Now that I’m a young adult with a job… I’ve been looking into more professional beauty services.

I absolutely LOVE doing DIY projects, but when it came to perming or “lifting” my eye lashes, the process seemed dangerous. Basically you use chemicals on your lashes to turn your sad straight lashes into curled lashes.

It is also often paired with a eyelash tint, which is when you color your lashes a dark color. So you blonde (or light haired beauties) don’t have to worry about mascara to darken your eyelashes.

I am of asian decent and I already have very dark hair. But my lashes are sad, short, and point straight down.

Now if you want to see some wizardry: Here are my lashes after I curl them with my favorite Sheisiedo eyelash curler

Natural lashes curled with amazing eyelash curler:

 

But because my lashes are naturally straight, by the end of the day my lashes end up less curled:

So before we look at my results let’s look at…

The Risks of the Procedure:

If you google lash lift risks you’ll find mostly blogs talking about their experiences.

NoThankstoCake posted about her negative experiences with eye irritation/redness, as well has have her lashes over-curled!

eyedolatry written by a Doctor of Optometry speaks to her positive outcomes, but warned that “Aestheticians warn that Lash Lift should NOT be performed if a person has a history of eye allergies, eye infections, styes, sensitive eyes, watery eyes, or chronic dry eye. “

I found this warning statement on a lot of my research…. Oops. I have chronic dry eye.

Did this trash my eye lashes?

Would I do it again?

Keep reading to find out!

So… Things you Should Do (that I didn’t do)

• You should make sure that your lash technician is certified to perform this procedure and make sure they have experience. If you’ve seen videos you can tell that very strong chemicals are getting very close to your eyes.
• You should communicate with the lash technician/ get a consultation… because I think my decision might have been influenced.

My Experience

If you love taking naps, or sensory deprivation you’ll LOVE this experience. Essentially your eyes are closed, you lie on a cushy bed and have someone gently stroke your eyelashes. No pain, (unless she accidentally yanked on my lashes while brushing them)

If you’re super ADHD this might not be the experience for you because the process took 1.5 hours. They put pads under your eyes (feels like they’re almost IN your eyeballs) to protect your lower lashes and also catch any chemicals going astray from getting on your under eyes. Then they comb your eye lashes onto silicone curler which sits on your upper lash line.

That’s right folks, there is NOTHING preventing the chemicals from being brushed onto your waterline and seeping into your eyes. This requires serious trust between you and your lash technician. And also limits how close they can get to your eyes.

Lash lifting is often done with a lash tint (dying the hairs darker) and MAN can you SMELL THOSE CHEMICALS. Both the perming agent and the coloring agent smelled pretty nasty, but then dissipated over time.

Things I Love about my lash lift

• If I’m not wearing make up, my lashes looked curled and flirty. My lashes got almost TOO curled, so I like to really get my moisturizer and eye cream all over my eyes and lashes to relax the curl into a perfect flirty look. (Or use clear mascara)

• Mascara doesn’t weigh down my lashes by the end of the day (like it usually does) BUT

 

Things I Hate about my lash lift

• If you look at the picture, you can tell that my left eye lashes look over processed. The tips of the lashes are TOO curled, and the base of the lashes have almost no curl.

• Though the curl with mascara lasts longer… The curl with mascara is not as impressive as when I used to curl with my holy grail lash curler.

• She couldn’t get my most inner corner lashes… that’s right folks, those inner corner lashes were too short to get into the curler. So they will be sticking out of line. For the next. Four. To. Six. Weeks. (Perfectionist in me cries inside)
• This next one is not something I HATED, but it was annoying that for the next week my eyes were extra dry (not itchy or painful though!), and I couldn’t wear my contacts. (Apparently chronic dry eyes aren’t supposed to even get a lash lift so… I can’t be mad that I didn’t do my research)

 

So… was it worth it?

Lash lifts are normally between $40-70 where I live, but I used a Groupon (search lash lift in the bar) so I paid closer to $27 (plus a $10 tip because the lady worked hard)

So… I’m not upset by the amount I paid.

However I don’t think that lash lifts are ideal for my eyelashes.

I have:

• Short lashes
• Naturally full volume
• Monolids

And the lash lift only really curled the ends of my lashes so it made my lashes look even shorter… and like a crazy mess of volume.

I think if you have long, non-hooded eyes, and you just want a natural curl this will probably be great for you!

I might get eye lash extensions…. maybe even do a DIY? Let me know if you’ve had extensions in the comments below!

 

******FULL DISCLOSURE: This are my personal experiences and thoughts. I am not being paid by the brand or the company to review this product or talk about any claims. This product was not sent to me. Links in this post are a part of the amazon affiliate program. I have no monetary gain at stake for rating this product highly or poorly.*******