As most of you know who follow me on Instagram, I got eyelash extensions in preparation for my wedding in July. I knew I was going to get them for the wedding for two main reasons reasons: 1. I didn’t want to wear mascara on my regular lashes because I knew I was going to cry a shit ton and I didn’t want to eff up my makeup, and 2. I HATE glue on lashes- they’re heavy, weird, and fall off randomly without warning.

Before I was 100% committed to lash extensions (because I didn’t know shit about them besides I thought they looked awesome) I started asking friends and family who had previously/currently had them to see what they thought. I was encouraged by everyone I asked to get them for a month or two before the wedding so that my eyes could get used to them and so I could find a length that I liked. AND.. truthfully… to make sure I wasn’t allergic to the glue that they use to apply the lashes with. I’ve heard some seriously horrible stories about women who have had lash extensions put on, only to wake up the next day with their eyes swollen shut because they were unknowingly allergic to the glue- holy shit! Definitely didn’t want that happening a week out from my wedding day, so a 1-2 month prep time sounded like the way to go.

I researched for about a week online and asked friends where they got their lashes done, and kept coming back to Ashley at The Glamour Bar.  She had raving reviews and I knew this place could be trusted because Juli over at Paleomg.com goes here all the time for spray tans! (I actually tried two different types of spray tans from Glamour Bar before the wedding to see if I wanted one for our actual wedding day, but decided not to. That’s a story for another day)

I went in for my first appointment which was $200 and lasted about two hours. The process might sound a bit cringe-worthy when you first hear it, but I promise it’s extremely relaxing. I actually fell asleep 90% of the time I went in for appointments.

The Process

Ashley had me lay down face-up on a super comfy massage chair with a neck-support pillow around my head + neck. Then she placed super soft, curved-edge tape on my bottom lashes to make sure they weren’t in the way of my upper lashes when I closed my eyes.  In short- she taped down my bottom lashes and the tape sat right under my eye. Your lash-lady should ALWAYS make sure the tape isn’t uncomfortable or pinching you at all while your eyes are closed because you’re going to be laying there for quite a while!

Next, she started adding the extensions. I didn’t know this until my first appointment, but each extension is an individual lash that is glued with medical-grade glue to an existing lash of your own. Obviously, this process takes some time. Ashley spent probably about 1 hour for each eye on my first appointment, and anywhere from 30-45 min on each eye for follow-up appointments.

Once the extensions are glued on, she used a little micro-vapor water droplet thing to “wet” the lashes before using a small hand-held dryer to dry the glue completely. To my understanding, the water droplets help bind the glue to the lash before they’re dried for a stronger hold.

Maintenance

You can’t get your lashes wet within the first 24 hours of getting them done, and you can’t really ever rub your eyes after you get the extensions put on. This was probably the only thing I didn’t like about the lashes because I really like to rub my eyes when they’re itchy like every other human being (imagine that) and I can get pretty feisty washing my face in the shower with Dr. Bronners, but I couldn’t do that with the extensions.

For daily maintenance, they give you a new lash brush to brush out and separate the extensions. This helps to keep them in order, brush away any extensions that have fallen out, and make them look perfect. The Glamour Bar also had this little brush and cleanser you could buy to clean the lashes to make sure your eye boogies don’t clump up in them and cause problems, but I never bought it and didn’t seem to have any problems. I just made sure to gently wash them when I washed my face.

One day, I did have a situation where one lash (that I couldn’t effing find to save my life) got twisted in some weird way and felt like it was pinching my eyelid. It was a total bitch. I went back to Ashley and she was able to find it right away and fix it! Praise the Lord because I was ready to rip all of my damn extensions out that day.

Follow-up Appointments

I chose to go back every 2 weeks to get my lashes “filled”. The extensions will fall out along with your actual lashes since they’re glued to them, so you have to keep up with the cycle of your real lashes falling out and new ones coming in. Each lash place will differ in price for your initial fill and follow-up appointments, but my 2 week follow-ups costed $60 each time.

When You’re Done With Extensions

I decided not to get extensions past our wedding day, so I had two options when transitioning back to rocking my natural lashes: 1. get the extensions removed by my lash lady or 2. wait until they all fell out AKA get impatient AF while waiting and rip out like 80% of them by myself. Guess which option I went with? Yep, Option #2. I didn’t feel like going back in (which I probably should have) and tried as carefully as I could to get the extensions off without ripping my own lashes out. Some lashes remained, others not so much. Now I have barely any lashes and am using a new product to help encourage lash growth that I can’t wait to tell you guys about! I’m still seeing if it works, so stay tuned for a future blog post on that.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely LOVED having my lash extensions for the two months that I chose to get them! Since they’re expensive AF and I’m pretty sure my hubs would freak if I continued to keep up with them, I won’t be getting them continually now that our wedding is over. I’m definitely going to miss them because it felt awesome to wake up every day without having to put any makeup on my little eyes. I have very light natural lashes too, so these made my eyes POP and I immediately fell in love with them.

If you’ve got an event coming up and want some badass lashes or if you just want to simplify your daily makeup routine, I highly suggest getting extensions for all the reasons why I chose to get them. The only trade off’s to keep in mind are 1. the time commitment every two weeks, 2. the cost, and 3. the potential to have a shitty experience and find out the hard way you’re allergic to them.

If you’re in Denver and looking for an incredible lash-lady, I highly suggest getting an appointment with Ashley at The Glamour Bar! (not paid or sponsored)