Friends Fabiana Cogo and Rashmi Kumar

A SMITHFIELD beauty therapy business has been enjoying rave reviews – but its owners have said it almost didn’t open at all after the pandemic put a multitude of hurdles in their way before the open sign had even been flipped.

Friends Rashmi Kumar, from New Zealand, and Fabiana Cogo, from Italy, signed the lease on the Long Lane property in December 2019, having met just one year earlier but deciding to go into business together.

With Rashmi’s finance nous and Fabiana’s “precision” beauty therapy work, they put all their savings – £50,000 – into having their premises completely refurbished – only for the contractors to go bust at the start of the pandemic having never lifted a power tool. Instead, the friends, along with some help from their equally unskilled partners, decided to tackle the building work by themselves, having ploughed in another £30,000.

But disaster struck again. After finally opening their salon in December 2020 – a full year after signing the lease – they had to close again just five days later when Covid cases started to rise exponentially.

But good things come to those who wait – and business has been booming since April of last year, when the shop finally got off the ground.

“Since we opened we’ve amassed 160 five-star reviews and have a 90 per cent clientele retention rate. That might not seem like that much but big salons have had fewer reviews over the same period,” said Rashmi.

Describing the name behind the business, Details., Fabiana said she is a “total perfectionist” who “takes care of all the little details” when it comes to someone’s nails or waxing.

They also send all their customers home with a free beauty kit, which most salons charge for, she said, as well as having the highest levels of hygiene – something legally required in Italy but not here.

Going from eyeing each other nervously as the shop continued to stay closed, Rashmi and Fabiana now allow themselves to dream. Rashmi said: “I have a good feeling about this year – I feel like the worst of the pandemic is behind us.”