Despite initially setting her sights on becoming a lawyer, when Sarah began working at Mecca at 18, her passion for the skin industry ignited.
“I worked there for a while, and I just fell in love with the whole industry,” she said.
“I have rosacea myself, a chronic inflammatory skin condition, so I was really passionate about skin and helping people find their confidence within themselves.
“We can’t change who we are or what we look like, so I think finding confidence within yourself and the skin you’re in is really important.”
Sarah went on to study beauty therapy at university and work at skin clinics in metropolitan parts of Victoria, before setting up shop in Seymour.
She’s now based at 77 Anzac Ave, providing locals with award-winning services.
“I started up Skin by Sar from home, and it slowly grew. I opened it up in October 2024, and we just won our first awards earlier in the year,” Sarah said.
As a one-woman business, Skin by Sar’s securing of three awards in the Australian Online Beauty competition in May is all the more of a significant achievement.
Sarah said taking home top skin specialist, eyelash lamination and eyebrow lamination in the nationwide competition was a shock.
“It was very surreal being chosen. I’m very self-critical, and I always think there’s room to improve, so even when I was entering the awards I thought nothing was going to come from it – that there’s always someone else that’s better,” she said
“When it popped up on my phone that I’d won, I was just in shock. I was very, very grateful and very humbled. I just couldn’t believe that little old me from Seymour had won three awards.”
She said the accolades were meaningful for a regional town like Seymour.
“I think it puts us on the map, and just because we’re a small town doesn’t mean that we (don’t have) premium services,” Sarah said.
Looking ahead, Sarah is hoping to expand her team and potentially offer training for budding skin clinicians if local schools were to offer a beauty therapist stream.
She’s also set on offering honest advice to her clients and remains passionate about helping people feel happy within their own skin.
“If someone doesn’t need something, I’m very honest about it. I will never do something just to make a dollar out of it,” she said.
“I’m not sales-y, I’m not pushy. I just give you my 100 per cent raw advice.”
In August, Sarah will be heading to Sydney for the International Beauty Expo and the Circadia Australia Awards, in which she has been nominated for five categories.
For more information about Skin by Sar, visit www.skinbysar.com.au
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