Archive

Hockley boutique promotes the art of being beautiful

July 7, 2016   ·   0 Comments

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which misses out a more important point of view: what about beauty being in the inner eye? What about an individual’s idea of her/his own beauty?

It is to this perception that Arvella Giesbrecht appeals as owner of the Arvella’s Spatique, a collection of small businesses all concerned with the well-being and beautifying of their individual clients.

Located in the village of Hockley, Arvella’s Spatique is situated in a lovely, small older home, one of the original houses in the village, next to the Hockley General Store. The interior is a haven of calm – lace curtains on the windows, small antiques and prints on the walls make it feel as much a home as a place of business.

Indeed, the whole ambiance is given over to welcome and the promise of worth while visit.

“I always enjoyed doing my nails,” Ms. Giesbrecht said simply of herself as a child.

Before the notion of doing not only her own nails but those of many others, she pursued a career in early childhood education, working as an education assistant.

This was habitually as a supply teacher, which required her to move from school to school, never giving her the chance to really know any of the students with whom she was meant to be working.

She talked about those times. “I was even a school bus driver. The manicure business was on the back burner.”

She began to work on it more in one small shop after another, never satisfied with the overall arrangement until the opportunity to set up in Hockley Village came along.

“I opened with someone else about eight years ago and then, took over,” she explained of the history. “Now, I have loyal clients who come from Brampton and farther and others who live nearby.”

After a couple of visits, one of her clients remarked that  they should do something together.

“Our first ‘date,’” Ms. Giesbrecht began, putting the word in quotation marks, “was a KISS concert at CasinoRama – we even met Gene Simmons,” laughing at the memory.

The experience of a manicure with Ms. Giesbrecht is one of careful attention to detail and the use of very fine ingredients.

We were treated to a lesson on the subject of nail polish. We feel felt that, as our nails breath, polish is necessarily bad for them and it has always made our nails uncomfortable very soon after the application of any polish.

Ms. Giesbrecht explained why and her alternative which is to offer a Shellac finish. This product from Creative Nail Design is a polish with an extremely fine honey comb-like consistency with tiny openings that allow the nails to breathe through the colour. Before that, she works the details of the cuticles, the specific ways in which a person’s nails should be filed.

For the facials she gives, Ms Giesbrecht uses natural products, beautiful sea buck products from Quebec, a property where the herb is grown and the products are made there. She also uses vitamins and other natural aids to cleanse and maintain good skin.

She made the point, “I am not a retail person, more a service  person,” she was clear to say. “If a client wants to purchase something, that’s okay but there’s no pressure from me to buy.”

On the ground floor across the hall from Ms Giesbrecht is Jessica Greco, with her Willowtree Hair Design. She joined us for a few moments chat before her next client was to arrive.

“Not everybody can do a manicure or do hair,” she said quite directly.

There is time, training and experience needed to arrive to a point of excellence. With all the colour shining from so many heads nowadays, we talked about that.

She just said, “Each person wants something different. Ladies with grey hair want colour to hide it but, then the young girls come in and they want grey hair – I love it – I love making people feel good – it’s getting creative .” Is she ever given the opportunity to take control and do whatever she thinks would work best, we wondered. She told us that does not happen much but, in any event, consultations with the clients are “the most important part of the appointment.”

We began to discuss the philosophy of beauty beheld by the inner eye, the view we each have of ourselves.

“It’s not just the facials and hairstyling, it’s the relationships that we form with our clients,” Ms Greco commented. “sometimes, they want to talk about their lives.”

“A woman goes to her job with her hands looking beautiful and feeling so good about her hair and it gives a real confidence to deal in this male dominated business world,” Ms Giesbrecht remarked. “We care about our appearance and when we know we look good – it makes us happy.”

A third member of the Arvella’s Spatique is Michael Hillier, an experienced RMT who has maintained a private practice in Brampton for many years and who has an impressive list of long term patients.

Mr. Hillier is careful to remain current in his professional practices and training to include Shiastsu, deep tissue Swedish massage and relaxation massage to name a very few of the many skills he has made his business to acquire.

Also knowledgeable in the matters of remedial exercise, yoga and meditation, Mr. Hillier offers instruction of these to, as he says, “healthful living practices.”

Coming to join this group in September is Christina Barrett, DCHM Homeopath to re-open her clinic, which she had in Orangeville, here in Hockley. She recently received her government certification and will be available for this alternative and augmentation to conventional medicine as of September. Christina Barrett graduated from the Canadian Institute of Homeopathic Medicine in 2004.

Each of these is an independent business and, as such, be contacted separately.

Arvella’s Spatique appointments may be booked by telephone at 647-800-7712 or at arvellasspatique@gmail.com.

Ms Greco with her Willowtree Hair Design may be reached at 416-529-0100.

Michael Hillier is available by text at 519-943-5191.

Christina Barrett is at healingbycaring @hotmail.com

Written by Constance Scrafield

Readers Comments (0)