'It's so overwhelming': Northampton beauty salon announced as finalist in the UK Hair and Beauty Awards 2022

A Northampton beauty salon has been announced as a finalist in the UK Hair and Beauty Awards 2022.

Claudia Sardi, 26, from Abington said she is 'overwhelmed' after her beauty salon, 'Brow and Lash Envy' on Adnitt Road was announced as a finalist in two categories: 'Lash Stylist of the Year' and 'Spotlight Salon of the Year'.

Claudia said: "It has taken a lot of hard work. Due to lockdown, we have been stopping and starting again.

"Our clients - we wouldn't be able to do it without them. It was so hard because of catching Covid - I have had Covid twice now - and we would get lots of calls from clients having to cancel because they got it.

"It has been a bit uncertain but it is all down to our clients really."

The salon entered the awards this time last year during the third national lockdown, which made life extra hard for salon staff. Brow and Lash Envy placed 25th in the 'Best Lash Stylist of the Year' category and 31st in the 'Salon of the Year' category.

Claudia continued: "We applied last year and we got shortlisted but it was during lockdown. Hopefully, I do want to get into the top five, that would be amazing."

Claudia founded Brow and Lash Envy in 2017 after she grew tired of working in her former office job. She would spend evenings and weekends sculpting and shaping her friends' eyebrows, working from her bedroom.

She said: "I didn't like it because clients would have to walk through my house and my dad would be cooking. He often cooked fish and I would have to apologise for the smell."

From there, Claudia rented out a room in a sun bed salon before eventually opening her very own salon in 2020. She has now built a huge clientele, a team of stylists and has even kickstarted her own training academy and launched a product line.

Claudia said: "During lockdown in May 2020, I took on this new salon, which was the scariest thing I have had to do in my life but it all worked out.

"I wanted to have a big team and train people as well so I have my own training academy. I train people to do eye lashes and eye brows and we sell our own products for lash and brow techs. We use our own supplies on our training courses.

"When I think about it, it just makes me really realise how much I have done."

The final of the UK Hair and Beauty Awards 2022 will take place at 8pm on March 26.

For more information about the Lash and Brow Envy Salon, visit https://www.browandlashenvy.com/.

For more details about the UK Hair and Beauty Awards, visit https://hairandbeautyawards.co.uk/