Interested in skin care from a young age, life took her on a journey that eventually led to starting her own company.

Kathleen Carney, founder and formulator for Skin Blends LLC, a licensed aesthetician and aesthetic instructor, has a degree in education from Wayne State College in Nebraska and attended graduate school at the University of Arizona. 

 Kathleen grew up in a small farming town in Nebraska (not a hot spot for clinical skin care). She was the fifth of eight children (four older brothers and three younger sisters). Kathleen started babysitting and had her own AVON lady beginning in the fifth grade. She later became an AVON lady herself. After college, she loved teaching high school home economics, but when times got tough for Nebraska farmers, she had to look for a different job. Her brother helped her get hired on as a purchasing agent for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). She worked for the BOP for eight and a half years, moving seven times for promotions, and making it all the way up to business manager.

Kathleen decided she wanted to have her own business, so she went to beauty school to become an aesthetician. She found out that having a business is a lot more challenging than she thought and happily accepted a job as an educator for Prescription Plus Clinical Skin Care (now known as Only Yourx). She was with them for three and a half years and she loved it. She found it interesting that all the clients wanted the raspberry toner, even though it was formulated for oily skin, and the pineapple scrub, even though it was formulated for combination skin. That is how she came up with the concept for Skin Blends. What if clients could have a raspberry aroma in any of the toners? Or cucumber? or almond? The base product would be color- and fragrance- free and formulated for the client’s skin type. Then, aromas and colors could be added (client preference) and botanicals, cosmeceuticals, and lipids could be added (condition targeted).

Future plans for Kathleen and the Skin Blends crew include building a state-of-the-art training facility, as Kathleen’s passion has always been training other aestheticians and helping them achieve their goals.

Kathleen got married for the first time on December 28, 2018 to her college sweetheart Eddie Fleer. Eddie treats her like a queen and does everything he can to help lighten her load at Skin Blends. In her spare time, Kathleen enjoys Bible study fellowship, volunteer teaching the children of the new families joining her church, getting together with her family, Bunco, and Dominoes.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT KATHLEEN

 “Kathleen is one of those individuals that stands out in a crowd. She brings such a wonderful energy with her, whether it is personal or business related. She is always looking at ways to grow and improve her business.” Trish Ledford, Clever, Missouri