Weddingbee Blog

So I did something mildly crazy the other day. At least, I think it was crazy. I keep changing my mind on it. So I need your help.

Let’s start at the beginning: Getting married makes you do really weird things.

Awhile ago, I saw something I thought was pretty cool at the time, and vowed I’d try it. I might have forgotten about it if it weren’t for the fact that our wedding was fast approaching, and that it just so happens to be the perfect kind of thing to do before you go somewhere where you’ll be in the ocean or by the pool for oh, fourteen days straight.

And no, I’m not talking bikinis here.

More like makeup. Or lack thereof, rather. Because who wears makeup by the pool?

Well, blondies do, that’s who. Blondies like me, who, when they’re not wearing mascara, look like they have absolutely NO eyelashes at all.

Unless, of course… they fake it.

 
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Ok, so maybe not quite like that.

If you can believe it, I’ve never tried wearing false eyelashes. I’ve admired them on other girls (did you know they’re not just for special occasions anymore?… I know one girl who pretty much wears them daily), but I’ve never seriously thought of trying them myself.

Which makes it even more strange that I’d go from au-natural (well ok, mascara-laden) eyelashes to…

… eyelash extensions!!!

See?!? I told you it was mildly crazy. At least, it is for me.

In case you were thinking of doing the same for your wedding, I thought I’d share my experience.

1. Go to get nails done (at Sparkle Nails in Vancouver). Remark at how lovely esthetician’s eyelashes are. She tells me they are extensions. Make mental note.

2. Six months later (and 2 before wedding) go back to try it. Lay on table. Get nervous waiting for esthetician.

3. She comes in and tells me to open my eyes wide. See something clear and plastic-looking coming straight for my eyeball. I think it’s a contact lens (flashback of laser eye surgery!) but turns out, it’s a clear bit of plastic she puts on lower lash and tells me to close my eyes. Plastic bit is clamped between my eyelids–verrrrryyy uncomfortable, even for someone who used to wear contact lenses and touch her own eyeballs all the time. I soon figure out it’s to make sure my eyelids don’t get accidentally glued together.

4. She asks if I want short, medium or long. I say probably short but she talks me into medium. I think, oh, what the heck.

5. I feel her placing the eyelashes on one by one. She has to glue each one to an existing eyelash.

6. I get bored, start asking questions. Apparently, the eyelashes come from Korea. She thinks they’re from real people. I didn’t know people harvest their eyelashes for sale… if they really aren’t synthetic (I later have doubts), then they must be genetically superior people because the lashes are long. I hope they’re not real. The thought creeps me out a bit. If I’d have known this, I’d have reconsidered. Too late now.

7. After about 20 min, she does the other eye. I vow to count the lashes this time. After 65 my mind wanders, but she finishes soon after so I’d say it was about 75 lashes per eye. Yikes.

8. I have to lay there with my eyes closed for awhile to let the glue dry. Scary.

9. I try to open my eyes; my left eye is sort of stuck closed a bit and burns. She tells me to keep them closed awhile longer. I think to myself, “Oh. My. Lord. What have I done??”

10. I open my eyes and all is fine. I go to the mirror, and I see this:

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Whoa. I have eyelashes! And they’re looooong. And eyes! And they’re biiiiiiiig.

In case you’re wondering, at this salon, it costs $55 the first time you get the extensions done. They last about three weeks (as your eyelashes fall out naturally, so do the glued on lashes), at which time you can come in for a fill which costs $30. You can keep getting fills indefinitely. Prices vary though; this one charged $350 for first time extensions (!!).

Of course, I took some before and after photos so you can see the difference.

Here’s a better picture of the extensions in good lighting. This is more what they really look like:

So now I have a dilemma. Do I love them or hate them?

At first glance, they were way too much for me (hate them). When I went to bed, it was sort of cool to not have to wash mascara off my face (love them!), but then I had a mini-panic attack as I remembered that I always wear an eye-mask at night and that was surely not allowed with eyelash extensions (hate them; I did it anyway though).

In the morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see myself looking unusually doe-eyed and fresh (and dare I say… sexy?… morning breath and all?… love them!). Until I tried to wash my face, that is. I found out it is critical to avoid the eyelashes completely since if you touch or tug them, they sort of pinch (hate them).

During the day yesterday I couldn’t feel them at all, but liked how they looked when I caught a glimpse of them in the restroom mirror (loved them!). I even liked them as I walked home in the rain… no mascara-coated raccoon eyes for me! (loved them). But then came the face-washing episode again in the evening (hate them).

So eyelash extensions - yay or nay?

I guess you could say I’m undecided. I don’t want to look unnatural in all our wedding photos, but then again, the allure of not having to deal with waterproof mascara during the two weeks we’ll be in the Caribbean sounds mighty fine.

Did you wear false eyelashes for your wedding and were you happy with the result? Anyone have any eyelash extension advice?