Women around the world spent more than $160 million on their eyebrows in 2015. Cynthia Wrobel wants to make sure some of their future spending happens close to home.
Eyebrows are a specialty at The Powder Room, the salon that Wrobel, a Verona resident, opened in Upper Montclair in March. That’s because ever since she graduated Verona High School with the class of 1998 (maiden name: Cynthia Aguilar), Wrobel has been perfecting her brow and beauty skills. “It was always a passion of mine,” she says of the beauty business, a passion that led her to spend six years with the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow studio at Nordstrom in Paramus.
She loved her job, and she wasn’t looking to leave it. But last fall, while visiting one of the retailers tucked into the new building behind the Bellevue Theater, she spied an open storefront and started thinking about entrepreneurship. With her husband Justin Wrobel, a residential real estate broker with experience in construction, she went looking at several other locations. “We drove around,” says Wrobel, “but this is close to home, it’s centrally located, and there’s parking.” With that, the lease was signed and the work began to make the space her vision of the perfect salon. The doors opened on the light-filled space on March 29.
“Some people say that was quick,” says Wrobel. “For me, it felt like 20 years. It was like planning a never-ending wedding.”
This now is her honeymoon phase, introducing the clients that she and her staff have had at other salons to the services that The Powder Room offers. Eyebrow and eyelash services, or course, but also blowouts and waxing, makeovers and spray tanning. Wrobel also wants to introduce her clients to products that she believes in, like Kelley Baker brow tools, Living Proof‘s hair care line (Jennifer Anniston is their spokesperson), theBalm Cosmetics, Apotheke soaps and lotions, Klorane dry shampoo and Montclair’s own DollyMoo, as well as beauty gifts and jewelry. The products and flowers stand out against the taupe walls, as does a whimsical frame with a “Press For Champagne” button in it.
“I love shopping in department stores, but I love local business better,” says Wrobel. “I want people to come in, feel comfortable, and not want to leave.”
The Powder Room Beauty Studio
50 Upper Montclair Plaza
Upper Montclair
(973) 707-7210
Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday
