Here’s what moved into the old Christian Science Reading Room in downtown Gig Harbor
Ashley Bowles recently opened Align Skincare in downtown Gig Harbor.
The bright blue cottage at 3024 B Harborview Dr. used to be the Christian Science Reading Room.
The skincare business is in Harborview Village, with two other cottages. One is a photography businesses, and the other is a crystal shop.
The Align Skincare cottage opened the first week of December, but the business itself isn’t new.
Bowles 30, has been a master esthetician for 12 years. She created Align Skincare six years ago this month, she told the Gateway.
Over the last 12 years, she’s worked at a few salons and spas in downtown Tacoma.
She spent six years at Savvy Day Spa in Hotel Murano, before creating Align Skincare. Then she moved into Union Salon for two years, and she spent the last four years with Attune Collective.
She said her clients have followed her to the cottage, which is her first solo location. She signed a three-year lease.
Bowles said “the vibe” of the cottage matches what she’s wanted for a while, which is “cozy and close to nature.”
In Tacoma, the buildings she was in had more of an industrial vibe, she said.
She doesn’t consider her business a spa. It’s more of a skin and brow studio. The cottage is one room and about 400 square feet. Inside it’s decorated with cool and natural tones.
“It’s been a dream come true,” she said.
Her family has lived in the Gig Harbor area for four generations. She grew up in the Artondale area. Bowles and her husband live in Sumner, and hope to move to somewhere west of the Narrows Bridge soon.
“It feels really good to be back in my hometown,” she said. “It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember to have a cute little space of my own in downtown Gig Harbor. It’s just so special down here.”
‘Healing skincare’
She describes her services as “healing skincare.”
“Around the same time I started my business is when I started my own healing journey,” she said. “Then I started incorporating what I was doing in my own life into what I was adding into my skincare sessions with clients.”
Her main focus is facials and eyebrows.
For eyebrows she offers waxing, lamination, and tint services. She also offers lip, chin, cheek, sideburn, and nose waxing.
She has two different facial options. Customers can choose between an align facial or an acne healing facial, both starting at $155.
“I incorporated a lot of healing modalities into them,” she said. “That includes guided meditation, energy clearing. I use crystals, I use sound healing — all to really incorporate a deeper healing energy.”
Customers can also get a chemical peel for $55, for concerns such as “wrinkles, acne, pigmentation, scarring, and more,” Bowles said.
She also talks with clients about their lifestyle habits, diets, and products such as fabric softeners and laundry detergents that could be causing skin flareups.
She focuses on the face, neck, shoulders, arms and hands. Massage is part of her facial sessions.
She also offers skin ceremony sessions, starting at $199. That includes a facial, but also techniques like facial cupping and gua sha, a practice that helps with lymphatic drainage, Bowles said.
“This is my dedicated ceremony for just really deeply relaxing,” she said.
The two main product lines she uses are Face Reality and Anima Mundi. Soon, she’ll add a third line called Glo Skin Beauty.
Her products are also available for purchase inside the cottage.
Prior to sessions, Bowles burns a plant called palo santo.
When asked about the difference between palo santo and sage, Bowles said sage can be overpowering to some, and that she finds palo santo is gentler.
After sessions, customers pull a card from an herbal astrology deck and Bowles explains the symbolic meaning associated with it. She also offers warm tea.
Later this spring, she’ll do some minor renovations, such as changing the interior paint from seafoam to white. She’ll also add a light wood roof.
Align Skincare is open by appointment only, Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. New clients do an in-person 30-minute skin consultation prior to their first session.
For more information, visit www.alignskincare.co or @alignskincare on Instagram.
This story was originally published February 26, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
