By Caelin Grambau, University of Pittsburgh English Writing & Spanish double major
A new spa center has opened in Pittsburgh on Greentree Road. Skin Boutique, owned and run by Evelyn A. Aikin, an esthetician with 9 years experience, offers a variety of services and amenities for clients to enjoy personalized treatments and optimized beauty and health standards.
Aikin, who has worked in a variety of different establishments, decided to launch her own esthetician space in 2022 after close to a decade in the field.
“I have been an esthetician for almost ten years, and I love everything about the business,” she says. To her, being an esthetician isn’t just about the products or the beauty, it’s about being able to help people so that they can look and feel beautiful, and be comfortable in their own skin.
Before Aikin came to Pittsburgh, she was working in a different industry entirely: tourism. In her home country of Ecuador, Aikin worked in public relations and marketing for companies in the tourism industry. “Marketing and travel agencies in Ecuador, those were my clients,” she explains.
By the time she moved to Pittsburgh and married her husband, a Pittsburgh native, she was ready for change. Beauty school seemed like nothing more than a thought at the time, but she went on to give it a try. “I was always curious about skin treatments … so I thought ‘why not?’,” she laughs.
After she completed school, she fell in love with the process of working as an esthetician. While she worked under different companies for nine years, she decided that she was finally ready to branch out on her own.
She is coming up on her ten year anniversary as an esthetician soon, and she’s celebrating with the opening of her new business, Skin Boutique PGH.
While she’s keeping her treatments the same, she has big plans for her first year in business. The first is to bring more diversity to her practice, and to the beauty world in general. When asked about some of her goals, she replied: “I want [my business] to be open more to the Latin community, and to the LGBTQ+ community.”
Aikin also makes sure that her business is completely client-focused. “It’s just me and my suite, and the client. It’s a much more personal and intimate experience and the clients like it,” she says. She also explains the process of working with the products she uses, provided by DMK, a skincare line based in California. “Everything is customized to the client,” Aikin explains about the experience. “We work with enzyme masks, which pretty much makes your cells younger and stronger.”
Having only opened in May, Aikin is still sorting out the ups and downs of running a business. Currently, she is taking on clients by appointment only, but she is always happy to see new faces and hear inquiries from new clientele.
To book an appointment with Evelyn, or to get more information regarding Skin Boutique, click here.
Felicitaciones on opening your business, Evelyn. Mucho exito!
