IDA JANE
COLLABORATION :
An opportunity arose to collaborate with Morgan McGrath of Ida Jane. Ida Jane is a company that offers lash, brow, and hair extensions.
I had always been secretly curious what it would be like to have lash extensions but never really thought about actually getting them – one because they're not super affordable for the broke college student that I am, and two, what if I hated them? As a makeup artist, I am surrounded by coworkers and friends who wear false lashes. It takes me forever to put those lashes on perfectly and I know I’m not the only one who struggles to keep them on all day… so naturally I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Morgan.
IDA JANE :
Morgan earned her business degree at the University of Alaska. She played volleyball on scholarship during her years there. After she was certified in lash extensions, she began practicing on her teammates. Word spread and she began to build a clientele... Ida Jane was then created. Eventually Morgan got her certification in spray tanning, brow extensions, and many different techniques of hair extensions. She now lives in Hastings, Minnesota with her husband and is trying to rebuild clientele here in Minnesota.
EXPERIENCE :
Since Morgan works out in Hastings, the drive from Minneapolis was about 40 minutes for me. I told my sister she had to come with me for moral support because I was a little nervous tbh.
When we arrived at Morgan's place, we went back to the cutest little setup in a gazebo – windows open, of course, because it was beautiful out. She was super welcoming and made sure my sister and I had everything we needed for the next two hours.
I had done my research and had an idea of the look I wanted in mind. I brought pictures for her just so I knew we were on the same page with what kind of look I wanted (thank you Pinterest). I was wanted something a little longer than my natural lash length, but still a natural look. Morgan talked me through and showed me all of the different styles so I could tell her what I did and didn't want. She was super helpful in calming my nerves by letting me know all of my options and answering all of my questions. We agreed that a natural style with a slight cat eye was what would look best with my daily winged eyeliner look. As for the individual lashes themselves, she explained how a thinner lash would work better for me because they're lighter and won't weigh down my natural eyelashes. I learned quite a bit about my own eyelashes through this process.
I got comfortable on the bed because I'd be laying there for quite a while. Morgan assured me we could take a break or stop whenever I needed. She started by placing gel pads (see below) under my eyes to hold my bottom lashes down so they wouldn't get caught in any glue. I was worried I would be blinking a lot but those helped keep my eyes shut. Nothing hurt – it was all pretty comfortable and it just felt like I had someone brushing my eyelashes for two hours (lol). Two hours passed pretty quickly and when we were done she walked me through caring for them, how to go about washing my face, etc.
We took some before + after photos (me without eye makeup – these are rare photos, guys) and I had my sister take some process photos.
STYLE : Natural with a slight cat eye / B + C curls / mix of classic + volume
Photo by Morgan McGrath
RESULTS :
All of those nerves were totally unnecessary because they were exactly what I wanted. I fell in love with them the second I looked in the mirror. My feminist + pro-self love self was a little hesitant when asked to collaborate at first so my curiosity was really what had led me to do this in the first place... but I'm not going to deny that I felt beautiful afterwards.
I'll be honest, caring for them was a little more difficult than I had expected. I wear quite a bit of makeup on a daily basis so I usually tend to wash my face with a lot of cleanser and makeup remover every night to get everything off. I had to replace a few of the products I use in my skincare regimen to avoid having any products with oils that would potentially break down the lash glue, but I've gotten use to my new routine now. I avoided mascara for a few days because I didn't actually need any, but after a few days I did start to use it again because my natural lashes are pretty light so you could still see them. (And because I may or may not be addicted to mascara!?)
I've lost quite a few lashes but it's been a about a month since I got them. I'm still pleased with the way they look. One of my worries was that you would be able to tell when they began to fall out, but since I didn't get them much longer than my natural lashes there isn't much of a change when I lose multiple in one place.
Overall, (and money aside) I would definitely recommend getting lash extensions if you're at all interested or curious. They have been fun to work with as a makeup artist and they're very practical if you don't want to mess with mascara every morning. If you want to get extensions and you don't have money growing on trees, Ida Jane has pretty affordable prices compared to other salons out there. I will leave her contact info below, if interested!
http://www.idajane.co / info@idajane.co / instagram : @_idajane_
Photo by Janell Lynch
I also collaborated with the talented Janell Lynch to get some photos of the lashes with my everyday look! I plan on sharing that collaboration with you guys in the very near future! Thanks for reading!
X mad
