Local entrepreneur keeping the faith

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This article was published 05/02/2021 (1901 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Frankie Smith can’t wait to get back to work.

The 29-year-old is the owner and operator of Cosmetica, which is located at 4-553 St. Mary’s Rd.

The business, which is currently closed due to provincial COVID-19 restrictions, offers a number of services to help individuals look and feel their best, including scalp micropigmentation for hair loss, microblading, brow micro-pigmentation, and collagen induction therapy.  

This January marked the two-year anniversary of Smith moving into the space on St. Mary’s Road. She previously worked out of space she rented at Essentique Aveda Salon & Spa in south St. Vital. Now, she rents rooms in her space to two nurses of the Face Place who offer botox and filler and other anti-aging procedures.

Having spent 2019 establishing her business and growing her client list in her current location, Smith has experienced the same stop-start frustrations as many local business owners in 2020 because of the pandemic. She was closed for a period between March and June — “it got really busy again and I had a really great summer” — before closing again in November. Despite these setbacks, Smith remains optimistic about the future.

“It’s been pretty tough. I fell into a bit of a depression over it. But I tried to remind myself to keep the faith and stay positive. I’m thankful that my husband has a secure job, and I try to remind myself how fortunate (I am) and that my situation could be different. I always try to look at things in a positive light,” she said.

Smith, who hails from Ottawa originally, said she’s tried to put some of her unexpected time off to good use and educate herself by taking courses, such as lip tattooing. “I’ve tried to take the opportunity to look at things in a different way.”

While she understands the current restrictions are in place for a reason, she emphasized that her business is highly regulated and she has always followed strict health and sanitization protocols.   

She said another positive is that her clients have been extremely supportive, and she has received lots of messages of support and inquiries about when she’ll be reopening.

One of the procedures Smith does is hyper-realistic microblading for eyebrows, which she said gives the illusion that one has full eyebrows.

“This procedure is also great for those who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments or have alopecia. It’s also loved by those who over-tweezed their brows or have little to no brows, at all,” she said. “It’s also good for busy moms who don’t have time to do their makeup or those who are tired of drawing their eyebrows on.”

Another procedure is scalp micropigmentation, which is for men and women who have suffered from hair loss or hair thinning.

“It creates the look of a fuller head of hair and recreates that effect hairline and five o’clock shadow for men who are completely bald,” she said.

“Men who have had a hair transplant usually end up making an appointment with me to fill in their scalp to achieve a fuller look that the transplant couldn’t achieve, and women with thinning hair also love this technique as it fills in areas they feel self-conscious about, giving the appearance of fuller hair. We can do this procedure on patients with long hair to no hair, at all.”

“The treatment is done by a specially trained and skilled technician to recreate the look of hair follicles. We use a specialized tattoo machine and specific ink made for scalp micropigmentation only,” Smith added.

Go online at studiocosmetica.com for more information or visit Cosmetica on Instagram.

Call 204-791-6131 to contact the Face Place.