29/04/2026
After 19 and a half years, it’s time to say goodbye… and thank you 💛
This week, Pat retires from Essentials.
Nineteen and a half years of care, commitment, and quietly setting the standard for what a salon should be. Not just beautiful treatments… but a beautiful way of doing business.
Pat has always led with kindness. With integrity. With unwavering ethics.
From the very beginning, she made the decision to only allow vegan skincare into the salon — long before it was popular - because it mattered to her. And that same care has shaped every part of Essentials ever since.
If you’ve ever walked through our doors, you’ve felt it.
That calm, welcoming, genuinely caring atmosphere… that’s Pat.
But she’s been so much more than a salon owner.
She’s been the boss.
The mentor.
The adventurer.
The award winner.
The friend.
The cat lover with the biggest heart - giving her own time to support cat protection and welfare, fundraising and helping wherever she could.
And now, as we look back through the photos - the memories - you see a life full of passion, purpose, and quiet strength.
From behind the scenes to centre stage… even our very own “film star.”
Recently, she took off on a solo campervan journey around New Zealand - just one of many adventures that show exactly who she is: brave, independent and always following what matters most.
It’s hard to put into words what she’s built here.
And even harder to imagine Essentials without her.
Carla and the team will continue her incredible legacy - the standards, the care, the values that Pat poured into this place for nearly two decades.
But there is only one Pat.
And she will be deeply, deeply missed.
Pat, thank you for everything.
For your heart.
For your vision.
For the thousands of people you’ve made feel better, inside and out.
You’ve created something truly special.
Now it’s your time 💛
