Esthetician Vanessa Thomas has brought a new brand of wellness to Walton with all-natural and chemical-free treatments with an emphasis on locally sourced herbal ingredients.
Thomas, 45, launched Astarte Handmade from 5 Townsend St., Suite 3 in Walton earlier this year. Though it was pandemic-induced happenstance that brought Thomas to Walton, she said, it was the community and culture that kept her there.
“We were living in Brooklyn and I’d been working at a very busy med-spa, doing laser treatments and chemical peels and I was doing very well,” Thomas said, “but for a while, I’d wanted to step out and do my own thing, because it wasn’t all in line with my philosophies and didn’t feel genuine to me. Right before the pandemic blew up, I looked at (my husband) and said, ‘I want to quit my job, study flower essences, and do my own thing.’
“We moved first to Ulster County … and started a garden,” she said, “and I started my certification process, and connecting with the earth more, and learning more about all the things I was interested in and its application with skincare,” she continued. “I took a course with Cornell, which was incredible, and learned so much about medicinal plants … and the way these ingredients are harvested, or overharvested, and I learned about biopiracy, and that made me want to support local businesses, local vendors and local herbalists more.”
Thomas said that Delaware County’s more cost effective real estate prompted a move further upstate.
“We came up this way and found a house with 36 acres, and I started to harvest flowers on my land and make my own products,” she said. “I started off renting a room (from massage therapist Rachel James) to build up the clientele, then we got our investment property at 5 Townsend and I’m working out of the front space now.”
That space has been curated to promote comprehensive healing.
“The sensorial part of what I do is very important,” she said. “The choreographed massage, the music I play, just getting people into a zone where they’re really relaxed is a big part of skincare,” she said. “I want people to not only feel glowing, but inspired and naturally beautiful, and get them in touch with their own natural glow, which I believe everyone has, no matter what’s going on with your skin.”
Local connections helped refine and enhance her approach.
“I really like to use botanicals,” she said. “Marguerite Uhlmann Bauer has been a huge mentor to me. She’s an amazing herbalist out of East Meredith, and she’s a true medicine woman. And botanicals are very powerful. Just because something is botanical doesn’t mean it’s not effective.”
Thomas, who attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, said her professional pivot to skincare also was personal.
“I had issues with my own skin,” she said. “As a teen, I had acne, and the products I used made my skin hypersensitive. In college … I was constantly studying skincare – reading books, trying products, spending thousands on products and services, and I decided, ‘You know what? This is more my calling than what I’m doing in design school. This is where my heart is and my true passion.’ So, I went to trade school, got licensed and it was the best thing I ever did.”
Thomas, who said she is “absolutely” accepting new clients, said patrons have been appreciative of her approach.
“I feel like my pricing is very fair,” she said, “and I made it that way because it’s important to me that everyone in this community feels like they could come to me. Everyone has been so supportive. I had wonderful clients in New York City, for sure, but this community just feels like a family to me. It’s such a pleasure to work on everybody. I love, love, love going to work. It’s been such a joy.”
Clients are typically Walton-area women “anywhere from their 20s and 30s up,” she said, though she offers men’s services.
“They’re so supportive, and they tell people about me, and it’s just been so nice to introduce what I learned in the city and bring that here,” she said. “I’m proud to work on these women.”
Thomas said that her diamond microdermabrasion is the “most popular add-on” to her bespoke facials. Thomas said LED light treatments, “used in the beauty industry to stimulate collagen production, treat hyperpigmentation, reduce inflammation, promote circulation … and eliminate acne-causing bacteria,” have been equally popular. She also offers waxing services and brow shaping.
Thomas said she hopes through Astarte, named for an ancient goddess associated with Venus, beauty, love and creativity, to generate “a butterfly effect.”
“I really want to make myself available to any esthetician who might want to get certified,” she said. “I would love to find other estheticians and train them. I would love to be an asset to the community in terms of creating jobs. I’m planning to go to BOCES and let them know, ‘Hey, I have this space, I’d love to train new estheticians.’
“Right now, it’s planting season, so we want to plant more medicinal plants … and get more into formulations and product-making,” Thomas continued, saying that her husband, Mathew Thomas, helps with this, and the brand’s graphic design. “We really want to grow that aspect of the business. That’s my goal, and to have other practitioners and create more job opportunities.”
For more information or to schedule a booking, find “Astarte Handmade” on Facebook, follow @astarte.handmade on Instagram or visit astartehandmade.com.