Warm neutrals, metallic accents, organic textures and natural details give the interiors the feeling of a refined private retreat rather than a conventional clinic. The intention, according to Pimentel, was to create somewhere beautiful but personal—somewhere guests could slow down and enjoy time deliberately set aside for themselves.
Wellness can sometimes become another item on an already crowded to-do list: another appointment, another protocol, another thing to optimize. Alpina’s approach suggests something softer, a space where the act of caring for oneself can also be pleasurable.
“We wanted the refreshed space to feel beautiful, warm, and personal, a place where every guest can slow down, feel cared for and truly enjoy taking time for themselves,” Pimentel says.
The people behind the promise
Walking through the opening, I found myself thinking about how difficult it is for a wellness brand to communicate something as intangible as care.
You can photograph the interiors. Or list the treatments. You can describe the technology.
But warmth is harder to package.
Perhaps that is why the presence of Pimentel—and her sister Steph Chua, who helps manage the lounge—was as telling as the space itself. Both appeared completely at home in the environment they had helped create, moving through the gathering, welcoming guests and attending to details.
Sisters Steph and Kathryna, a more interesting definition of beauty than simply looking good
There is a certain irony in judging a wellness space by how its owner looks. Beauty, after all, is deeply personal and cannot be reduced to appearance.
But if the idea behind Alpina is that beauty can be connected to a broader sense of well-being, then its founders’ own enthusiasm for the concept becomes part of the story.
Their philosophy appears to extend beyond a polished exterior toward an all-encompassing approach to care—one that connects mind, body and spirit and sees outward radiance as part of a larger sense of feeling well.
That is a more interesting definition of beauty than simply looking good.
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A little Alpina to take home
The evening also introduced another expression of that philosophy: Alpina’s Beauty and Body Care Collection, created to bring some of the experience beyond the clinic.
My own little gift bag contained Salmon PDRN + Hyaluronic Acid Cream, PDRN Facial Wash, Alpina Nail Strengthener, L’Elixir Creme Corps and L’Huile d’Amande Almond Body Oil.
The collection reflects an idea that increasingly shapes modern self-care: rituals don’t necessarily have to happen in a treatment room.
A cleanser used at the end of a long day. A body oil after a shower. A cream applied slowly rather than hurriedly. A few minutes spent caring for one’s hands, skin or hair.
None of these things is transformative on its own. They can enrich our everyday wellness rituals, but they are not a substitute for medical care or evidence-based treatment when needed. they certainly shouldn’t be confused with medical care or evidence-based treatment when those are needed.
But rituals can give ordinary moments a little more intention.
As Alpina puts it, the collection is meant to bring “a little piece” of the care, luxury and attention of the lounge into everyday life.
Perhaps that is where the idea becomes most relatable.
Sometimes, you simply need to stop rushing through your own life.
The Faces of Alpina
Beauty and wellness stories often put the spotlight on the faces we already know—the celebrities, influencers and personalities who become the visible expressions of a brand.
But there is another set of faces worth noticing.
The women behind Alpina.
At the opening, the staff happily lined up for the photographers, and their presence immediately felt like part of the story. They looked warm, welcoming and confident—people who seemed genuinely ready to step into their roles and make guests feel cared for.
It is true, behind every treatment is a person.
Someone with the skill to perform it well; attentive enough to notice when a client needs a little more comfort. Someone service-oriented enough to understand that the experience matters just as much as the treatment itself.
The best wellness experiences don’t simply leave you looking refreshed. They leave you feeling seen, comfortable and cared for.
Because no matter how beautiful a wellness space is, or how thoughtfully its treatments are designed, the experience ultimately rests in the hands of the people who welcome us, care for us and make us feel at ease; the quiet ambassadors of what Alpina hopes to offer.
This is where Katrina and Steph’s role becomes especially interesting.
A wellness business can invest in beautiful surroundings and excellent equipment. But creating a team that feels valued, motivated and happy to serve requires something less visible and, arguably, more important: a culture of care that begins from within.
Perhaps Katrina and Steph understand that part of creating wellness is knowing how to make the people who provide it feel well, too.
That may turn out to be one of Alpina’s most important assets—not something displayed on a treatment menu, but something felt in the experience itself.
Not just in treatments, technology or beautiful surroundings, but in the people who bring the promise to life.
While the opening had its share of beautiful faces, the ones I found myself wanting to remember were the ones behind them.
The luxury of time
There is, of course, a luxury associated with spaces like Alpina. Wellness services, aesthetic treatments and carefully designed retreats are not equally accessible to everyone.
But within that world, there is a broader cultural shift worth noticing: people are beginning to think about beauty less as a destination and more as part of a larger relationship with health and self-care.
The best version of that philosophy is not about chasing perfection.
It is about paying attention.
To the skin that protects us and the body that carries us.
To the mind that needs quiet.
Yes, to the small rituals that help us feel restored.
And, perhaps most importantly, to the fact that caring for ourselves should not always feel like another task we have failed to complete.
That seems to be the spirit behind Alpina’s new chapter.
Not simply another place to have a treatment, but a place designed around the idea that taking care of yourself can itself be an experience worth savoring.
As the candles flickered following the blessing and guests wandered through the newly opened rooms, there was something fitting about the timing.
Kathryna and husband, former Senator Koko Pimentel, Jojo Alejar, Judge MJ Ong, and Joyful Wellness Editor Melody Samaniego, during the blessing of Alpina
September was ending.
A new month was beginning.
And Alpina, too, was beginning again.
A new beginning does not require becoming someone new.
Sometimes it simply means creating a little more space to take care of the person you already are.
JOYFUL WELLNESS TAKEAWAY
Beauty is not only what we see in the mirror, but how we feel when we give ourselves permission to pause, restore and be cared for—and how thoughtfully we care for one another.
Alpina Lounge & Wellness is located at Lower Ground, One Uptown Residences, 8th Avenue corner 36th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, across from Grand Hyatt. The lounge is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For appointments: 0917-129-7512.
