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Meet Your Merchant: Transformation is bliss at Rapture Salon

Jenny Luna
Special to the Bonanza
Coco Mac, Cynette Eriksen and Karen Stevens pose inside Rapture Salon. Each woman specializes in a different form of pampering, styling and “transformation.”
Courtesy Jenny Luna |

MORE INFO

What: Rapture Salon

Location: 868 Tahoe Blvd.

Phone: 775-345-3515

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Cynette Eriksen works a job not many people would want, yet the pedicurist loves every minute of it.

No matter how many clients claim to have the ugliest feet in the world, Eriksen always assures them that she has seen worse.

“I cater to people with special-needs feet,” she said with a laugh.



Eriksen owns Rapture Salon, the western corner unit in Christmas Tree Village.

“People have a really bad feeling about their feet. I want to help get people wearing sandals!”
Cynette Eriksen
Owner, Rapture Salon

Rapture opened one year ago, on April 1. During the past year, Eriksen has turned Rapture into a calm, tranquil environment.



The name, meaning “incredible bliss,” is the feeling she aims to create in her salon.

“It shouldn’t just be about looking great but feeling great afterward — a transformation,” she said.

The nail technician’s own nails — unpainted and kept short — illustrate her philosophy that all of her time and energy should be spent on her clients.

Making sure to have a virtual phone system was an important part of her business, she said. Since there isn’t a constant ringing in the salon, Eriksen is able to spend the full appointment with her clients.

“I think it’s so disruptive to jump up and answer the phone,” she said.

The business owner described other salons she had worked at as loud and often chaotic with a phone constantly ringing in the background.

“I wanted to create a different environment,” she said.

Eriksen also isn’t new to working with her hands. The nail technician owned a bakery and catering business for 10 years before turning in her whisk for a nail file and polish.

“The basis of both (careers) is people and filling people’s needs,” said Eriksen. “Using colors and creating the look someone wants, sitting down and anticipating what they want.”

Eriksen likes to say that she works with clients with “special-needs feet.” She specializes in ingrown toenail and works with athletes to get their feet in better health.

Eriksen also works to educate her clients about the importance of proper foot care and the steps necessary to repair damaged, infected or painful toes.

“People have a really bad feeling about their feet,” she said. “I want to help get people wearing sandals!”

Eriksen recommends against antibiotics and says customers should use a nickel-plated file over course areas after each shower and follow up with a moisturizing cream.

Rapture is also the home of artist and stone jeweler Coco Mac. Coco uses natural stones and fresh water pearls to create multi-strand bracelets, wire cuff bracelets and earrings.

“I love color and I love texture and the organic nature of working with raw materials,” Coco said.

Coco’s latest creation is Windswept — a handmade line of tablecloth weights for outdoor entertaining.

The idea came to her, she said, when she helped a friend set up for a party and the women scrambled to keep the tablecloth from blowing away.

The weights are repurposed and recycled materials. In her display inside Rapture Salon, Coco also sells soy based candles and chains for eye glasses.

Karen Stevens is Rapture’s hair stylist. Her bright eyes seem to be always shining and she wears a smile every day she works.

Having lived in various cities while working as a stylist, Kathy still has clients in different places. She travels to Denver to see clients monthly and drives between Reno and Incline as well.

“You really get to know people,” Stevens said of some of her long-standing clients. “You learn to have a lot of grace for people.”

Rapture Salon offers airbrush tanning in addition to nail services and haircuts and colors.

Jenny Luna is a freelance reporter for the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza and Sierra Sun newspapers. She may be reached at jluna0928@gmail.com.


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