"Nobody had any idea. As of two days ago we were told about new sales [promotions] that were happening, and the company recently employed a lot of new people.
"There were new staff in training and others who were waiting to start," said the woman, who had been working for the business for a year.
"It is really shocking to go to work one day, be booking in clients for six weeks' time, be selling product and packages and then the next day the doors are closed to you," she added.
"Whenever I spoke to managers it was all positive, we were talking about the future of the clinics, how we could improve - and that was only a day or two before."
Lovely by Skin Institute is the sister company of the Skin Institute, which also operates beauty clinic brand Off & On.
Lovely had six stores across Auckland but was placed into liquidation after failed attempts to sell the business earlier this year.
Thirty-five staff were made redundant as part of the process.
Liquidator John Fisk of PwC said the business was no longer viable following poor trading.
Fisk said Covid-19 had tripped up the business, with the pandemic hitting shortly after the brand was established and opened its first stores in 2019.
In May the Skin Institute began exploring the sale of the business but no buyer was found despite several interested parties.
The former employee said staff were sobbing out the back of the clinic after liquidators said they'd lost their jobs.
She called a lack of notice and communication by Skin Institute management a slap in the face.
"We were all shocked and there was a real sense of betrayal," she said.
"We showed up to work and then there were either liquidators already there or they came in as people were setting up the clinics to work for the day, and that was really shocking.
"It felt impersonal and some of the girls were confused when it first happened. They didn't really understand what it meant, it wasn't made clear, and didn't know if it was real, because it was just out of the blue receiving a phone call saying that suddenly we no longer had jobs."
The woman understood nobody from the Lovely brand knew about the liquidation in advance and store managers found out at the same time as their staff.
"The team at Lovely have always been the best part of the company, there has always been so much support, and they have been amazing colleagues to work with so that's one of the sad parts about it."
On Tuesday evening, staff were paid for the previous fortnight's work and told they'd get annual leave entitlements paid out alongside two weeks' pay as notice.
After conversations from liquidators, the woman said staff received an email from Skin Institute chief executive Justin Liddell, who said management tried its best to save the business but stores were being liquidated immediately.
"There should have been better communication from the CEO, and some notice," the woman said. "It would have been nice if two weeks ago or four weeks ago they let us know.
"It would have been good to hear from them that the company was not feasible anymore and that we would be going into liquidation and wrapping up the company, thank you for your service and building the brand."
Asked why staff weren't given prior notice about the liquidation or informed by management themselves, Liddell said due process was followed.
"We understand the closure of the business has come as a shock to our talented team. Our thoughts are with them as the liquidators work through this process," Liddell added.
"We are providing support to the team through the Skin Institute Group and we are ensuring that all outstanding wages, commission payments, annual leave balances and two weeks' notice are paid."
Liddell said Lovely by Skin Institute faced severe disruption from Covid-19.
"The Skin Institute Group provided significant financial support through the life of business but felt that at this time all reasonable options had been extinguished and the business needed to close," he added.
"We are obviously disappointed that this business has not been the success that we hoped for despite the efforts of our team and the loyalty of our customers."
