Two local women bring new skincare lab to life on El Paseo

While many businesses struggled during the pandemic, Tamara Sullivan and Marisa Rivera from Palm Desert found the pandemic to be the perfect time to open their dream business, a SkinCeuticals SkinLab right in the heart of El Paseo.

"Marisa and I are very driven," Sullivan said. "We don't like to take no for an answer. We were fearless, kept our eye on our goal and made it happen and it's amazing," she added.

Both estheticians met each other 13 years ago while working at Cosmetic Surgery Institute in Palm Desert.

In May 2020, they noticed vacancies popping up in the El Paseo shopping district. "We saw this spot on El Paseo and it was just the most ideal location," Rivera said.

MORE: Coachella Valley businesses are featured on CVLocalLinks

They reached out to SkinCeuticals whose parent company is L'oreal to open one of the first four SkinLab locations in the nation right on El Paseo.

 "We knew it was a risk but we knew we had such strong support," Rivera said.

When they got the green light, they were able to hire all local employees.

Together, Sullivan and Rivera provided oversight for the entire build-out and are managing partners of the location as well.

The SkinCeuticals SkinLab is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on El Paseo at 73560 El Paseo in Palm Desert.

Their grand opening celebration is April 10 at 11 a.m. and will include lite bites, libations, and live demonstrations along with special one-day-only deals on their treatments and skincare products.

For more information, check out their page on CVLocalLinks.