Top 10 Essential Tips Every Beginner Lash Artist Must Know

Tip 1: Invest in High-Quality Tools and Products

As a beginner, it’s tempting to go for budget-friendly tools, but investing in high-quality products is essential for creating beautiful, long-lasting lash extensions. Premium lash adhesives and tweezers not only make application easier but also ensure better client satisfaction. Quality tools will help prevent wrist damage long term.

• Pro Tip: Test different types of lashes and adhesives to find what works best for you, your salon environment and your clients. Check out our favorite go-to lash brand for beauty professionals here. They offer lashes + high end retail Lash care for your clients.

Tip 2: Master the Basics Before Advanced Techniques

Before attempting volume or hybrid lash extensions, make sure you are comfortable with classic lashes. Mastering the basics will give you the foundation to build more advanced skills and ensure that your lash sets are applied evenly and safely. Mastering this is HUGE. We can't emphasize that enough. To make it a lot easier, we recommend to start with FLAT MULTI-LENGTH LASHES. They are designed to fit & hug the natural lash making it easier for beginner lash artist.

Key Takeaway: Focus on proper isolation and placement to prevent lashes from clumping or twisting. Our favorite brand offers great quality tweezers for proper isolation.

Tip 3: Prioritize Sanitation and Hygiene

Maintaining a clean workstation and practicing proper hygiene are non-negotiable for lash artists. Sterilize your tools after each use and always have disinfectant wipes on hand to clean surfaces between clients. Always follow your state's rules and regulations.

Reminder: Poor hygiene can lead to eye infections, which can damage your reputation and client's trust.

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Tip 4: Understanding Lash Health

Educate yourself on natural lash health and growth cycles. This knowledge helps you choose lash extensions and styles that suit the client’s natural lashes, ensuring their lashes remain healthy and full.

Expert Insight: Refrain from applying extensions that are too heavy or long on client's lashes that can't handle the weight. It can lead to premature lash shedding.

• Pro Tip: We always recommend to our client's a lash serum. Our favorite brands are:

Tip 5: Educate yourself about eye shapes

Tip 6: Understanding the science of adhesive

Tip 7: Trends & Demand

Tip 10: Patience

RevitaLash : Created by a physician to help his wife's eyelashes during her battle with cancer. The serum is made with nourishing ingredients and even have a sensitive serum. You can find their brand online or on Amazon.

Rodanandfields : Award winner eyelash serum and became #1 Lash brand in the US in 2023. Our client's kept it off the shelves! It's also available on Amazon.

Grande Lash: Another award winner serum and pretty reasonable with price! Also available on Amazon.

Borboleta: We love Borbolata for eyelash extensions & lash extension adhesive! One of our favorite picks from them is their serum . They recently joined Amazon.

Eyelash extensions are more than just a beauty service. They are an art form. Just as a skilled makeup artist enhances a client’s features by understanding skin tones, undertones, and facial symmetry, an eyelash artist must develop a keen eye for eye shapes, eyelid structures, and lash health.

Every client is unique, and creating the perfect lash set means balancing style, length, and technique with what suits them best. While it’s important to listen closely to your clients’ preferences, part of being a true lash professional is educating and guiding them. So, by helping them understand which options will protect their natural lashes while still giving them the look they desire, your clients will become loyal return clients.

At its core, lash artistry is about enhancing natural beauty, boosting confidence, and creating a look that feels authentic to each client.

Eyelash extensions are not a get-rich-quick game. Yes, it’s true that eyelash extensions can bring instant gratification through client satisfaction and income, chasing as many new clients as possible for a quick buck is not sustainable.

You’ll quickly learn that word of mouth goes much further than you might think! In fact, it’s one of the most underrated forms of marketing in today’s world. Yes, social media is powerful, but constantly chasing new clients because your existing ones don’t return will only lead to burnout and an unsteady income.

One of the most important lessons in lash artistry is this: not every viral adhesive is meant for you. This is our favorite educational tip for lash artist!

