Birthday giveaway all about paying it forward

JULIA WADE

11 April, 2020

Waipu Skin Image salon owner, Nina Quan, doesn’t just pay lip service to ideas of giving back to others. For the last three years around her birthday the beautician and tattoo artist actually becomes the gift-giver herself, an act which also encourages others to ‘pass it on’.

“I generally don’t do promotions or price discounts that the beauty industry offers, so rather than selling items or service at a discount, I thought I’d do something different,” she says. “Offering one of my free services is a way for me to give back in some way with something I love doing… if I can give a day of service to make someone feel great, I’ve done something, its all worthwhile.”

Nina’s birthday gifts so far have been special eyeworks for a group of ten female clients and picking up rubbish along Uretiti beach with husband Riki Taiaroa, owner of Feoh cafe.

“This year I would like to give away a lip blush tattoo, however as the complete procedure takes seven hours over two sessions, I can only offer it to one person.”

Worth $590 at Skin Image, a lip blush tattoo is a full ink job to emphasise the lipline or ‘vermilion line’, which can disappear with age, as well as the colour of the lips, leaving them looking fuller and defined. Clients can choose any shade of tattooed lipstick, from natural nudes to bright reds, and colour can last up to four years with touch-ups required after this period. The procedure is favoured by all ages and also by those who have suffered some form of facial disfigurement from illness or accident.

“If people would like to make a nomination, either for themselves or someone else, they can drop a few lines about their reasons for wanting the lip tattoo, on Skin Image’s facebook page,” she says. “All I ask is for the recipients to pass the gift on, in whatever way they wish. I don’t check if its passed on, that’s up to the individual person, I just trust that people do.”

Nominate yourself, or someone else, for a lip blush tattoo by Nina, on the Skin Image facebook page. PHOTO/SUPPLIED