FACING FUTURE
PAIGE’S COVID-19 CHALLENGES
WHILE
her business friends enjoyed downtime and regular coffee dates during the coronavirus shut-down, Paige Hunter just did not stop.
The Face Candy owner and operator was studying a cosmetic tattooing brow masterclass, while being headhunted to go back to her former job at the suddenly very busy Pease St WholeLife Pharmacy.
At 25, the self-described former “lost cause” has found her way, establishing a successful beauty business and more than 25,500 Instagram followers showcasing her journey as a bikini competitor in World Beauty Fitness and Fashion (WBFF).
Paige is part of a rapidlychanging beauty industry, with various non-surgical treatments that result in little downtime, a promise of permanent results and more affordable pricing for the everyday woman.
One of the new kids on the beauty block is fibroblast, where a plasma pen is dotted along the skin, causing cell destruction. As healing takes place, a noticeably firmer complexion is revealed.
“It causes the skin tissue to retract and tighten,” Paige says.
“That’s pretty big in Sydney and I did the course down there and brought it up here. But the biggest one at the moment since corona is the cosmetic tattooing, the powder brows.”
The semi-permanent option that goes as deep as the top few layers of skin and mimics the look of filled-in powder, has been going gangbusters, according to Paige.
When coronavirus restrictions were implemented, Paige closed her doors on April 20, like so many other businesses, with no idea of when she would open again.
“I came in to clean my carpets on my first day unemployed and I was here for about five hours and then my old boss rang me and said ‘we are so busy, you need to come and help us’.
“So I was there ever since, because they were just getting hammered. I had a job which was great but then it was annoying because all my business owner friends were like ‘we are going to do this, we are going to get coffee’ but then I was working the whole time so I didn’t get a break. But that kept me going because if it wasn’t for that I don’t know what I would have done.
“By the time we could apply for our JobKeeper payment, I was back here (at Face Candy).
“It was pretty scary. Not knowing if I was going to open up again, having to message all my clients saying can we just hold on. I tried to stay positive.”
But business is back and busier than ever at Face Candy, which Paige established in 2018.
She’s had her ups and downs, saying she was “the kid at school who had no idea what I wanted to do”. “I was a lost cause. My gap year turned into about seven years and I was just working full-time. I wanted a life I’d be happy with, and that’s when I decided to go down to Sydney to do the (beauty) courses.”
The business also took time to establish.
“It was the worst. When you go to a market and see someone at a stall sitting all by themselves and no one wants their products and you get really emotional?
“I realised I was that person because I would sit in my treatment rooms and cry some days and just sit at the front desk waiting.
“All day I would be socials, socials, socials, sales, discounts and make sure that everyone who came in was showered every inch of service I had and didn’t give up.
“Sometimes I didn’t know how I was going to make ends meet or get to the next day but I had a lot of people close to me at the time help me and supporting me.
“Now I look around and it’s a bit of a spin-out.”
Similarly, her approach to competing in the WBFF Diva
Bikini Model division is one of never giving up.
Paige is now in off-season, upping her calorie intake and training hard for a return to the competition in May next year.
“The only person in the way of yourself is you. I used to look at other girls and say ‘I could never do that. I am not naturally built like that’. One day I was like ‘why can’t I do that’.”