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BEAUTIFUL YOU: All eyes are on you

The popularity of lash extensions has grown over the last three years
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Brow and lash extensions bring focus to your eyes.

One of the newest trends in beauty is long, thick eyelashes – and you don’t have to be born with them or spend tons of time applying false ones daily.

“I’ve been doing lashes for about eight years; for the last five I’ve been doing them full time,” says Johnna Ahrens, owner of Everlash Studio.

The popularity of lash extensions has grown over the last three years and many women are adding lashes to their regular beauty routine.

“There are pros and cons (to the growth),” says Ahrens. “The industry is largely unregulated – it’s scary – it’s our eye area. Some people who have tried it are having negative experiences.”

Her advice is to research where you go for lash extensions and ask questions. “Do your research on where you go, on what products they are using and their experience. … I’ve been working with Health Canada for five years to try and get some standards in place and they don’t want to do it – it’s challenging.”

Lash extensions add length and volume to your eyelashes by attaching one lash extension to each single natural lash.

“I started as a consumer. I started to get my lashes done and I fell in love with them,” says Ahrens, a makeup artist and esthetician who learned to do lashes from a Russian lash master.

Everlash does classic lashes, one-to-one, and volume sets, thinner, lighter lash extensions that are bundled together in 2-8 groupings and placed on one individual natural lash.

“The most important part is the consultation with the client. Finding out what their needs are, what their lifestyle is like. Certain people don’t want a dramatic look, they want a more natural look. We look at eye shape, facial structure and what they hope for. Unfortunately we’re limited by what they have naturally, we don’t touch the skin at all.”

A full set of classic lashes runs $300 and maintenance runs from $45 to $115, depending on the length of time it takes for your lashes to grow out. Most take three to four weeks, says Ahrens.

“People just want to get up and go. They don’t want to have to do eye make up every day. There’s freedom in that. Our common client is busy, they want to be able to run to the grocery store and not worry about running into someone.”

For older clients, those over 40, Ahrens says the lash extensions provide an eye lift without surgery. “It give eyes definition and makes wearing eye makeup unnecessary. As you age the skin around your eyes ages, eyeshadow doesn’t wear as well … this way you can show off your best asset – your eyes are what you want to draw attention to.”

Bow to the brow

If you lived through the 90s and your eyebrows show it, clap your hands, because Johnna Ahrens has the fix.

“I hate the term brow extension. It sounds like you’ll end up looking like a grandpa,” she says.

Brow extensions use very small fibres which are applied to your natural brow and even the skin to create a thicker brow line.

“The adhesive is completely safe for that,” she says.

“If you lived through the 90s and plucked your brows out to that thin line and now you want a thicker, natural looking brow, we can do that. It doesn’t add length, it adds volume.”