Uptown’s beauty pioneer Rosemary Currie celebrates her 60-year career with no plans for retirement. 

Infinisea founder Rosemary Currie is known as much for her business acumen as her glowing skin, sparkling blue eyes and boundless energy.

“I have a word called ‘refirement’ and that’s in my goal planner. I refire,” she says. “I’m always looking for new opportunities and in the world of Thalgo it’s continuous. I’m enthusiastic about new innovation.”

At 77, Rosemary has several ingredients to her personal wellbeing that she is happy to share.

A woman of faith, she regularly sea swims, starts each day with breathwork and is an active goal setter.

For the past 36 years she has used Thalgo skincare. Coincidentally, the French marine skincare brand that is kind to both skin and sea – Rosemary is the New Zealand distributor – celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

Sixty years ago, Rosemary commenced her beauty career at Lincoln Pharmacy, where she won a competition and trip to Australia. It opened her eyes to the world of beauty therapy and she decided to pursue it as a career. She completed training at the Academy of Scientific Beauty in Sydney and on her return at age 21, cemented her place as a true pioneer of the New Zealand beauty industry.

Rosemary and new husband Ken bought Marc’s Comb Up in Karangahape Rd, where she established her first salon, The Beauty Centre. Those were the days when beehive updos were the rage and there were 14 hairdressing salons between the top of Upper Queen St and Pitt St. The Beauty Centre was the first major Auckland salon to offer facials and beauty treatments.

Six years later, she partnered with hairdresser Gustl Pretscherer and moved to Remuera, establishing beauty therapy at the rear of the salon. After 10 years, Gustl retired, and Rosemary rebranded as Illusions, developing the salon and employing 30 staff. She established Aura, a beautiful “two-storied haven” in Remuera that comprised 10 studios and employed 15 beauty therapists. Here, Rosemary pioneered flexitime, 8am to 8pm, so beauty therapists who were mums could pick up their children from school, maximising the studios with remarkable success.

In 2009, Rosemary was recognised for her significant contribution to the development of the beauty therapy industry in New Zealand by New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Professionals, taking her place in the BeautyNZ Hall of Fame.

Over the years she expanded her operations, opening salons in Newmarket, Orewa and Wellington, and along the way discovered Thalgo while swimming in a hotel pool in Singapore en route home from a cosmetic fair in Paris.

“I looked up and there was Thalgo at the end of the pool. I got out of the pool and walked through the door in my swimsuit and said to the ladies, ‘where do you obtain this brand?’ She discovered there was a distributor in Australia that would supply her and within a year, due to her outstanding sales numbers, Thalgo offered Rosemary the distributorship for New Zealand.

Thirty-six years on, Rosemary is as passionate about Thalgo as the day of discovery, “in particular the micronized marine algae, which is easily absorbed and has an effective result on the skin”.

Her star product, which she uses each morning, is Thalgo Reviving Marine Mist, a 24-hour skin hydrator that she describes simply as “seawater in a can” and credits for her skin having “the Thalgo glow”.

“You feel like you’ve just been by the ocean. Seawater contains many minerals that are good for our skin and body,” she explains.

The Curries bought their building in Dacre St, Uptown, in 1989 so that they could expand their business to supply Thalgo and German brand Gehwol and she loves working in Uptown among its many entrepreneurs and creatives.

And she has no regrets over her choice of career. “Beauty therapy is a nurturing career. It’s not about the glamour side and make-up. It’s about listening and caring for others, helping with their skin concerns and providing in-depth advice.”

Meanwhile, she is gearing up to launch a new Thalgo range for sensitive skin in October and welcoming new Uptown stockists.



Rosemary’s skin secrets

• Rosemary prefers natural facials and has never had fillers or injectables. Her go-to is the Thalgo Hyalu- Procollagène treatment, which naturally plumps skin. She has a regular facial and uses a facial mask at home once weekly.
  

• Her daily go-to products are Thalgo Reviving Marine Mist, Velvet Cleansing Milk and Hyalu-Procollagène Serum. She applies Lifting & Firming Eye Cream and loves Hyalu-Procollagène eye patches.

• Regular sea swims are part of her wellness routine and she plans to swim daily when the days get warmer.

• Breathwork is a daily ritual that she has practised for 45 years. “Hydrating products with sea water and oxygenation from your breathing are two of the most important things you can do for your skin,” says Rosemary. “Breathwork is also marvellous for mental balance and incredibly good for creativity. I call it turning on my dream machine.” 

Infinisea Creations

20 Dacre Street, Eden Terrace

Web: thalgo.co.nz

Instagram: @thalgonewzealand