Where to Kiss and Makeup

Hoboken women have a new place to put on a special face, or even one for everyday wear. Dina's Kiss & Makeup, a full-service cosmetics studio and store, is now open at 57 Newark St.

Owner Dina Racciatti, who appeared on the second season of the Style Network's reality TV show Jerseylicious, has worked as an aesthetician for special occasions and traveled the country teaching cosmetics classes. Kiss & Makeup is her first storefront studio.

“Women can come here and get their makeup completely tailored to them,” she said. The studio also sells jewelry and other accessories and offers airbrush tanning services.

Racciatti first got interested in makeup when she was a teenager struggling with facial acne. “It really affects your confidence and self-esteem,” she said.

During that time, she began studying cosmetics on her own, and later took classes where in addition to style she also learned industry hygiene and other important aspects of running a studio.

All of the products Racciatti uses or sells in her studio are her own line, DKM Cosmetics. Her studio stocks more than 100 colors of eye shadow, 30 colors of blush, and 20 eye color palettes.

For her line, Racciatti incorporates makeup products from all over the world, including some made locally and others as far away as California and China. “It's like little puzzle pieces coming together,” she said. “But I try everything and if I don't like it, it doesn't go into the line.”

Racciatti has lived in Hoboken for three years and said the Mile Square is an ideal city for her business. She also hopes that women commuting to important functions in New York or looking to shine before a night on the town will visit her downtown location on their way to the train station.

“There are so many women here,” she said. “It's like a mini New York City where everything has to be at your fingertips." And with her studio in the heart of Hoboken, said Racciatti, local women don't have to settle for less.

Racciatti said she has plans to also teach classes at her studio, both multiple-week courses for aspiring aestheticians and shorter seminars for women just looking for advice on applying makeup on their own. “Women can look totally different with makeup,” she said. “When you look better, you feel better.”

Racciatti said that above all, she wants her studio to be a place where women can find the answers to all their cosmetic needs.

Coming soon: A cigar shop relocates, a new bakery finishes construction, and uptown gets a new cafe.

The Business Beat covers businesses opening, closing and relocating in the Mile Square. Have a Hoboken related business tip? Send an email to alanskontra@hotmail.com.