Time flies and it amazes me how long I have been loving what I do. 38 years ago I started working in skincare. Just typing it shocks me! It all started with me working at G.Fox and filling in at different cosmetic counters but never being hired for a specific counter. In those days men weren’t really working the counters and when I realized there was a little discrimination going on, I decided to get real training so that my qualifications couldn’t be denied. I enrolled at the Creative School of Hairdressing and Skincare, in the Skincare Program. I loved it! I came easy for me. Once I started school I realized I do not need to sell lipsticks for Lauder, I was on the road to professional skin care
I only ever worked for salons that met my high set of standards. My first salon job was at Panache in Old Lyme. It was a great learning experience but I missed home and life in West Hartford. I guess I was too young to appreciate shoreline living. I then worked at Viera Salon in West Hartford. Another wonderful learning experience. While I was there I was inspired by a client who was a massage therapist, to study and add that craft to my work. I trained at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy and my teachers were the founders of that school. Massage therapy seemed to come easily and intuitively to me as well. I was now part of a very small group of people in the state who were both Estheticians and Massage therapists.
I needed a bigger challenge and that was the year the Norwich Inn and Spa was opening. What a dream opportunity. I now could develop skills in the hospitality as well as the beauty industries. I was hired as the supervisor of the massage and skincare department. I remember business grew so fast that I found myself training new staff, running the department and working full time on the floor. I was young then! We created the spa service menu and its treatments protocols. What an incredible group of colleagues I had the privilege of meeting there. You know, I still keep in touch with some of them to this day.
From time to time, the distributor for Sothys, that was then in New York, would ask me to help them by representing Sothys at trade shows or helping newer accounts with hands on training. They also had a school of aesthetics that needed me to come in and teach the students certain skills that my background was perfect for. I enjoyed these little challenges and changes of scenery and I even helped them when they were asked to write the exam and requirements for the New York State Esthetics license.
Back in Connecticut one day, after shoveling snow off the driveway and watching the city plow truck re bury it, I got a phone call from a spa in Puerto Rico. They needed me to help run a small hotel spa at the Hyatt Resorts. I remember I could hear a steel drum band in the background and I just had to say YES. What an experience! This was the first time I was in a place where I wasn’t the only bilingual person there. I really practiced my language skills there and met some fabulous people. Dorado, Puerto Rico was paradise but after a while I was needing to get off that island….so back to Connecticut I came. For a while I went back to the Norwich Inn, part time but then I wanted to go back to school and pick up the challenge of collage that I had abandoned years ago. I was older and wiser and now I knew how to deal with my Attention Deficit Disorder! I started classes at Tunxis Community College focusing on social service and psychology. I was doing well and I was in two honor societies. At that time I was working on my own out of my family home but if I focused on school, business suffered. If business suffers, there isn’t tuition money! So back to work. I joined a friend at a salon in East Hartford but that wasn’t really for me and I found myself working as a consultant for friends who were expanding their hair salon services by adding more spa services and moving into a beautiful old house… and Blades Salon was created in Wethersfield. Funny, I was also talking to a salon spa in Miami that was delayed in construction and I was planning to move south when they were ready….so I was only supposed to help Blades get started before I left…..and I was there for 20 years!
That brings me to Luis Miguel Art & Aesthetics. I opened my little space in July of 2018 and I share the house with wonderful hairdressers, some of whom worked at Blades with me for years.
I strive to create an oasis of peace where I invite you to come and forget the worlds…for a little while. Waxing, Make Up, Skincare, Nail Care and Massage Therapy I offer you my 38 years of experience with the prestigious skincare line, Sothys, from France to help you look and feel your best!
Luis Miguel Art & Aesthetics…
¡Exquisite indulgence you deserve!