Left: Natural lashes Right: Lash extensions
I recently treated myself to lash extensions, I paid £60 for them but didn't have the best experience of them as they mostly fell out after just over a week. The spa were very apologetic and offered to replace them for free. In the end I didn't take them up on this offer as I wasn't very well on the day of the appointment, plus as a beauty blogger I enjoy wearing and testing new mascaras and couldn't do this with my false lashes. However, this experience has made me think it may be a good idea just to do a little post about the positives and negatives of lash extensions, as I wish I had been a little better informed before I parted with my hard earned cash.Positives:
- They look amazing! They really do look natural, make you look more awake and give your eyes and lashes impact.
- Lash extensions save you loads of time in the morning. I didn't ever wear mascara on top of mine so my morning makeup routine just consisted of foundation and blush. The extra 10 minutes in bed was much appreciated!
- You can still wear mascara on top of lash extensions. You just need to make sure that both the mascara and remover are oil free.
- You can wear lash extensions with contact lenses. I wear contacts every day and I had no problems at all.
- They take ages to apply, I was shocked when I turned up at the spa and they said I would have to be there for 2 hours.
- They are super expensive. I paid £60 for mine but I've read blog posts where people have paid up to £150 for them. If you want to keep them up you'll need both the time and money to maintain them. They need replacing about once every 3 to 4 weeks and mine would have been £21 for infills but elsewhere may be a lot more expensive. You can expect to be there anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and a half for infills.
- I personally really didn't enjoy the process of having them applied.I had to keep my eyes closed for 2 hours while a woman leaned over my face.I found it a little claustrophobic.
- Lash extensions can be irritating. When I woke up in the morning my eyes were a bit red and felt a little itchy but this wore off quite quickly as the morning progressed.
- When they are removed you do lose a few natural lashes. I think I only lost three or four but if you have very sparse lashes this could be a problem.
- Lash extensions aren't always applied well. This was the case with mine but the spa were great and offered to replace them for free but I can't imagine that everyone would be as apologetic and willing to correct them.