Austin Beauty Week is a week when local salons and beauty-related businesses offer a number of their services at a reduced price to allow Austinites the chance to try out new services and products. However, there’s a lesson to be found in everything, and this event seemed to have a theme: Strong women running businesses and looking great while doing it. We’ve highlighted a few lessons you can take with you.
What Starts Here
Austin Beauty Week is the brain-child of Meredith Davis, a UT alum who worked in marketing for six years before she started Austin Beauty Guide about a year and a half ago. She realized that with Restaurant Week and Fashion Week, Austin was missing a “celebration of health and beauty.” Beauty Week has had its second appearance in Austin, and next year Davis’s goal is to expand to other Texas cities, namely Dallas and Houston.
In the words of its founder, Beauty Week is “a great way to treat yourself, get involved, and give back.” As with the first Beauty Week back in February of this year, Davis chose to sponsor a charity that was centered around women, her key demographic. This year’s charity was the Susan G. Komen foundation’s Austin chapter, which donates all of its money to local Austin women living with and fighting breast cancer, one of the top causes of death in American women. The participating businesses donated some of their proceeds to the cause, and in lieu of an entrance fee, attendees were encouraged to donate $10 to enter the events.
Beauty and Business
My Austin Beauty Week kicked off at the Beauty Bar event at The Belmont. Attendees were encouraged to wear pink to show support for Susan G. Komen, and carried around little pink cocktails as they perused each of the twenty-six tables.
I started at the Hiatus table, where they were making personalized perfumes (mine was “Wisdom”) and giving wonderful hand massages. She told me that at Hiatus, they specialize in massage, manicures, and pedicures.
On Wednesday, I drove up to 47th street, where I met with Devon Perry who owns MySkincare boutique. Perry is a trained aesthetician who was studying with kidney specialists when she realized her true talents lie in the art of skincare. Education holds a special place in Perry’s heart, as her Director of Operations Renata Strebe told me, Perry’s “first love is education.” Perry’s advice to young women is to “look at people who inspire you and get really curious…pick their brains and do what they did.”
On Thursday evening, I went over to 6th street to see Sara and Lati Domi, owners of Propaganda Hair Group. There, they held a fashion show displaying their hair and makeup artistry to celebrate their two-year anniversary.
The Domi’s moved from Dallas to Austin two years ago after she had been doing makeup and he hair for thirteen years. Sara said they have found Austin to be very “receiving.” They run their salon as a green business because they believe it’s important to “do your part.”
Sara originally went to school to study skin, but found that she talked too much to her clients. She later switched to cosmetology. She said too that if a girl wants to “do [her] own thing, get a business degree. A business degree is never a bad thing.”
Go Get Pretty
We can’t leave you high and your ends dry collegiettes! So of course we’ve put together a little list of places around town where you can go to get even more beautiful.
Salon by Milk + Honey –Get a brow touch up here!
Embellish Nails & Boutique– Clean up those cuticles in a totally fun (and pink) environment.
Myo Massage– This place has great hours, so you’ve plenty of time to loosen up.