Having been almost a couple of months since I last had eyelash extensions in, I got tempted to do my own at-home LVL lash lift treatment, and brow lamination, and with a whole bunch of time on my hands while furloughed from work, that’s exactly what I did. Read on for my experience and tips…
When my lash extensions first started falling out during lockdown I was super nervous about how moley my eyes might look without their fluttery shield of glamour. I’d got so used to that doe-eyed look and loved my twice weekly appointments gossiping and chatting with Keely at the salon having my infills – to me it was one of those rare moments to myself I’d really relax and chill out.
While it didn’t take me long to get used to having shorter lashes, and I’ve embraced wearing no makeup, I was really curious to try a lash lift at home. I’d had been served a bunch of ads on social for kits recently, but spent some time researching for one with good reviews. I picked up the Iconsign lash lift kit from Amazon for £25.98 which seemed to have decent feedback.
The instructions were a bit of a jumbled translation, so I checked out a couple of YouTube tutorials first, but it’s an otherwise simple to understand procedure. Cleanse, stick a silicone pad to your eyelid, glue your lashes up and onto the pad, brushing out into a fanned out fashion, then use a perm lotion for 8-10 minutes, clean up and follow with a fix for another 8-10 minutes. I was given a tip not to apply the lotions to the lash tip, but just to the root and 3/4 of the way up, to avoid frazzling the ends. After the solutions had done their stuff, I then cleaned up and added a tint. I used the Refectocil in black (£6.98), 1cm, with 5 drops of oxidant developer, which I already had from my brow dye, but you can also purchase that here. Once that had been on for ten minutes, I cleaned off and used the nourishing oil for 5 minutes, before cleaning off with the cleanser to get rid of the glue, and removed the pads.
You have to leave your lashes alone and keep them dry for 24-48 hours to make sure the perm doesn’t drop out. I decided to laminate my brows at the same time as it used the exact same process and procedure, just without the silicone pads. For the brows, the idea is to brush the hairs up and keep them separated, using the glue. Working in sections helped as it dried so quickly, and I also applied a tint, too – using the Refetocil light brow (£7.20), which looked horifyingly red at first, but developed into a really nice mid-brown. The Refectocil dyes – in my opinion – all come up darker than advertised, so I would opt for a lighter shade if you are not sure.
The results on the brows were pretty pleasing, and look thicker and bushier than before – especially with the tint, there’s just no need for wearing makeup while they are like this. It should last around 6 weeks, until the hairs grow out, and the colour around the same amount of time. One thing I would say is that my brows did start to feel quite warm during the same evening I had applied the treatment, I wasn’t sure if this was down to the vigorous brushing, which I had to do with a fairly heavy hand to get the glue out, or the chemicals. Either way, I did notice a tiny hot spot/ slight scab on both eyebrows at the top the day after, but a further day on and I feel (and look) fine. I had performed a patch test of both chemicals 72 hours prior to the treatment, so I’m not 100% on why this happened. Just another reason to not do something like this at home and instead leave it to a professional!
For the lashes, I was a little underwhelmed by the results. I was expecting more of a curl, but perhaps I was too cautious, leaving for 8 minutes instead of 10. The tint looks great though and I’m starting to feel like the lashes are looking better and better since the extensions came off and they were a little sparse and short.
Have you tried either treatments before? I’d love to hear how you got on! Also, do check out my video of how I did the treatment, in a rather long two part IGTV, below.