The Ultimate Beginner Lash Extension Guide for Aspiring Lash Artist Technicians
There’s something special about lash extensions that make us feel so expensive. Walking away with a perfectly curated, volumized and lengthened look can do wonders for our self-confidence. But the quality of this hot beauty trend lies all in the hands of artists who work hard to provide specialized lash services, and it’s no easy task.
What it takes to get a perfectly balanced set of eyelash extensions is attention to tiny, nuanced details plus a few more key strategies.
These key strategies allow lash technicians to not only grow in their craft, but grow in marketing and personal finances in ways that defy their wildest dreams.
It’s these key strategies that create the branding of a successful lash artist, and that’s why we at Lulu Beauty Spa want to share seven of our favorite strategies of successful lash technicians.
Are you ready to learn the secrets?
7 Key Strategies of a Successful Lash Technician
Besides dedication, patience and a steady hand, it takes learning great information to create the beauty that frames the eyes in such a delicate way. Starting here sets up aspiring lash technicians to create a solid foundation, which is the framework of expertise.
Expertise needs to be built on an education that filters out the unnecessary bits and supplies you with the pieces that mold you into a powerhouse within the field. And it takes more than reading the right content –it takes action steps. If you want your lash extension artistry to start trending, you’ll want to pay attention to the 7 key strategies of a highly successful lash technician.
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Quality Education
This is what sets you on a trajectory. There’s a huge difference between a generic education, and one that has your personal success in mind. Getting the right foundation paving a path to success lies in the road map or dare we say, lash map, that weeds out unnecessary information and leaves you with the raw material good careers are built on. Once you are certified with a cosmetology or Esthetician license, you can get certifications in lash specialties that will draw the right clients to you. As you build your brand, this type of specialty attracting specific types of clients will help you grow both as a well-known artist and as a specialty service.
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Quality tools, Products, and Lash Extensions
Essential tools include:
- A ring light, or really good lighting to protect your eyes as you work.
- A lash bed or something that reclines so you can maneuver over the head with both yours and your client’s comfort in mind. Remember an initial application can take anywhere from 2-4 hours.
- A Lash distributor supplying quality lashes. Mixed trays are great for those just starting out. Getting trays of 8-16 millimeter lashes allow you to create all types of looks and figure out what gets used the most by your clients.
- A Quality Adhesive that matches with your climate and humidity.
- Skin Tape.
- Eyelash Extension Gel Pads
- A tool to hold your glue, like a jade stone or glue ring.
- Cleanser and Primer for cleaning lashes.
- Micro-swabs.
- Clean Mascara Wand to use throughout the application.
- Tweezers and tweezer sterilizers.
- Lash Pillow Shelf.
- Magnifying Glasses.
- Eyelash tweezer stand.
- Sterile pillow liners.
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Up to Date Marketing Strategies Tailor-made for the Eyelash Extension World
Youtube shorts are absolutely blowing up and are a necessary tool for success in the lash world in 2023.
Here’s why. Earlier this year, youtube decided to monetize their short form videos. They offer a 45% take-home from the views from your videos. What is even more interesting is the money made from ads run between the shorts is pooled from the entire group of creators who are part of the Partner Program. Then based on your percentage of views, you are awarded your portion of money accordingly. The more views, the higher the pay out.
There’s also HootSuite, which is an incredible App for those wanting to use their social media as a marketing tool. It’s designed to manage all of your social platforms and give you the tools to create ad campaigns on all of them, interact efficiently and increase engagement with the help of AI, and view/manage the myriad of conversations taking place directly on your social platforms.
Hootsuite also supplies the research data for you. They keep you up to date on the important facts, like how people aren’t google searching brands as much as they used to. Instead, they are going directly to their favorite social media apps and searching there, like Tiktok and Instagram. Is your social media presence as strong as you want it to be?
Amazon is another tool. It offers a partner program where once you’re approved, you can link products in your personal blog and get paid every time someone uses the link to make product purchases. You’re not only generating potential viral awareness of your business by running a blog, but you’re gaining passive income with Amazon’s help in the process.
