Brea's Beauty Boutique

Meet Brea Page, the Esthetician Behind Brea's Beauty Boutique in North Bay

When you book at Brea's Beauty Boutique, Brea Page is the one who greets you, the one who does the work, and the one who remembers what you told her last time. She grew up in North Bay and has lived here her whole life. As one of her clients put it on her booking page, "Brea is so nice and easy to talk to. Definitely my go to nail place from now on."

She started about ten years ago, doing nails and lashes for friends and family. A few years ago she had the idea to turn it into a business of her own, and in her words, she just kind of jumped into it. What pushed her out of the house was wanting to be part of the community rather than working on her own at home.

A North Bay Beauty Salon Built One Room at a Time

Her first commercial space was, in her own description, a little coat closet. It got her started. She was there a year, then moved into a room she rents and shares with another business, where she has been for about a year since.

That changes on October 1st. Brea is opening her own salon in a bigger location on Fraser Street, and for the first time she will have staff of her own. Three people are lined up, and the service menu is expanding with the move. She has managed people before in other careers, but as she puts it, this is her business, and that is a lot different from managing somebody at somebody else's business.

Nails, Lashes, Facials and Waxing in One Appointment

Brea does a little bit of everything, and she means it. Nails cover classic manicures and pedicures, gel polish, builder gel and acrylic overlays, extensions, fills and removals, plus combination manicure and pedicure appointments. Lashes run from classic and hybrid sets through volume, wet volume and mega volume extensions, with fills, removals, lash lifts, and brow and lash tinting. She offers express and custom facials, and full body waxing from a brow or an upper lip through to arms, legs, bikini and Brazilian.

Two of her services surprise people. She does henna, and she does hair tinsel, the fine glitter strands woven into the hair that catch the light. Both start at five dollars, and both are the kind of thing she genuinely enjoys doing. There is a kids manicure on the menu as well.

Her clients are mostly women, but not only. She has male clients who come in for waxing and for a classic manicure or pedicure, just to get cleaned up.

Relaxation Massage at Coalition Martial Arts on Main Street West

Three days a week Brea works out of a second location inside Coalition Martial Arts on Main Street West, where she offers relaxation massage. It is aimed at the members training there and at the parents waiting for their kids. She is clear about what it is. She is not a registered massage therapist and she does not claim to be. What she offers is relaxation massage, booked anywhere from forty five minutes up to a little over two hours. At her main location she offers the same massage alongside everything else, including a two hour massage and facial package.

What to Know Before You Book a Salon Appointment

Ask Brea what she wishes people understood about her industry and she does not talk about technique. She talks about pace. A lot of salons, she says, run on a conveyor belt mentality, moving you through so the next person can sit down. She does the opposite on purpose. She takes her time with every appointment, and she would rather you leave feeling comfortable and confident in her work than feeling processed.

That shows up in a way that is hard to fake. She celebrates with her clients. A baby on the way, a wedding, a high school graduation, a client heading off to university. She wants to know the person in the chair, not just finish the service and never see them again.

What Clients Say About Brea's Beauty Boutique

Every review on her booking page is a five star review, and they tend to say the same two things. The work is good, and she is easy to be around. One client came to her on short notice to have a set of nails redone after another salon got it wrong. Another had her brows done a week before her son's wedding, then came back the day before for nails and lashes.

Certified in Infection Prevention, Lashes, Nails and Facials

Brea is a certified Manicure and Pedicure Technician, and she holds her Eyelash Extension Certificate and her Facial Certificate. On the sanitation side she is trained in infection prevention, she is BeautySafe certified, and she holds the PREempt Infection Prevention Certificate. She is also still in school, continuing her education for more in depth training, and she is currently working through the Starter Company Plus program at the business centre.

Beauty Services for North Bay, Callander, Powassan and Sturgeon Falls

Brea takes clients from anywhere around North Bay, including Callander, Powassan and Sturgeon Falls. From October her hours run 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, which is wide on purpose, so people who work days and people who are free in the morning can both get in. Weekends are kept for events: birthdays, weddings, bachelorette parties, girls nights and anything else a group wants done together.

Booking runs through her online system, which sends confirmations, reminders and a notice if anything changes. It has cut her no shows noticeably. She offers ten percent off for seniors and ten percent off for students, every day, no occasion required. When she is out at a community event she offers fifteen percent to anyone who books that day, and there is always something running around the holidays.

Out in the Community, Not Just in the Salon

Brea does not wait for people to find her. She works the farmers markets and the makers market, and she is lining up work with a couple of local charities and a pet rescue over the coming year, for events and fundraising.

Ask her what would make next year a good one and the answer is not a number. She would love to be fully booked, but what she describes is the client who comes in every two weeks for her nails, the one she has known long enough to have something to talk about. Meeting new clients is always fun, she says. The repeat ones are the point.