Llantwit Major has a reputation for being pretty laid back. One of the reasons may be due, in no small part, to a wonderful salon on East Street that goes by the name of...
SUN KISSED! Vicki – what’s your background? I have lived in Llantwit since the age of six, attending Ham Lane Primary school and Llantwit Major Comprehensive. I moved to Cardiff in my twenties for a few years but Llantwit has a funny way of drawing you back home and I returned with my husband and young daughter. Eighteen months after opening Sunkissed my second daughter was born – it was a pretty hectic time! When did you set up Sunkissed? February, 2005 Why did you set it up? My husband thought I needed a challenge! Why did you choose Llantwit Major as the venue? Having lived in Llantwit for most of my life, it was great to have the opportunity to open a business in an area where a lot of my friends and family still live. Knowing Llantwit, I knew that it exuded friendliness, warmth and a lack of pretentiousness that I knew would be vital to the success of my business. Are all your staff local? Yes, mostly. How many staff do you employ? Six.
What services do you offer? A full range of beauty and tanning treatments. Dermalogica facials, massage (aromatherapy and Swedish), hot stone massage, Indian head massage, Hopi ear candles, reflexology, thermal body treatments i.e. wraps and full body exfoliations, injectable antiwrinkle treatments, dermal fillers, spray tanning, pedicures, manicures, nail enhancements, pamper packages, ear piercing, waxing, tinting and sunbeds. In other words, there aren’t many treatments that we don’t offer! I really think it’s important to give our clients as much choice as possible. Adjacent to Sunkissed we also have a gentleman’s barbers called ‘Nutz’ that we opened eighteen months ago. Are your staff fully trained? All our therapists are fully qualified and experienced in all aspects of beauty. Every member of staff is also fully trained with Dermalogica at The International Dermal Institute. We believe that product knowledge is an essential part of our service. What products do you offer? Dermalogica, Creative, Orly and Su-Do are our main products. Dermalogica specialises in face mapping, which prescribes the individual client with the exact products to suit their skin type. All staff have attend the training at ❧ 70 ❧
The International Dermal Institute; we also receive regular in-house training from our Dermalogica Representative, who keeps us up-dated on new products and market trends etc. What are your specialities? I would say that our speciality is giving individual attention to each client and offering them a friendly, relaxing experience. What type of clients do you serve? Our clients range from the young to the more mature client, both male and female. Are they local? We do have local clients, but also clients that travel some distance from the surrounding areas Do any come from afar? Yes, we have many clients that travel to us, as we are situated in a very easily accessible area and offer client-friendly opening hours. Are they mostly regulars? A very large percentage of our clients have been coming to us since we opened, often recommending family and friends. The majority of new clients have come from recommendations. This tells me that we’re doing something right!