Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Guevara.
Hi Paula, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I guess I’ve been an esthetician my whole life—I just didn’t know it.
I grew up in Costa Rica, and I spent most of my childhood outside, but home was emotionally unstable and chaotic. I’m also a highly sensitive person, so from a very young age I learned to find little ways to soothe myself.
I didn’t have a name for it back then, but what I was doing was self-care.
I loved giving myself hand treatments, massaging my scalp, doing hair treatments and anything that made me feel cared for. As a teenager, I started experimenting with face masks. I learned how to wax using one of those little microwave wax kits—probably not the safest way to learn! 😂
Then I started doing beauty things for my friends. I would bleach their upper lips and hair, do their brows, wax their underarms… whatever needed to be done. I was always the person people went to for these things.
I just didn’t realize there was a career hiding in all of it.
For different reasons, I immigrated to the United States in my twenties. I met my husband, we got married, and somehow my little beauty hobby followed me here.
It started with my husband. I began doing his unibrow, then waxing his back. One of his friends found out and started coming to me too. Eventually, my husband said something that made me really stop and think:
You love doing this. Why don’t you make a career out of it?
He was right.
So I went to beauty school, became a licensed esthetician, and started working in two very busy spas and lash lounges. That was when I got a real taste of the beauty industry—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I learned a lot. I learned about treatments, clients, business, speed, expectations and the realities of working in an industry that often values doing more, seeing more people and working more hours.
But I also learned something about myself.
That way of working wasn’t for me.
Then I was diagnosed with endometriosis, and my life changed. It forced my husband and me to reevaluate the way we were living and the kind of life we actually wanted. Eventually, that reevaluation brought us to Portland.
After four years of working for someone else, I decided in 2017 to take a chance on myself and go out on my own.
I wanted control over my time.
I wanted to be able to work part-time hours when I needed to, without feeling like I had to apologize for not working full-time.
I wanted to believe that working five days a week wasn’t the only definition of success.
And most importantly, I wanted to build a business around quality over quantity.
I’m still here today for a very simple reason:
I refuse to quit.
But staying isn’t just about being stubborn. I genuinely love what I do.
And most of all, I love my clients.
I have the privilege of working exclusively with women, and over the years I’ve realized that what happens in my studio goes far beyond lashes, brows or skin.
My clients bring me their worries, their dreams, their goals and their fears. I get to know them as badass human beings—not just as moms, teachers, business owners, wives, daughters or whatever other titles they carry around with them.
For a little while, they get to just be themselves.
I nurture them. I soothe them. I listen to them. I cherish them.
Sometimes they come in exhausted and leave feeling lighter. Sometimes they need to talk. Sometimes they need to completely shut the world out and take a nap.
And yes, I do their lashes, brows and skin.
But I also get to help them feel better about themselves. A little more confident. A little more put together. A little more like themselves again.
There is something incredibly special about watching a woman look in the mirror at the end of an appointment and remember who she is.
That is what beauty means to me.
There are so many things you can do in the beauty industry, and there are so many ways to do them. I’ve chosen a different path.
I believe in natural beauty.
I don’t believe you need to completely change your face to look beautiful. I believe in working with what you already have—enhancing it, supporting it and bringing out the best in it.
That philosophy is why my studio has naturally evolved around three things: facials, lashes and brows.
Treatments that enhance what is already there.
Treatments that make you feel good without making you feel like you have to become someone else.
And routines that are realistic enough to continue at home.
When I look back, I realize becoming an esthetician wasn’t really one decision I made.
It started when I was a little girl trying to find ways to soothe myself.
It continued when I started taking care of my friends.
It became a career when I finally listened to the people around me who saw something I hadn’t yet recognized in myself.
And it became my own business when I decided that I wanted to create a way of working that felt good—not just a business that looked good on paper.
So maybe I didn’t choose esthetics.
Maybe esthetics had been choosing me all along.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been an easy road.
Honestly, my biggest struggle has often been with myself.
Self-doubt can be loud when you are building something on your own. There is nobody telling you that you’re doing a good job, nobody handing you a plan, and nobody coming to save you when things aren’t working. You have to learn to hold yourself accountable, make the hard decisions, keep going when you’re discouraged, and believe in yourself even when you don’t feel particularly confident.
Being an introvert has also made running a business challenging. In an industry where putting yourself out there, networking, constantly creating content and promoting yourself can feel like part of the job, I sometimes have to push myself far outside my comfort zone.
And then there was the pandemic.
COVID was a huge setback for my business and for so many small businesses like mine. Being forced to close and then having to rebuild momentum was difficult. It reminded me just how fragile a small business can be.
But it also reminded me of something I already knew about myself:
I don’t quit easily.
There have been slow months, setbacks, self-doubt and plenty of moments when I’ve questioned myself. But I keep showing up.
I think that’s one of the less glamorous parts of owning a business that people don’t always see. Building something of your own isn’t just about having a dream. It’s about learning to trust yourself, taking responsibility for the things that aren’t working, adapting when life throws something completely unexpected at you, and continuing anyway.
And after all these years, I’m still here.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Today, I specialize in services designed to enhance the features you already have in your sweet face.
I’m known for natural-looking lashes, healthy skin and beautiful, low-maintenance brows—without trying to make you look like someone else.
For lashes, I offer lash extensions and lash lifts with a strong focus on maintaining the health and integrity of your natural lashes. I love creating beautiful results that look like they belong on you, not something that takes over your face.
My facials are about more than just glowing skin. They are about supporting healthy skin, improving tone and texture, and giving you time to completely unwind. And when it comes to brows, I focus on creating shapes and treatments that look beautiful but are also easy to maintain at home.
Everything I do comes back to the same philosophy: enhance, don’t overwhelm.
And the experience matters just as much as the result.
My studio is a private, cozy and soothing space where you can slow down, get comfortable and take a break from the outside world. You can talk, you can nap, you can completely switch off—I want you to feel cared for while you’re here.
I’m not trying to give you a new face.
I want to help you look like the best, most rested, confident version of yourself.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
It’s hard for me to choose one favorite thing about Portland because there are so many things I love, and choosing just one almost feels like it wouldn’t do the others justice.
I love that Portland lets people be their weird selves. Creativity is embraced here, and there’s a freedom to be different without feeling like you have to fit into a particular mold. I think that really resonates with me.
I also love the slower way of living. After everything life has brought me, I appreciate being in a place where there seems to be more room to slow down, enjoy your surroundings and actually experience life.
And then there’s the greenery. I absolutely love how lush and green Portland is. It feels like nature is always right there.
What I really enjoy, though, is how there is a little bit of everything here. All kinds of food, hobbies, sports, neighborhood activities, street fairs, seasonal events, small businesses, markets and festivals. There is always something happening or something new to discover.
I love that you can spend a weekend exploring a neighborhood, supporting a small business, trying food you’ve never had, going to a market or festival, and then just disappear into nature.
Portland has a very particular personality. It’s creative, independent, a little weird, laid-back and full of people doing things their own thing.
I think that’s probably why it feels like home to me.
The only thing I can say I dislike about Portland is how the city is managed at times. But honestly, it’s 2026—I’m not sure there are many cities where everyone is completely happy with how things are being managed. The only truly happy people about their city’s management might be in New York!
But even with its challenges, I still really love Portland. The things that drew me here in the first place—the creativity, the individuality, the greenery, the slower pace and the incredible variety of things to do—are still the things that make this city special to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vagaro.com/paulaguevaralashartistry
- Instagram: @pgselfcarestudio
- Other: https://maps.app.goo.gl/nzoGWwg1FuvCH2UM9?g_st=ac
