Steph Lumsden is owner of beauty therapy business, AURA Edinburgh.
She set up her company last July, converting her garage to become “my peaceful little sanctuary for treatments”.
She offers massage, facial treatments and nail appointments. “I’ve been a spa therapist for almost ten years now,” says Steph, who still occasionally works in the spa at The Balmoral Hotel “but it has taken me a while to find my groove and decide how I want to apply my training.”
She now feels comfortable and happy with what she offers clients. “I like to provide a space for all to feel welcome, and love being able to help and care for others,” she says. “The pandemic highlighted the need for self care, and I want to ensure everyone takes the time to look after themselves as best as they can.”
Growing up, Steph’s mum would pick a Disney film on a Friday night, and the family (Steph, her brother, Mum and Dad, if he wasn’t working) would have a ‘pizza party’, all cosy in the lounge and munch on pizzas while sitting on a tartan rug.
The family all loved it and Steph still has a love for all things Disney. She was particularly enthralled when the feisty Scottish princess, Merida, appeared on the screen in ‘Brave’.
An added bonus was her favourite comedian, Billy Connolly, as the voice of King Fergus, Merida’s father. A win win.
Merida fights against the future set out for her by parental expectations and tradition and wants to forge her own destiny.
“As Merida says ‘our fate lives in us. You only have to be brave enough to see it.’ She learned lessons from each mistake she made, approached each opportunity with an open mind and had a willingness to take risks,” says Steph.
“Her journey resonates with me, as I feel I’ve challenged expectations and created my own path which has led me to feel fulfilled and be in a true state of happiness with my career.”
Steph started to make her own range of products last year, with the aim of guiding her clients to make their own eco-friendly products at home and helping them to understand what ingredients to choose for optimum results.
“I do feel we can complicate skin care and it can be quite overwhelming to navigate the best course of action for our skin and bodies,” she says, “so I try to offer simple yet effective solutions.”
Brave was a groundbreaking movie in several ways: it is the first Pixar film with a female central character and it is about her relationship with her mother, not a male character.
It is, of course, set in Scotland but unusually uses almost entirely British, not American voice actors. There are NO talking animals (a first) and, the heroine is fabulously ginger.
