It’s a tough job owning and running your own small business, but when it’s a success-ful one, you love what you do, and a lot of your clients are your friends, then 30 years in business can seem to pass fairly quickly.
Local Tonette Martin has been running her Belle Visage beauty business in Cobar for 30 years and tomorrow will be her last day of trading (in Cobar).
Tonette has plans to semi retire to Bonnie Hills on the north coast where she will only work a couple of days a week.
Tonette officially opened her beauty busi-ness, Belle Visage (which is French for beauti-ful face), in 1991 in a small shop in Barton Street (the former barber shop next to where Cobar Thai restaurant is now located).
“Unofficially, prior to that I was working on my dining room table at home,” Tonette said.
She’s moved locations a couple of times as the business grew over the years and, at its busiest, Tonette employed nine staff offering various beauty, hairdressing and nail services from a premises attached to her home in Har-court Street.
Tonette said over the past 30 years she’s always had “constant work” and the only time she closed was during COVID.
Tonette said she’s seen a lot of changes in the beauty industry in that time with different trends coming and going.
“Things like eyebrow shapes, chemical peels, eyelash perms and tanning beds.”
There’s also been a number of changes in technology.
“Hair removal has totally changed, going from waxing to electrolysis to lasering.
“With facial procedures, it started off with dermabrasion now they are doing a range of different things including injectables which is becoming very popular.”
Tonette said she had tried to stay ahead of the curve in her business and had introduced some of the newer procedures, such as the injectables, but they didn’t really take off at the time.
“Perhaps it had been a bit too early for Co-bar,” she said.
“Back then something like laser hair remov-al was very expensive and injectables were mainly for people who had a lot of money, whereas now those sorts of procedures can be for everyone, it’s more affordable.
“These days people are taking a lot more interest in how they are aging and the way they look after themselves.
“They do it to feel better and they also want to be able to better present themselves.”
Over her 30 years in business, Tonette still has a couple of her first clients/friends who continue to use her services and she also has three generations of one family who are regu-lar customers.
All her knowledge, talent and skills and the service Tonette has been providing to the Co-bar community for the past 30 years will not be lost as Tonette has been guiding and help-ing a couple of young girls to develop their own beauty businesses.
“I was happy to help the young ones and happy they are making their own way.
“These days beauty services are not just something that only movie stars that can af-ford, now they are there for everyone, which is really good to see.”
Tonette said while she’s looking forward to moving to the coast and working a bit less, she will however miss all of her clients/friends.
“I really have had the most wonderful life here in Cobar and that’s because of the peo-ple,” she said.
