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Luna Aesthetics & Spa owner Chelsea Martin and her 2-month-old daughter, Celine (Photo by Jay Paul)

A year after Luna Aesthetics & Spa lost its West End building in a fire, owner Chelsea Martin is starting fresh. While the lack of a physical building hasn’t stopped the master aesthetician from seeing her clients, she’s been planning a more permanent home for the salon ever since.

Coinciding with her return from maternity leave, Martin and her fellow aestheticians celebrated Luna’s reopening at 8921 Three Chopt Road in January. “You have to look at a tragedy like that and try to find some silver linings and think, ‘Okay, well, maybe this is supposed to go in a different direction right now,’” Martin says.

About six months before the fire at the former Patterson Avenue studio, Martin partnered with Rachel Duke, a nurse practitioner specializing in injectables such as Botox and dermal fillers. Together, they spent $175,000 on a build-out in the Patterson Avenue building, which still stands in ruins. “Chelsea and I had these goals and thoughts that this was going to be our space to the point that we’d probably even grow out of there,” Duke says. “Even though the physical building isn’t there, you still have your patients.” 

To keep the business running, Martin and Duke began temporarily working out of Balance RVA, a wellness coworking space in Henrico. Duke later relocated her injectables boutique to West Creek Medical Center in Short Pump, while Luna is now located near Regency Mall. “We’re transitioning this new space into something that is really education focused,” Martin says. With a larger location, Martin plans to use the waiting area to hold a series of workshops, such as teaching the public how to do lymphatic drainage on themselves.     

Martin began working in skin care 17 years ago, fresh out of esthetics school. Moving back and forth between Northern Virginia and Richmond, she gained experience working at different businesses and seeing the many sides of the profession. She opened her own business in 2016, citing a desire to be closer to her clients and learn their individual skincare needs. “I wanted people to feel safe coming into a space, not only for our knowledge and knowing they’re going to get the right treatment, but also knowing there’s not going to be judgment,” Martin says.

Appointments begin with a consultation so the aestheticians can understand the client’s skin and how best to treat it. Based on their interests and goals, clients can help build a custom facial procedure that pairs treatment with education. “Of course, I love my clients and want them to come back, but [our job is] for the client to be empowered to treat their skin on their own,” Martin says. 

While a new space leads to new possibilities, Martin is ready for Luna to return to a sense of familiarity. “Having a space for our clients to come to that is closer to what they felt at Luna originally is really exciting for me,” she says.