Mary Luxe gets under your skin; literally. For the past ten years, Melbourne-born Mary has been beautifying high-society in Athens, where she pioneered the use of permanent makeup, the beauty technique that involves placing fashion colour pigmentation under the skin.
Five months ago, Mary came home to Melbourne; relocating her QUEENS Luxe Beauty Salon from Athens’ luxurious Attica store, to Donvale. Mary’s passion for beauty and beautifying others, began at an early age. “I always used to do make up and be pretty trendy with my clothing,” says Mary, who was raised in what she calls “a normal Greek family” in South Melbourne. After completing her HSC at Prahran High School, Elly Lukas Beauty Therapy College followed. Her first job was in Myer, in the famous 7th floor Glenby salon of the late 1980s, before opening her own beauty salon business in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra. With regular holidays in Greece combined with working visits to the United States to further her knowledge and training in beauty enhancement techniques, the motivation for the move to Athens was a lifestyle decision, but also opened up a unique commercial opportunity.
“Greek women are much more into grooming than Australian women,” says Mary. “I saw more potential there. Attica had just opened. No one had ever done this before.” After a pitch to Attica’s Board of Management, the QUEENS Luxe Beauty Salon, operating from within Athens’ most famous store quickly became a reality. “It thrived,” says Mary, “people came from all over Greece. Anything that’s new they want to try. It was ideal for them.” Soon a dedicated customer base, including a host of ‘A list’ celebrities including Eleni Menegaki, Eugenia Emanoulidou, Vana Barba and many more were heading for Mary’s salon.
“They loved the idea of permanent makeup as they would go swimming and tanning in the summer on the islands and their makeup wouldn’t wipe off. The most popular treatments were beautiful brow shapes, lip liner and eyeliner. I was also the first to bring Mesotherapy to Greece, the infusion of vitamins into the skin, which makes the skin glow and look much younger.” The magical enhancements Mary was able to provide to her discerning customers had a knock-on effect. “Before I knew it I would get invited to fashion shows in Milan, Paris and London, which would give me ideas on the beauty looks that were going to be worn in the coming season. I always kept a step ahead.”
Is the process painful? “No,” says Mary, “we use topical anaesthetic and a ‘soft’ laser to insert pigment in the upper layers of the skin. It’s all hypo-allergenic and 100% no skin reaction. All the pigments have Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approval, as they come from the US.” Mary attributes her success to the extensive training she undertook in the United States, the country which first developed permanent makeup. “It’s very important to choose a highly-skilled specialist because the results last a long time.” After ten years in Athens, Mary felt it was time to come home.
“I was missing out on the family. I have a seven-year-old son, and I felt the education system also wasn’t too good,” says Mary, who witnessed over a decade, the economic situation slowly worsen in Greece. “It was tightening every year. The Greek woman will find the money to look after herself when it comes to her grooming, but there was a decline. The cost of living was getting higher and it was time to move on.”
Mary sold the QUEENS Luxe salon to two celebrity journalists from Greece’s Star TV channel. Despite recent events, it’s still doing good business; a Greek woman’s commitment to looking good isn’t something that austerity measures, however sweeping, have much of an effect on. “It’s a treatment that’s ideal for women on-the-go, as well as women who don’t feel confident about putting on makeup properly, or for those whose eyesight isn’t so great. Madame Luxe is now open for business in Donvale. It might not be a stone’s throw from the fashionable streets of Kolonaki, but Mary is confident that Australian women are now more ready than ever for the permanent makeup makeover.
Mary Luxe (nee Tacticos) is the founder of Madame Luxe Permanent Makeup Beauty Boutique www.madameluxe.com.au