Elevated Artistry recognizes that people want to feel beautiful in their skin
People will not always understand your dreams, according to Plumas Lake resident LaToya Piazza.
Still, Piazza made a major career change. Piazza was a social worker, and now she owns a permanent makeup studio, Elevated Artistry, that she runs out of her home. She officially started Elevated Artistry in 2023 after training, and her career change was influenced by services that she herself had received.
“I got my brows done, and I hated them. And then I had to deal with how that made me feel on the outside. I was already self-conscious about them. When I had them fixed, that just gave me more confidence. It made me feel better. It made me feel seen and heard because there was a drastic difference (with) both of the practitioners – the initial person who did them, and then the person who fixed them for me,” Piazza said. “It clicked for me; I wanted to be able to create a space for people to feel the same way. When you already are insecure about it. You don’t want to leave worse than when you came.”
She said that you also do not want to be misunderstood when you are trying to explain why you dislike something or why you want something fixed.
“That was really important to me, meeting someone who was able to see the error to be able to fix it and also to be able to help me feel better about my physical appearance, which helps me feel better about myself internally,” Piazza said.
Piazza also got her stretch marks worked on, and the results were not what she expected.
“(I later learned that) African-American women who have hyperpigmentation should not be treated the same as others,” Piazza said. “Because the hyperpigmentation, when you start implanting into the skin, and you're causing more trauma, that causes more hyperpigmentation, and that was not something that the technician taught or told me about as an African-American woman with hyperpigmentation.”
African Americans spend a lot on their beauty industry services, she said.
“But we’re the most underrepresented in the beauty industry, and so it was really important for me to be able to create a space for, of course, all women, all individuals, but also be able to be a resource for African-American women like myself,” Piazza said.
In terms of their services, Elevated Artistry offers scar and stretch mark camouflage where customized skin tone pigments are created and implanted into the skin to match skin tone and blend into surrounding areas. They also offer powder brows, a semi-permanent eyebrow styling technique that creates a shaded brow pencil look, and scalp micro-pigmentation. Scalp micro-pigmentation is a non-surgical solution for individuals who are struggling with hair loss and alopecia, according to Elevated Artistry.
“We’ve had people reach out who have had tummy tuck scars or people with alopecia,” Piazza said. “People don’t want to be classified or defined by their scars.”
People want to feel beautiful in their skin.
“When you have your best outfit on, when you have your hair done or your nails done or whatever it is that makes you feel good, you walk out with more confidence than you do in a day that you are not yourself,” Piazza said. “When you look your best, you feel your best, and if we can help you change the way that you feel about your physical appearance through cosmetic tattooing, and that’s going to make you feel better – let’s go.”
What makes Elevated Artistry distinct is Piazza.
“My personal experiences of knowing how it felt to not necessarily have positive experiences makes me make sure that I cater to my client above and beyond,” Piazza said. “I want to make sure that each person knows exactly what we’re doing before we’re doing it. I’m walking them through each process, and I’m telling them the risk and I’m telling them honesty.”
You can drop Elevated Artistry a message at [email protected] or call 916-209-0159 for more information.