Friday, July 28, 2006

Terri Foster (left) with Nail Technician Cheryl Williams (centre) and Beauty Therapist Simone Rusche.

When Terri Foster returned home to Cayman Brac, she immediately saw the need for a beauty salon and spa on the Island.

As she was helping with the family business, Brac Freeport, many of their customers told her they had to go to Grand Cayman for hair and beauty treatment.

"I did myself," she said. Recognizing a business opportunity, she has opened A Cut Above - the first full-service salon/spa on the Brac, offering a wide range of products and services, including full wax service for the first time on this Island.

Saturday 22 July was the Grand Opening Day for the salon, which is located at the Gerrard Smith Airport, next to CB Rent-a-Car.

The occasion created a buzz of excitement as residents discovered they now had all the beauty treatments they needed right here on the Brac without an expensive trip to Grand Cayman. Some even discovered new services.

Linda Knowlton had permanent lip-liner and colour applied by Simone Rusche, a beauty therapist from Germany, who specializes in permanent make-up, anti-wrinkle injections, teeth whitening, hair extensions and ear-piercing.

Ms Rusche also does body scrubs and polishes, slimming foil wraps, massages, facials and micro dermabrasions. Ms Knowlton said she was thrilled with the result of her treatment.

"I've always wanted a top lip in proportion to my bottom lip. Ms Rusche enhanced the top lip with liner and then coloured the lips. I'm coming back in two weeks to have it checked and I also plan to have permanent eye-liner applied," she said.

"I always wear it anyway and this way, it will never smudge. With permanent make-up, women can wake up in the morning still looking as beautiful as they did the night before," added Ms Knowlton.

Ms Foster's staff includes Cheryl Williams, a nail technician and cosmetologist from Jamaica, and Liza-Marie Boyder, a hair stylist and colouring specialist from South Africa.

The salon isn't just for the ladies. Gentlemen's haircuts are offered, as well as beard and mustache grooming, back and chest waxing, and all the relaxing massage and facial treatments.

Many of the facial and massage services are offered with spa products by Elemis, a company that does not test, nor condone the testing of cosmetics on animals.

The company also claims it is politically responsible and constantly researches innovative ways to package its products with minimal environmental impact, an important point for socially aware customers.

A range of massages, body wraps and facials are provided, including the quick thirty minute "Taster Facial" and the seventy-five minute "Advanced Anti-aging Facial", which "instantly firms, rejuvenates and plumps up the skin, whilst reducing dark circles from around the eye contour".

Ms Foster returned to the Brac after many years living in Grand Cayman and the US. She came back, she said, "because it was time".

For this Brackers can be grateful. It was definitely time for a full-service spa and salon on this Island.

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