I gave myself a lash lift at home and I won’t go back to the salon

“The money I could save made me go for it, even though I had a little hesitation about potentially blinding myself.”

I’ve had lash lifts done in salons a handful of times, about once or twice a year for the last few years. My natural lashes are medium-length and pretty straight, more on the sparse side with the tips slightly lighter in colour than the dark brown roots. In my efforts to make them look fuller and thicker, I usually tint them myself, along with an at-home brow tinting kit every couple months.

My previous lash lift appointments have been a bit of a mixed bag and the results have been ok. A few times, the tips of my lashes have been left a bit frazzled and fried looking (this is from leaving the formula on too long or by getting the formula on the tips, which I now know you should avoid). In one appointment, I could tell the beautician was trimming these tips off, thinking I wouldn’t notice.

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Maybe my eyes are just sensitive or I’ve been unlucky, because when I told my friend, “It always stings my eyes so much!” she looked rightfully concerned. Aside from the stinging, I’ve always found these appointments kind of uncomfortable, which is the main reason I haven’t been back for one recently. That and the $70 to $100 cost per treatment.

Admittedly, I try to find the cheap deals for around $60, rather than forking out for high-end salons, my reasoning being that the process is pretty much the same no matter how luxe the room looks. It’s not the salon or bed I find uncomfortable, it’s the process of having my lashes stuck up to a silicone pad which is then glued down on my eyelid, while my eyes are closed and someone is touching and adjusting my lashes with sharp tweezers.

I recently moved to Amsterdam and I’ve been on a tight budget, but I wanted to feel extra nice for my upcoming 30th birthday and treat myself to a lash lift. The cheapest I could find was about $100 AUD. After searching on my phone, I started getting served ads for magnetic clip-on lashes (still curious about these) and DIY lash lift kits. I was intrigued. After comparing three or four options, I settled with a brand called ‘Fleeky’.

Fleeky seemed to have nice branding with simple-looking instructions and all the contents of the kit shown, plus the price was right. The money I could save made me go for it, even though I had a little hesitation about potentially blinding myself.

I bought the Mini Kit for $30 AUD (Black Friday sale, it’s usually $54) which comes with two to four applications. I didn’t purchase the recommended Lash Cleanser for $18 because I’m a tight ass and thought surely some micellar water on a cotton pad will suffice. 

Before you get started

The kit arrived after several days with the contents nicely laid out and clearly labeled. I was excited to try it as soon as possible but I’d recommend you do this when you have a few hours free – you wouldn’t want to have to multitask or be interrupted. The kit included printed instructions as well as emailed instructions with video links and photos, which I found really useful. 

If you’re keen to give it a go, I have a few tips. For starters, the tutorial video instructs you to do both eyes, starting one at a time but together. This scared me, so to have better vision while attempting this (at least for the first time), I chose to do one eye at a time, completing the whole process start to finish – see the flattering reference below.

Tinting your lashes

What wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the instructions was when I should tint my lashes in the process. If you’re tinting too (it will give you the best result) do this at the end of your lash lift, when you’ve applied both formulas one at a time and carefully wiped them off (without using water!) with your lashes still stuck on the pads. This is because the lash lift formula can lighten your hair. Again, wipe this off after with a dry cotton pad. I waited a bit to make sure my lashes were dry completely before carefully peeling them off once done.

Choosing your lash lift curl

You then select from small, medium or large silicone pads according to your lash length and desired curl. I probably overestimated my lashes and chose large – since it had the biggest rounded curve, I thought it would have the best result but it actually gave me a more subtle look. If I chose medium, the curve is smaller but it would’ve made the shape more curled, if you get what I mean. Lesson: don’t act like a man choosing condoms at the supermarket – be realistic.

The lash lifting process

I trimmed the ends of the silicone pad a little so the rounded part of it sat where my lashes needed to be placed, which also made it stick to my eyelid easier. You can get a feel for this by holding the pad onto your eyelid without the glue on to see if it sits right. I found the trickiest part was getting the silicone pad to stick to your eyelid with glue. Make sure your eyelid and lashes are cleansed with a non-oily cleanser like micellar water to begin with, as per the instructions.

I had to put a lot more glue on the back of the pad than I thought, blowing on it first to get it tacky, then holding it down firmly on each eyelid for one minute. This is the most fiddly part but you can easily pull it off if you don’t get the placement right, wash the glue off the pad and start again, which I had to do once or twice. 

Once it’s stuck, you then need to add some glue to the outer rounded part of the pad to stick your lashes to. Importantly (and not mentioned), you want to do this with as minimal amount of glue as possible, as you’ll need to peel your eyelashes off this pad at the end without using water as this can undo the lash lift. I used water and it made one eye less curled than the other, so I redid the application to that eye!

There was definitely less stinging than my salon visits but my eyes did get a little watery towards the end of the application. I made sure the lotion wasn’t in my eyes so I suspect it was just from the fumes of the formula, nothing too uncomfortable.

At-home lash lift results

I’m really happy with the results and I even found the process to be quite fun! You can’t really get around the sticky eyelid feeling but I found it more comfortable doing it myself at home than having someone else fiddling with it. That’s just my personal preference, plus having one eye open to see at a time made it less weird. My lashes look naturally curled which was exactly what I was hoping for and for the price of the kit, I’m thrilled. I still have enough for a few more applications and so I will definitely do it again.

For more on at-home lash lifts, try this.