History

I never set out to create a company for permanent makeup.

A lot of people have asked me how I got into the hand method. I am the second generation in my family to be in the beauty industry; my journey into this field began with my parents; Spiros and Irene. My mother and father were both at the top of their field and won many awards for their innovative contributions to the beauty industry. As a little girl, I grew up seeing them demonstrate and speak on one stage after another. They had enough trophies and awards to fill up a small room. Because of the influence that my mother had over me with her fabulous makeup background, I was naturally intrigued by permanent makeup.

While I have seen very nice work with machines, I personally fell in love with the hand method. It felt natural to me because I always loved working with my hands and I love the creativity and detail of something made entirely by hand. I have often laughed when I say that I will definitely use my dishwasher to clean most of my dishes, but the delicate fine china is done by hand even though my dishwasher has a setting for that. The face is delicate too, and needs special detailed attention with precision hand tools.

With that said, in 1988 I started using the hand method. At that time, bamboo sticks were being used to attach loose needles with dental floss. I didn't like that idea, so I came up with the method of using an Exact-o type holder instead. This is still used in the industry today. I felt very limited by the sparse needle sizes available and color options at the time, and so I created new ones; to date, we have over 30 different needle variations and over 60 colors, specially formulated for the melting pot of skin types in the SF Bay Area.

We developed a unique 19-step manufacturing process for our pigments which gives them the stability, safety, high performance capability, and ease of selection that our colors are known for today.

As I stated before, I only set out to improve my own personal products that I used on my own permanent makeup customers. But very quickly I started getting phone calls from practitioners, hairdressers, makeup artists, nurses, doctors, and more who saw my work and either wanted me to train their staff, or wanted to buy my needles and colors. They were not for sale, nor did I want to sell them. However, I kept getting calls for more and more requests for products and training. My husband, Mike, encouraged me to take this leap of faith and so in the early 1990's, we started training people with our system and selling our products to others. One thing led to another, and eventually we filed for the first of many patents on our unique needle design that gives maximum comfort for the client.

The calls have never stopped and I can honestly say that I never could have planned such a journey, even if I tried to. Today, our company is known worldwide for the highest quality, purity, service, and performance in the industry. It has been very interesting to see our industry evolve into what it is today. I remember doing a lecture back in the early 1990's and asking the audience if anyone uses the hand method -- no one raised their hand. Now, almost all hands go up when I ask the same question.

Today we continue to create and innovate, and now our children who grew up in this business are in charge of it. They have a lot of great ideas and we are very pleased to see this strong, creative, and dynamic team help move our industry forward with fresh progressive ideas. It's very exciting to watch them improve the lives of others around them.

Finally, no history of a company can go without saying thank you to our many fans and supporters over the years. You all know who you are. We love you and appreciate the long and fabulous relationships that we have with you. We are looking forward to many more.