Beyond BASE(ics)

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14 September, 2021

Bridget Savage

Bridget Savage believes that a healthy lifestyle combined with a good skincare routine is the key to natural beauty, but after covering that base, her aesthetic clinic in South Perth, offers clients so much more…

With more than 10 years’ experience in the aesthetic industry, Bridget Savage is one of Perth’s most respected cosmetic injectors, but her clinic promises – and delivers – much more than just “Botox and fillers’.

Bridget’s holistic dedication to her clients’ needs is evident in her clinic’s name, BASE (Beauty Aesthetic Style Experience), as well as her approach to all the treatments offered inside its minimalist, yet warm and inviting, interior.

Bridget, a registered nurse who commenced her career as a cosmetic injector 10 years ago, took on the lease for the clinic, then an unrenovated cottage, just two weeks before Australia’s 11-week Covid-19 lockdown.

She readily admits it wasn’t “a good start” to transforming her vision of a “multi-faceted hub to help women and men look and feel better about themselves” into a reality. 

Prior to the lease signing Bridget was already running her own business, a “very small clinic” she shared with another cosmetic nurse in a nearby suburb, and needed larger premises to meet growing demand for her services.

After a long search, she signed the lease last March despite knowing that she couldn’t exit her other lease until November.

“Before signing, I knew I would have to pay double rent for six months but wasn’t worried as, based on our figures, I knew I could afford it.” 

Her happiness and plans were shattered when the Federal Government announced the national Covid-19 lockdown band non-essential businesses across the country were forced to close their doors.

“I had a mini-heart attack thinking ‘my business is going to shut down before it’s even open’ as I knew I couldn’t afford to pay staff AND two lots of rent without any clients.

“Thankfully all the government help, particularly JobKeeper, saved us.”

Furthermore, the lockdown she had feared ended up being “a blessing in disguise” as she spent almost the entire time renovating her new clinic with her husband Tom.

“We couldn’t get any help so it was literally just the two of us doing the fit-out almost very day for eight weeks while the kids played in the backyard.”

Pointing to a shelf in one of the clinic’s treatment rooms, she says: “I’ll never forget holding that up while Tom (a carpenter) was trying to line it up and thinking ‘I can’t hold it up any longer. Just drill it in”.”

Despite such stress, Bridget is now grateful for the “time together” the lockdown provided.

“If lockdown hadn’t happened, we would have inevitably paid people to help but the result wouldn’t be the same,” she smiles.

“This clinic has got so much love in it. 

“I often look around and think: ‘Tom and I created this.”

And the lockdown benefits continued when it ended and BASE opened its doors to clients for the first time.

“We had a waiting list of over 150 people so we were busier than ever.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy.”

Botox and fillers – and beyond

Since then, BASE’s list of loyal clients has continued to steadily grow.

Bridget attributes this success to the clinic’s pro-natural approach to beauty.

Bridget and her team (currently including practice manager Courtney Seton, cosmetic doctor Mo Jaggard and nurse practitioner Ruth Lavell, aesthetic nurses Angie Hunt and Sarah Moylan, dermal therapist Brooke Hall and beauty therapist Natalie Smith) work together to help people discover, and enhance, their natural beauty – and confidence.

“I am passionate about achieving natural looking results for my clients,” explains Bridget, “and so are my team”.

“Faces are like fingerprints – no two are exactly the same – so you can’t inject, or perform any other beauty treatments, with a cookie-cutter approach.

“I view all of my clients’ faces as beautiful in their own unique way, and therefore  

treat every one with great care and respect.

“I never aim to change the way a person looks, but to enhance the beauty they already have. 

“I really believe that the results from cosmetic injectables, or any other beauty treatment, should never look obvious or over the top.”

This “minimalist approach” to enhancing natural beauty, is inevitably what attracts so many people from around the state, and even interstate, to BASE for injectable treatments.

Yet, despite her clients trust in her ability to deliver the injectable results they want, Bridget is adamant that “Botox and fillers” are rarely, if ever, the sole remedy to clients’ aesthetic concerns.

“Our bread-and-butter treatments are wrinkle relaxers and filler, but we encourage all our clients to look beyond them and look after their skin and inner health too. 

“There is more to beauty than just freezing faces, so we always adopt a holistic approach with our clients right from the start. 

“We never just look at new clients and say: “Oh, you’ve come for some lip filler, let’s do your lips.

“We always do a complete facial assessment before we do anything.  We look at the big picture rather than just focusing on one area.” 

During such consultations, Bridget and her staff often discover that the condition of clients’ skin is far less than ideal.

BASE therefore offers such clients an extensive menu of skin treatment options including Mesoestetic Medi Peels, Rationale Facials, Skin Needling, Aquagold, PRP and Venus Versa RF, but many need to be “educated” about the benefits of good skincare and regular in-clinic treatments.

“Skin products and treatments can be a ‘hard-sell’ as so many clients just want the ‘instant gratification’ that wrinkle relaxers and filler treatments deliver – unfortunately most skincare products and in-clinic treatments take a long time to deliver the results that they want.

To meet this need for almost instantly visible results in skin treatments, Bridget purchased a Venus Versa multi-application workstation just three months after opening. 

“Before I got the Versa, I was having to refer a lot of patients to other practitioners as I couldn’t deliver the visible improvement to their skin that they wanted or needed,” she reveals.

“I knew I had to invest in a high-technology device but was scared about the expense.

“I needed to know that I would get a good return on the investment to afford the repayments.”  

After extensive research, Bridget opted for the Versa due to its multifunctional capabilities as 

she needed be able to perform more than just one type of treatment with whatever device she chose.

The Venus Versa features three unique technologies ‒

IPL with SmartPulse; NanoFractional RF with Smart Scan; and (MP)2 technology (Multi-Polar RF + Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields) – and can be customised to meet individual clinic needs with the addition of up to 10 applicators.

BASE currently uses the device to deliver a variety of treatments including photorejuvenation, skin resurfacing and skin tightening as well as ‘Tribella’ which combines the three procedures in one transformative treatment. 

Although the clinic has only had the Versa for about six months, Bridget describes the treatment results as “incredible”.

“Skin resurfacing is already one of our clients’ favourites.

“I’ve had clients message me saying it is the first time they’ve actually seen textural changes in their skin.”

The future

Less than a year after opening BASE, Bridget is clearly meeting her clients’ demands but has no plans to stop growing and expanding her clinic’s services.

She plans to continue educating herself and her staff, and embrace new techniques and technology that help her clients enhance, their own unique beauty.

“Luckily I very rarely get clients saying, ‘I just want to change everything about my face or body.  

“Most of my clients seem quite happy with the way they look and just want to look and feel a bit better.” 

“I will continue to do my best to help make that happen.” 

 

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