Lash extensions, lash lifts and brows in Durham

Almost every client asks for something natural. Almost nobody means the same thing by it.

I have had two clients in the same day ask for a natural lash set, where one wanted a length nobody would notice and the other wanted something she would describe as her everyday look and I would describe as fairly full. Both were right. Natural is not a style, it is a comparison to your own face, and I cannot see the version in your head.

Why the same length does not work on everybody

The main thing determining how long your lashes can go is the space between your eye socket and your brow bone. Some people have a lot of room there and can carry length that would look striking. On others there is very little, and the same length hits the brow bone, has nowhere to go, and looks heavy and wrong no matter how well it is applied. It is anatomy, not preference, and it is the first thing I look at.

Then there is the shape of your eyes, which determines styling rather than length. Round, almond, hooded, deep set, downturned and close set eyes all need the length distributed differently along the lash line to open the eye rather than close it. The same set of lashes, mapped two different ways, gives two completely different results. This is the part clients rarely realise is happening.

Lashes have moved on

When I started doing lashes we more or less put anything on and clients were delighted, because nobody had anything to compare it to. That is not where the industry is now. Lash work has evolved to the point where it is much closer to going to a hairdresser.

You would not sit down and say I want to go blonde and have some length off and expect a good outcome. A good hairdresser gets out a colour chart, clarifies exactly how much length, and asks what you can realistically maintain at home. Lashes are the same conversation, and it deserves the same few minutes.

So bring pictures

Not because I will copy them exactly. Your eyes are not the eyes in the photograph, but because a picture tells me in two seconds what a description will not tell me in ten minutes. Bring the look you want, and if you have one, a look you know you do not want. The second is often more useful than the first.

Be honest about maintenance too. There is no point choosing a set that needs infills every two weeks and daily cleansing if you know you will be back in five weeks. I would rather give you something that still looks good when you actually return.

And expect it to take more than one appointment to land on your set. First time we start conservative and I learn how your lashes behave. Second time we adjust. By the third you usually have something that suits you and that you can keep up. The clients who end up happiest are the ones who treat the first appointment as a starting point rather than a final answer.