Inside ‘Golden Ally’: how Tatler and SK-II toasted 40 years of Pitera in gold

It set the tone for welcome remarks from Christopher Lui, brand director of SK-II Hong Kong and Taiwan, who posed the question at the heart of the night: must time always be an adversary to skin, or can it be made an ally? It is this provocation that gave rise to the LXP Golden Miracle series, powered by Pitera in its most concentrated 8X form alongside precious gold silk sericin, a protein extracted from golden silkworm cocoons. 

The menu, aptly titled A Symphony of Fermentation, Rice and Radiance, took SK-II’s own craft as inspiration for every course. Diners began with The Transformation of Clarity, a shio-koji cured salmon, and The Velvet Embrace, a chawanmushi layered with white miso. Both dishes drew on the same patient art of rice fermentation that led SK-II’s scientists to discover Pitera four decades ago.

The third course, The Essence of Mastery, paired Japanese rice risotto steeped in daikon green tea broth with delicate Botan shrimp. By the main course—The Golden Tapestry, a choice of pan-seared A4 Kagoshima sirloin or confit red seabream, both finished with a luminous pumpkin-carrot reduction—the parallels between kitchen and laboratory felt entirely natural: reduction as concentration, patience as potency.

Dessert brought the evening full circle. The Aura of Gold, an organic soy milk mousse with black sesame, kinako, or roasted soybean flour, crunch and kuromitsu a sweet syrup, arrived crowned in edible gold leaf, served with Grace Wine’s aged Shugorou no Vin Japanese port — itself a study in years well spent. 

During the third course, Cheryl Leung, the Hong Kong designer behind Sau Lee, joined Sobti for the evening’s fireside chat. Leung—whose custom cheongsams for Alexandra Leclerc at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix became one of the year’s most talked-about fashion moments, and who had just been named to Tatler’s Most Stylish list for 2026—spoke candidly about building a brand on instinct rather than approval.

“At some point, you have to trust your own point of view,” she said, recalling early advice that Sau Lee ought to be “less Chinese” to succeed internationally. “It’s the same with personal style. Wear what makes you feel good rather than what somebody else thinks you should be wearing.”

Her outlook on ageing mirrored the evening’s central idea precisely. “Getting older has brought me much more confidence; not because I suddenly have everything figured out, but because I know myself better.” Her own longevity ritual, she added, is a nightly 20 minutes of reading, a warm shower and her SK-II LXP skincare: “Simple to use but it feels so luxurious, and a special treat at the end of my day.”

Three guests lent their own perspectives to camera ahead of dinner. For Angel Li, public figure and content creator, growing with time means embracing every season of life: “You can’t fight time, you can only learn to grow with it.” Of the LXP Cream, she praised a silky texture that melts in without heaviness, leaving a soft, lit-from-within glow.

Chef Betty Fung reached, characteristically, for a culinary metaphor. “In the kitchen, we don’t fight time—we work with it. A great stock needs hours; a fermentation takes months.” Growing with time, she said, means not trying to be a 25-year-old chef again, but a better chef than last year. She described the LXP Cream as a recovery shift for the skin, leaving it looking rested even when she hasn’t been. 

For artist Mizuki Nishiyama, SK-II’s founding story, inspired by the famously youthful hands of sake brewery workers, is never far from mind when using the LXP Cream. “The first thing I really notice is the moisture. It feels instantly comforting.” Her own reset is as simple as slowing her breath for five minutes to return to the present. 

A live trio of violin, cello and handpan played through the main course, its interplay of precision and organic rhythm mirroring SK-II’s own marriage of science and time. Guests departed with their handcrafted floral pieces in hand and an invitation to continue the experience with a bespoke SK-II facial at Island Shangri-La—one more chapter that made an elegant case for a simple idea: with the right care, time is not something to outrun, but something worth growing into.

Reserve your bespoke SK-II facial at Four Seasons or at store today.