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Mentorship
This type of relationship has carried through every generation for business minded people. There’s just something so influential about learning from the best in your field, especially when it’s one-on-one with someone who cares.
Imagine finding a successful and talented friend to guide you through the beginning stages of your start-up process. They’re able to relate and share their own stories full of aches and pains, but show you how to overcome initial obstacles. They bolster your confidence, knowing you can do it too.
Mentorship is an incredible tool for your own personal development as a lash technician. Have you found your person yet?
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A License + Different Kinds of Certifications
To practice lash extension services in the state of Illinois, you have to have a license then move into specialized certifications. While it may seem counterintuitive to get a cosmetology license to do lashes, remember, it’s the certification part that adds the most value. You’ll get the specialized knowledge you need to practice the exact type of lash application you do or want to do the most. When you showcase a specialty in the beauty field, people end up seeking you out and your business can grow rapidly.
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Set Your Pricing Right from the Beginning
Time and time again, you’ll hear stories of expert lash technicians saying, “if I had only known then what I know now.” Creating a price list of services is part of what they’re talking about. In the beginning, there can be a lot of rookie mistakes, like just taking a wild guess or setting your prices solely based on location or even undervaluing yourself.
The truth is, pricing has more to do with your expertise, marketing strategies, and word-of-mouth referrals than it does with location. This is because people are willing to travel for what they love.
Eyelash services just aren’t generic. They’re specialized and hand-crafted for each individual person. When your clients love your work, they will pay and travel to get the specialized service you provide.
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Environment Aesthetic
We think this one is huge. Getting the look of your environment to represent your brand’s aesthetic and values is one of the best ways to gain client trust and admiration. It helps your clients enjoy their experience every time they come, and it keeps them coming back. This is important in business development. Sometimes growing your business isn’t just about gaining new clients, it’s about retaining the ones you have. Providing a beautiful and up-to-date setting does that for you.
With these 7 strategies operating, a new lash technician can grow their business and find success. But there’s something else we want you to know as you find your place in the Eyelash Extension field.
Remember when we mentioned quality education? We have something we want to share with you about that.
The Best Lash Certification Course for Beginning Lash Technicians
At Lulu Beauty Spa we offer certification courses that provide the best learning experience for interested lash technicians.
As you go through the material, your skill set elevates from basic to couture status one featherweight eyelid hair at a time.
Our course covers all of the most important eyelash extension concepts for those just starting out, but who want to stay up-to-date on modern practices. Here’s a taste of what we cover:
- Classic, Hybrid, and Volume lash extensions.
- What tools are best.
- Types of false lashes like synthetic Mink, silk, and flat/elips options.
- How to handle an allergic reaction.
- The Lash Growth Cycle.
- Good Handling Practices and sanitation.
- Lash Mapping.
- Lashing Procedures.
- Removals.
- Business Development.
All of these key educational points are vital for becoming an expert in crafting eyelash extensions and elevating your personal success.
But it’s not just reading material that makes you succeed. You need mentorship too.
Mentorship with Lulu Beauty Spa
Having the experience of an expert handed down to you is invaluable. Learning information from a text book online is valuable too, but learning from an expert’s personalized experience adds even more. There’s just something about getting to learn from first hand experiences, listening to the stories of personal growing pains and triumphs in business development that a text book can’t teach.
We are a leading Lash Extension + Body Sculpting + Facials + Lash Education Spa located in the heart of Chicago where we don’t just apply lashes, we frame the “windows” connecting the soul.
In our journey toward success, we have learned a thing or two. Like how to sculpt the perfect eyelash shape, lash volume and lash placement, leaving clients feeling like the best versions of themselves every time they walk out the doors.
We want you to gain relevant information through direct mentorship on your road to success when you do lash fill-ins, lash removals, Mega Russian Lash Extensions, lash lifts, customized lash applications, and even Henna tinting. But we want you to gain the information with caring oversight. That’s what sets our education apart: we care not just about our clients, but about you too.