For Emily Scichilone, Woodland Drive, her love of beauty and skincare blossomed from a small moment watching her grandmother, Leona, apply makeup.
“I think it was probably an old Revlon lipstick,” Scichilone said. “It had green packaging. She would open it up and real quickly swipe it on her cheeks and then blend it in. She said ‘it can be rouge too.’ I think I was probably five and it was my first experience with makeup.”
Leona: A Beauty Studio has opened its doors at 1 Altoona Place. Leona offers a wide variety of services and treatments, such as makeup for a school dance or a facial to address skin concerns. Scichilone chose to name the studio after her grandmother because she embodied “natural class.”
“My grandmother was Leona, and she was very special,” Scichilone said. “She was very polished and refined, but hilarious at the same time, and very down to earth. I thought it was just the perfect name to kind of embody what I’m trying to accomplish: fun and welcoming, but also sophisticated and classy. We were very close, and I just thought it would be a nice little tribute, and it was very fitting.”
Scichilone, a certified makeup artist and licensed esthetician, said it’s difficult to pick her favorite service to do.
“It’s like your children,” Scichilone said. “You’re not supposed to pick a favorite, but I do enjoy doing all of them. I love doing lash lifts. It’s a very intricate process, and I like that detail-oriented work. And I would generally say I get great feedback from my lash lifts. That would probably be my favorite”
One of Scichilone’s favorite parts about her work is seeing happy clients after a service.
“Something I see in clients is the ability for these services to bring out confidence in people,” Scichilone said. “It has a really amazing way of bringing out confidence, it’s innate in people, but they may not know it, it kind of brings that to the surface. I love to see that on the face of my clients, when I hand someone the mirror after doing their makeup, and they are super pleased that it makes me so happy.”
As a beauty professional, Scichilone believes it’s important to keep educating herself.
“It just takes time and kind of immersing yourself into either the practice, the actual procedure that you’re doing or the product that you’re doing, just kind of the repetition of it, it kind of gets ingrained in your brain. When something interests you, you retain it more efficiently, and that is most definitely the case when it comes to beauty for me.”
Scichilone is grateful for all of the support she has received from her family.
“I am anxious,” Scichilone said. “But, like, good, anxious. I’m very excited. You know, change is hard in general, and I could not do it without the help of my family. They have been unbelievable. I would not be standing if it weren’t for them. I am so grateful for them, but I am feeling very excited.”
She is also “in love” with how the studio space came together and enjoyed the creative process of decorating the studio.
“It’s been like an adult dollhouse, basically,” Scichilone said. “It’s been so much fun to do, I went into this knowing that I wanted a very kind of clean, minimalist, modern vibe. I wanted it simple and sleek, I wanted a nice, kind of crisp, comfy feeling. It’s be a nice, warm, welcoming place to come and get your beauty services, hang out, relax, a little oasis, if you will from the busy world.”
“I’m very, very excited to have everyone into the space. I’ve been joking, don’t be deterred by the fact that it’s on the third floor.”