MILFORD – For Meredith O’Brien, owner of Bella Esthetics, located in the historic Col. Shepherd House, 29 Mont Vernon St., riding out COVID was no small task but thanks to savings and some fortunate forecasting, she and her small company emerged from the pandemic in one piece.

O’Brien’s elegant and affordable skincare salon has maintained some of its clientele while adding new business.

“I officially opened February 1, 2020,” she said. “How I stayed open is a great question. Before I had opened, I was working two jobs and was saving as much money as I could. I had enough to do the start-up so six weeks later when COVID hit, I just hunkered down. And Cynthia Dokmo, who owns Gatherings, has been wonderful.”

O’Brien said Dokmo reached out to everyone who was a tenant in the building, which is also home to Dokmo’s Gatherings, a casually elegant meeting space.

“When COVID started, she waived March’s rent and waived half of April’s rent,” O’Brien said. “That was enormously helpful. She was there for me. I got hit twice with the COVID situation- once at the beginning and again at the end of October when the second wave came.”

That second onslaught forced O’Brien to close down again because of the second cycle.

“I didn’t want to risk it,” she said. “I was closed for seven months but was able to make it through, even though I didn’t qualify for any aid or funding. I hadn’t been open long enough.”

It was nerve-wracking, as many businesses on the Oval were forced to close their doors permanently.

“I’m very lucky,” O’Brien said. “I had saved enough money. And Cynthia even helped me with advertising on the mechanical sign in the Oval. She paid for that. And the ad is still up there.”

O’Brien’s mainstay for services is facials, including galvanic and microdermabrasion treatments.

“Anything with skin, I do,” she said. “I do facials, waxings, facial peels and I have the Celluma Pro, which is light therapy which treats acne, wound healing and skin rejuvenation, to name three.”

The skincare line that O’Brien carries is Image Cosmetics, which she said is more functionable and more of a hybrid.

“It’s a luxury line,” she said. “Once people use it, they see immediate results. That’s a great bonus for me, the product line.”

O’Brien said that when she started as a beautician and an esthetician 20 years ago, the services that were available paled in comparison to the treatments that are available today.

“Technology has really changed,” she said. “When I find that with young adults coming into the fray now, your late-teens and 20-somethings, they are really into their skin care and they know a lot. And they’re very serious about maintaining their skin regimen. When I started, I was in my early ’20s and the target audience was women in their ’40s.”

If the skincare business was booming then, now it’s completely exploded. O’Brien said now there are so many more services that an esthetician can offer.

“Back then, I had a steamer, a loop lamp and your hands,” she said. “Now there are all these tools and machines that can do tremendous things for the skin. It’s cutting-edge and that’s what people want.”

O’Brien said the market is very competitive, and having a product line like Image, along with her expertise, sets her apart from other skin spas.

“Image skincare line really continues to educate their clients with the line,” she said. “They keep refreshing the line with innovations. That means someone coming in for skin care is getting the most up-to-the-moment treatments and skincare products.

Image relies on plant derived stem cells and the finest ingredients. O’Brien said there are three things that any person wanting to improve and maintain their skin should rely on.

Bella Esthetics is available by appointment only. For more information, visit Bella Esthetics on Facebook or call 603-930-2777.