Rating Our Old Lash Sets: What We'd Do Differently | Ep 30

We Rated Our Old Lash Sets (And We're Not Hiding Anything)

If you've been lashing for more than a year, you have a folder on your phone that you hope nobody ever finds. Danielle has been lashing since 2007. Her first camera photo wasn't until 2011 -- by then she was already four years in and doing things that would make her cringe today. Ashtyn started in 2020, and her second-ever lash set was completed at a kitchen table with a pizza nearby and what she describes as a mental breakdown in progress.

In Episode 30 of Behind the Brilliance, we sat down with our oldest photos and rated them out loud. No filter. No edits. Just two lash artists being honest about how far the industry -- and our own skills -- have come.

The Eras We Lived Through

Listening back to this episode, it became clear that both of us went through the same phases, just a decade apart. Here's what we covered:

Extreme lengths. Danielle was using 10-12mm on clients in 2011. Ashtyn was reaching for 16-17mm in her early sets. Both of us look back at those photos and ask the same question: why did we think longer meant better?

Skipping corners. The inner and outer corners were optional in the early days, apparently. Danielle has 2011 sets where the lashes just start floating somewhere in the middle of the lid. Ashtyn's kitchen table set had similar issues.

The mega volume era. We both went through it. D curls. Thick fans. Lashes that extended past the eyebrow. And yes -- we both contributed to lash dysmorphia before we had the language to describe it.

"Lash dysmorphia is a real thing," Ashtyn said during the episode. She's right. The trend toward extreme volume trained clients to want more, bigger, thicker -- and some of those clients are now dealing with the aftermath.

What We'd Do Differently

Danielle shared her 40/40/20 framework during this episode and it's one of the most useful things you can carry into a client consultation. 

Products are 40%. Technique is 40%. Home care is 20

If retention is a problem, you have to look at all three before blaming one. Early in our careers, neither of us had this framework. We were problem-solving by trial and error instead of by system.

You Lash Like Whoever Trained You

This was the moment in the episode that landed hardest. Ashtyn was talking about why her early sets leaned heavily toward mega volume -- and she traced it directly back to who trained her. Her trainer was doing mega volume. So Ashtyn learned mega volume. She didn't know there was another way, because that's all she'd seen.

"If you're going to train with somebody, make sure you like their work," Danielle said. "They're going to train you how to do lashes the way that they do them."

That's not a criticism of any one trainer -- it's just the truth of how skills transfer. The style you absorb in training becomes your starting point. Choose that starting point carefully.

The Mentor Framework to Close

Danielle closed the episode with this:

It's simple. But if more lash artists operated this way -- actively seeking mentors, actively sharing what they learn -- the industry would look very different.

Listen to the Full Episode

Episode 30 of Behind the Brilliance is available now wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. 

If you want to keep learning and building your lash business alongside other serious artists, come join our free community on Skool: skool.com/brilliant