FROM SALON FLOOR TO INDUSTRY FLOOR.

I worked on friends and family while I trained, then was headhunted from salon to salon after graduating.

At 19, I had a health scare that made me rethink what I wanted life and work to look like. Not long afterwards, Mum and I bought an existing salon on Queen Street Mall in Brisbane.

That was the beginning of my first salon business, Beatitude Skin & Body, in 1999.

Over the years I've worked across just about every corner of the beauty industry.

Facials. Skin treatments. Chemical peels. Paramedical skincare. Massage. Reflexology. Waxing. Brazilians. Spray tanning. Makeup. Manicures. Pedicures. Electrolysis. IPL. Sugaring. Lashes. Brows. Cosmetic tattooing and removal.

At one point I worked in the only salon in Brisbane offering Brazilian waxing, so when I opened my own salon, I was flat out doing them. I became known as a very fast waxer and was also an early adopter of spray tanning and eyelash extensions when they started making their way into Australia in the early 2000s.

Then my career took another turn.

LASHES, BROWS, EDUCATION + A LOT OF LEARNING

I became increasingly fascinated by lashes and brows, particularly because I knew what it was like to have fair, sparse lashes and brows myself.

In 2014, I helped bring international educator Irina Levchuck to Australia and hosted her Brisbane classes to teach Russian Volume Lash Extensions and advanced brow design and the Microblade Technique, 6D Brows. That grew into hosting other international educators, personally teaching throughout Australia and New Zealand, and eventually travelling overseas to train fellow therapists/aesthetics industry in Natural Brow Design, Brow Mapping and Brow Henna.

I built Australian Lash + Brow Artists, later becoming Beaute Lab, supplying lash and brow products and education.

I created training manuals where there often weren't any. I developed products. I introduced brow henna to the Australian market. I taught brow design, brow henna, lash extensions, Russian Volume, cosmetic tattoo, facial massage, skin anatomy, colour theory and more.

I've trained therapists in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and Sweden, as well as running private salon training and online education.

I also helped create industry events including Lash Gala, Lash Bash and the Lash Bash Island Retreat.

One of the things I'm proudest of from that chapter is being invited to speak at conferences in Canada and the USA and seeing products I'd created stocked in salons around the world.

It was a huge chapter of my career.

It also taught me a lot about business, people and the beauty industry itself.

THEN LIFE MADE ME SLOW DOWN.

During the early 2020’s, I became very unwell and eventually had to stop.

When you're used to working, teaching, creating and constantly moving forward, suddenly having to stop gives you a rather unavoidable opportunity to reconsider things.

I had to learn to listen to my body and pay attention to what actually helped me feel better.

And something interesting happened.

The facial work I'd always loved began to take on a completely different meaning.

I started noticing the effect that facial massage, therapeutic touch and slowing down could have, not just on the skin, but on how I felt.

I'd always believed in protecting the skin rather than attacking it. I was fortunate that my early training with Ella Bache taught me that no two skins are alike and that the first job is to understand the skin and do no harm.

But with time, experience and my own journey, that philosophy became much deeper.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE COMPLEXIONIST.

I created The Complexionist because I wanted to bring all of those experiences together.

• The skin therapist.

• The educator.

• The brow and lash specialist.

• The business owner.

• The product creator.

• The woman who has spent nearly three decades watching this industry change.

And, perhaps most importantly, the woman who knows what it feels like to look at your own skin and wonder what on earth you're supposed to do with it.

I wanted to create something more specialised, focused on skin and wellbeing without the bullshit.

I don't believe your skin is a problem that needs to be fixed.

I don't believe every line, pigment, pore, breakout or change in texture is a flaw that needs correcting.

And I certainly don't believe in rushing someone into expensive treatments because we've convinced them there's something wrong with them.

Your skin doesn't need to be fixed. It needs to be understood.

• Sometimes we need to gently challenge the skin.

• Sometimes we need to protect it.

• Sometimes we need to simplify everything.

• And sometimes you simply need to lie down, close your eyes and let somebody take care of you for an hour.

All of those things have a place.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM ME.

• I'm big on education, hygiene and honest ethics.

• I'll tell you what I think will help.

• I'll tell you when I think something isn't necessary.

• And if I don't think a treatment is appropriate for you, I'll tell you that too.

You don't need to buy everything I recommend. You don't need a complicated ten-step routine. And you definitely don't need to apologise for your skin when you walk through my door.

What you can expect is good skin and brow advice, excellent touch, thoughtful treatments and someone who genuinely cares about the person attached to the skin.

• There will be no fluff.

• There will be no pretending.

• There will probably be a few laughs.

• And there will be a lot of care.

Because after nearly 30 years, I've realised that the best part of this job isn't the treatment itself.

It's the relationship you build with the person lying on the bed.

I love that exchange of energy when both people leave feeling like they've been given something, not taken from.

That's what I want The Complexionist to be.

• A place where your skin is understood.

• Where you can learn without being judged.

• Where you can be looked after.

• And where, for a little while, nobody needs anything from you.