It’s tempting to grab the latest glue making waves on social media, but adhesives are highly sensitive to your environment (temperature and humidity), your application speed, and even your client’s natural lash health. What works flawlessly for one artist might cause retention issues or irritation for another.

So, Instead of chasing trends or chasing speed, take the time to:

• Test adhesives in your workspace conditions. Meaning, temperature and humidity.

• Learn how your speed and technique to select the right glue for your speed level.

• Keep your clients’ comfort and safety as the top priority.

The right adhesive isn’t the most popular one. It’s the one that works best for you, your environment and your clients lashes. This equals better retention!

Here are some of our affordable favorite picks from amazon for your lash environment.

The internet has made so much possible, and trends in the beauty industry are one of them. It truly impacts how rapidly a trend can spread, change, and shift. We’ve seen the rise of “the fuller, the better,” “anime,” and classic lashes to mega volume!

With that said, there’s one important lesson we’ve learned as lash extension trends continue to evolve: you will not be everyone’s lash artist.

Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t offer a variety of styles and trends. However, trying to cater to everyone can quickly lead to burnout. Instead, we recommend you becoming the go-to lash artist for the style you become an export at! Through repetition, you’ll perfect your signature look and clients will recognize and value that expertise.

When clients know you specialize in a certain style, they’ll see more value in your work at whatever price point you set. Maybe you become the “anime lash artist” of your town, or the trusted expert in classic sets. Either way, owning your specialty will set you apart and help you thrive by creating demand.

Humidifier : Adhesive requires water to properly cure. If your environment is dry we recommend a humidifier. We love the brand Levoit. They offer multiple styles and sizes, our favorite pick is this one right here. It's a great size for beginners, aesthetically pleasing and the price is reasonable.

Room Thermometer : We like ThermoPro! It's an indoor Temperature & Humidity Monitor with a 10 second refresh for accurate reading. We like this one here. If you want to get fancier and would like to check your space temperature and humidity levels from home. We recommend one that works with bluetooth like this one here.

Dehumidifier : Opposite from using a humidifier, if your environment has too much moisture in the air, your adhesive will dry way too quickly. This not only causes the adhesive to cure before it properly bonds with the natural lashes, but it can also leave behind a white, chalky residue at the base of the lashes. This reaction is called shock polymerization. We like this brand here. We appreciate the handle and aesthetic appearance.

Conclusion

Eyelash Extensions and becoming a Lash Artist is an amazing career! It can transform your life, but it is a journey and an art that requires patience and passion.

Tip 9: Client Communication

Tip 8: State Board

Eyelash extensions are very popular, but they are still a professional beauty service. Most states have their own rules and regulations. Some states require an esthetician or cosmetology license issued by their state board.

With so many social media brands constantly launching online courses, we want to help you avoid losing money. That’s why we always recommend researching your state’s specific requirements for offering eyelash extensions, as well as where those services are legally allowed to be performed.

Doing this will greatly reduce the risk of investing your time and money, only to be shut down or fined by your state.

To find out your local requirements, simply search: “[Your State] + Eyelash Extensions Service Requirements.”

This one might feel a little uncomfortable at first, especially if you’re not used to confrontation, but it’s one of the most important skills you’ll develop: communication with your clients.

As you grow in the lash industry, you’ll continue to learn techniques, terminology, and best practices but remember, your clients don’t have that same knowledge. To them, lashes are simple: they just know they want them!

That’s why it’s your job to bridge the gap. Not every client will know how to explain the style they’re looking for, and not every client will be a candidate for every style. You can’t expect them to know the difference between a refill and a full set, for example. Instead of getting frustrated, use it as a chance to educate.

One trick we love is to simplify your wording. For example, instead of “refills” and “full sets,” we prefer to call them “maintenance” and “initial process.” Clear communication not only avoids misunderstandings but also builds trust, professionalism, and loyalty.