Bella Rouge customers can win by helping Humane Society
CLIFTON PARK (Dec. 16) — This month at Bella Rouge you can pamper yourself and help a homeless puppy while you’re at it.
From now until New Year’s Eve, for every $5 they donate to the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society Bella Rouge customers receive an entry into a raffle for $250 prize package featuring an assortment of products from Colorescience Mineral Make up and Kinerase skin care.
Lisa Zibella founded Bella Rouge, a cosmetics and skin care boutique, last year in Clifton Park Center.
“I just think it’s a really worthy cause,” said Bella Rouge owner Lisa Zibella, who adopted her calico, Stardance, 8 years ago from a cat rescue group.
Zibella ran a similar promotion last holiday season, when her store had been open for six months. She got the idea after talking to a customer who was on the humane society’s board. She was pleased with how it went, including watching a woman write out a check for a $100 donation.
“She said she knows they do very good work,” said Zibella, who convinced one woman to donate $10 this week by pointing out the 10% discount would more than pay for it.
Zibella, who grew up in Hudson, opened the cosmetics and skin-care boutique at Clifton Park Center after working in the beauty industry around the nation. Among other things, she has been a cosmetologist, an aesthetician and a spa director.
She started at a Nordstrom store in San Diego, where she attended college. When the Seattle-based company expanded by opening stores in New Jersey, Zibella transferred as part of the start-up team for its Paramus location. She then helped open another Jersey store before being named spa director at a Nordstrom on Long Island.
Next she joined the staff of B. Kamins, a Montreal-based skin products company. When she was on a sales call with the founder’s son in Delaware, he said he could see her opening a store like the one they were visiting.
Last year it happened, and B. Kamins is one of the many brands her store carries.
“I try to have a nice mix of brands,” Zibella said. “We’re not wed to any one brand, so we can recommend the right product for your skin.”
Other brands Bella Rouge carries include: Mario Badescu, Mama Mio, MD Skincare, Kinerase, Paula Dorf, Colorescience, Kiss Me Mascara and Sarah Horowitz. The store also offers Jack Black products for men’s skin care, a segment that Zibella hopes to expand.
To help customers get past the hype and find the best products for their skin, Zibella has hired two aestheticians.
“While we don’t do services, they really know their products,” she said. “People get overwhelmed by marketing — by the power of the magazine and star power.”
She said the customer service is what sets her boutique apart. Zibella even helped one man who came in with a plastic bag containing 3 of the products his wife used.
“It’s a great feeling,” she said, “when you know you’ve met somebody’s needs and they’re happy.”
For more information:
- Bella Rouge, Clifton Park Center, 22 Clifton Country Road, Clifton Park, 373.9500
- Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society, 3 Oakland Avenue, Menands, 434.8128
- B. Kamins, Chemist
