Known throughout the celebrity world as a Makeup specialist, KenDreeka Carrington is a woman making waves in the media world. Being the owner and operator of Facial Xpressions, a premier permanent makeup business that specializes in microblading, skincare, lip lightening services, and other beauty needs, KenDreeka has taken beauty standards to another level. From working with top names such as Tyler Perry and Kim Pothier, Kendreeka’s passion for beauty encourages other women and men to step into their confidence. Femi Magazine got an exclusive interview with her.
You have successfully managed to establish a name for yourself and your business, Facial Xpressions. How did you get your start in the beauty industry?
I started as a Makeup Artist and that was my “side hustle” for years. Over roughly 7 years I did makeup locally in my hometown of Durham North Carolina and later temporarily relocated to Atlanta Georgia to complete various makeup gigs and assignments with people such as Creflo Dollar and Tyler Perry.
You provide a variety of services including skin care treatments, microblading, permanent eyeliner, lip blushing and so much more. What’s your favorite service to perform?
At the moment, my favorite services to perform are Lip Lightening and Nano Brows. Lightning is a service that totally relies on color theory which is a challenge for most in this industry. I feel that I have mastered such which in return yields beautiful healed results for my clients. Nano Brows are the future of semi-permanent eyebrows. The results look more natural and realistic than Microblading and the results last longer. Both of these services are highly requested amongst many in my area and from afar, mainly because of the natural approach that we take at Facial Xpressions.
The success of your business has granted you access to celebrity clients including Beyonce’s renowned dance captain, Ashley Everett. She was so pleased with the results of her lip-lightening procedure, she immediately took to Instagram to share them. How is the procedure performed and what are the benefits?
Lip Lightening is performed similar to a traditional tattoo but we must discuss the main differences. Your lips are very thin and must be handled with care therefore, we do not work in the deeper layers as a traditional tattoo artist would. The procedure takes 2 hours to perform and once completed, your lips will appear lighter in color. The benefits include long-lasting results that appear natural and little downtime to achieve amazing results.
Although Everett was greatly satisfied with her results from the lip-lightening procedure, it was met with opposing opinions. Knowing how skin lightening procedures are perceived in the black community with colorism being a huge issue, what makes this service you provide different and how do you address the misconceptions surrounding it?
To dig deeper into why we perform lip lightening, one must know the various reasons why a client may request such service. Lips can turn dark due to many factors including but not limited to smoking, health disorders, medications, use of cosmetics, previous injury, and genetics. Lip lightening is not a procedure to “correct” the darkness of lips. Correction implies that a problem is at hand and we do not feel that dark lips are a problem. Some people are not satisfied with the current color of their lips and we are simply here to help.
To elaborate more on colorism, how are you currently educating the Black community in an effort to help reduce this problem?
As previously stated, we are very careful when speaking of Lip Lightening. We actually changed the name of the service from what most identify it as. Some in our industry use the term “dark lip correction”, but again, what are we correcting? Dark lips are not a problem. They should not be viewed and identified as negative. Some clients just wish to have lighter and even-toned lips. I look at Lip Lightening as a form of body modification. Many go to surgeons all over the world to modify their bodies from head to toes and oftentimes nothing is said. They often get complimented for the surgeon doing an amazing job. So why should Lip Lightening be any different? I feel that people should be able to freely do what makes them happy.
How do you want your clients to feel after leaving their beauty session with Facial Xpressions?
After leaving Facial Xpressions, the goal is for all of our clients to feel as if they have been treated like a celebrity. We make sure our establishment is clean and tidy at all times, which is often raved about in our reviews. The feeling of peace, calmness and relaxation is often expressed to us by our clients. Our goal is to satisfy our clients and exceed expectations with every appointment.
What can we look forward to seeing from you in the near future?
Facial Xpressions has been operating for almost 5 years. Over this period of time, I am just amazed at the growth. I definitely owe it all to God. I cannot even imagine or predict what’s in store for Facial Xpressions because my mind is blown every day. Opportunities after opportunities are always presented and I am so thankful. I work hard every day to make sure that Facial Xpressions will be a world-renowned brand one day. I guess you can say that it is coming to pass as well because we have just launched our Lip Lightening Tour. Over the past few years, I can honestly say that a lot of my success was not planned. I just knew that it takes hard work to get anywhere and that’s when my hard work went into overdrive. Many are watching and I’m pretty sure many are talking, either way, I will keep pushing forward. Sooner or later, many will understand why I worked so hard.
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