Alfya Skin Care is a labor of love, not just for owner Alfya Murtazina, but for her family as well.
Her daughter Margarita works alongside her mother, her other daughter developed their website and, as she explains, her husband, an artist, maintains the computer system.
Murtazina's journey to her spa on the second floor of 11 Burtis Avenue began with her study of art in her native Russia.
Schooled as an artist working with canvas and paints, she found herself drawn to her sister's profession as an aesthetician.
As she sees it, she is still an artist, working with a very different canvas.
In the U.S. for 15 years, she has continued to share the things she learned in her native country about skin care. She spent ten years at Noelle in Stamford, and a year ago, opened her skin care spa in New Canaan.
"In Russia," she said, "skin care is a part of having a healthy body, part of a health regimen."
With that in mind, she is very particular about the products she uses with her clients. While in Russia she developed some products herself. Once in the U.S. she was able to find several skin care lines that met her standards.
She was never satisfied, though, with the makeup her clients were using after facial and waxing regimens.
She found that, "all makeup was filled with chemicals and synthetics," that she thought undid the benefits of skin care treatment.
Moving to mineral products was an improvement, but when she met someone from a laboratory in Canada who shared her vision, she seized the opportunity to create her own line that would allow her to offer her clients something that satisfied her vision.
Today, Murtazina proudly offers clients the line bearing her name at her spa.
In addition to makeup–all mineral-based, fragrance-free and hypoallergenic—she has developed a skin care line which includes the hydrating hyaluronic acid.
In a very personal space filled with flowers from her garden and her husband's art works on the walls, Murtazina and her family have created a spa where she proudly practices her art.
"Not every skin care or makeup person is an artist," daughter Margarita said, "She does it with passion."
