Hey everyone and Happy Women’s Month! I know so many phenomenal women and am always being introduced to many more who are doing dope things in the world. If you’ve been following lookinthemirah for at least the past year you’ll know that last March I did a series called “Women Workin’ Wonders”, where I interviewed four women each week, from all backgrounds, about what they do. Today, “Women Workin’ Wonders” is back with our first interview of 2020! I’m so excited to share the stories of these women and our very transparent conversations about their business.
Beauty comes in all colors, ages, shapes, and sizes. Kira Nation and her Brooklyn based company, Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics, which launched in September of 2019, is here to help our natural beauty elevate and shine through with extensive services for skin, lashes, and brows. Kira is a licensed esthetician and has a substantial background in beauty, sales, and retail. One of the main reasons why Kira started her business is because she’s passionate about educating the black community and noticed most of us weren’t taught how to properly take care of our skin. Many black and brown women, including myself, struggle with hyperpigmentation and other skin conditions, which is where Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics comes in and saves the day!
Originally, Kira started in the beauty industry by representing men’s skincare lines like The Art of Shaving and then got into women beauty brands under Proctor & Gamble. She noticed they were using top of the line ingredients, all plant-based and natural, which created results that benefited the customers and left them satisfied. Brands with ingredients full of water, alcohol, and names you can’t even pronounce are not good for your skin. With the skin being our largest organ, it deserves the absolute best and with all the knowledge Kira has acquired, she is now putting the dos and don’ts into how she runs Full Front Beauty & Esthetics. In the very near future, men’s facials will become available for her male clients because they should be able to have nice skin too, right? Being a Brooklyn native, Kira would love to one day have Bedstuy’s own, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, sitting in her studio, waiting for his facial to begin.
Do you know your skin type? Have you ever done a skin-type analysis? Something Kira has noticed most with her clients is that think they know but really have no idea what their skin type is. In turn, they are not taking the necessary steps to keep their skin clear and illuminating. A skin-type analysis, or skin mapping, is when the Esthetician uses a magnifying lamp to accurately see the pore sizes of their client. The pore sizes, how far the pore comes out from the client’s cheek, and their T- zone area (forehead, nose, chin, and area circling the mouth) all play a vital role in determining someone’s skin type. With this information, Kira is now able to know what your skin needs to help make it flourish! Since most clients are unaware of what their skin-type is, they are either over or underworking their skin with nonbeneficial products.
If there’s one thing Kira is going to make sure she drills into all of our heads is that we need to include SPF (sun protection factor) into our daily skincare routines. When I told her I’ve never used SPF, besides at the beach, you would have thought she saw a ghost! As you may know, SPF comes in a variety of spectrums depending on the sun conditions you may be under and a few other factors. As a black community, we usually only think our yt white counterparts needing protection from the sun or that we only need it at the beach but that isn’t the case. We need it every day, all the time. The sun is so powerful and causes damage to our skin, whether we see it immediately or not.
Kira also pulled some statistics out and let us know that “50% of premature aging and wrinkles come from the sun.” SPF can also result in hyperpigmentation scars darkening, which had me shook because as I mentioned before, this is something I am dealing with; I’ve had so much progress within the last year but learning this made me realize I didn’t know everything I thought I did about treating it. Dermalogica is one of Kira’s favorite brands. They specialize in creating products that are made from real, organic, and clean ingredients that leave her skin feeling flawless, and they include SPF. Their foundation is one of her go-to’s and soon she will be certified as an ambassador for Dermalogica.
How do you like your lashes? Either long and voluminous or simple and natural, Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics can do it all! Kira’s motto when it comes to lashes is, “it’s you, only better”. Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics is able to provide a wide range of lash sets, depending on your style, but as of lately Kira has gotten a lot of clients who just want their lashes to look as natural as possible. She wants the lashes to compliment each client and enhance their beauty. Often times once her clients leave, she receives messages from their husbands, letting her know how amazing their wives look and feel.
Somewhere down the line, Kira would love to open a space connected to Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics where other entrepreneurs, both men, and women, can come and be featured guests for the week. We all know how expensive it is to live in New York and even more so to run a brick and mortar business. The featured guest could be from out of town, across the country, or even local. Creating a space for like-minded people, showing their creativity and art, to come together and learn from one another will be the basis of this space!
Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics wasn’t an idea that happened overnight. For almost ten years, while working for great companies, Kira constantly thought about what worked for herself, her family, and her friends. This heightened her curiosity about the industry. She was able to learn so much from her experiences but knew, ultimately, she had to represent herself and one day be her own boss. Kira said that when it’s the right thing it’s a sacrifice but every day she wakes up super enthused about what she’s doing and where her business is headed! Never has she ever been so inspired and her mind? It’s constantly filled with new ideas! With a new location opening up in this coming Spring, I am super excited for everything Full Frontal Beauty & Esthetics has in store! The website is almost complete, but in the meantime, make your way over to Instagram, follow along, and set up your first consultation.
Instagram: @full.frontal.beauty