Last year, the eyelash industry generated roughly $1 billion. Despite the apparent popularity, it is still one of the beauty industry’s best kept secrets — people do not want to divulge about enhancements to their lashes. With “lash boutiques” popping up across the country, T caught up with Lashfully, a start-up lash salon to get under the lid of this latest beauty phenomenon.

“Women have been trying to magnify the look of their eyes with either mascara or eyeliner forever,” says Matana LePlae, the San Francisco-based boutique’s co-founder and owner. “Except I always wanted mine fuller without having to wear make-up. This is taking it to the next level with an effortless bigger looking eye.”

The process is surprisingly (and refreshingly) painless — a lash artist assesses one’s existing lash shape and designs a custom style based on multiple lengths, curvatures and widths. Each lash is applied individually (typically 70 to 100 are added per eye) and first-time visitors should expect the process to take one to two hours. The cost runs from $250 to $275.

“They’re semipermanent and grow out with your natural lashes, which usually takes up to a month,” says LePlae, who was an avid lash extension client of Liv Contreras, a licensed aesthetician who is now business partner.

To maintain those luscious lashes, LePlae recommends a checkup ($45) every two to four weeks. Lashfully also provides simultaneous manicures ($25), eyebrow tinting ($10) and styling ($40), along with custom blended foundations ($120), to provide a full beauty experience.

The idea of ageless beauty without injections, cuts and lifts is exactly what women want right now — a subtle yet noticeable nod to youthful vibrancy. “It all started when I went to visit a girlfriend in Los Angeles and I was mesmerized by how great she looked,” recalls LePlae. “It was that extra something that you can’t quite put your finger on but makes all the difference.”

Lashfully, 1728 Union Street, Suite 107, San Francisco, (415) 673-3240.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/market-watch-lashfully/

 With Prabal Gurung dresses available for order straight off the runway and boarding passes to Tulum downloadable on your iPhone, it's safe to say that time saved, that is—may be the ultimate luxury. The beauty world is speeding up, too: Dozens of smart, slick, thrillingly efficient salons are turning up around the country, taking on chipped polish, split ends, and fried nerves with near-military precision. Looking good, fast, has never been easier.

HIGH-VELOCITY HAIR

At the heart of the fast-beauty movement is the blow-dry bar. With names like Blow (in New York) and Halo (in the Bay Area), they are a highly specialized breed of salon exclusively committed to turning out smooth, bouncy, wind machine- worthy hair on an hourly basis. "I'll drop in for a blowout before an 8:00 A.M. board meeting or an 8:00 P.M. dinner," says Lauren Santo Domingo, founder of the online trunk show Moda Operandi and a regular at the kitschy (yet fashion industry–heavy) Hair and Spa Party 24Hours—an all -night, full-service salon located next door to her offices. "A good blowout makes you feel instantly pulled together. It lasts for two to three days and basically eliminates your daily maintenance factor," says Alli Webb, founder of Los Angeles' Drybar, which—having opened fifteen locations across the country in less than two years—seems to be making a bid for world hair domination. With a new iPhone booking app that takes about 20 seconds to use, and a beauty modest price tag per appointment, it's entirely plausible, she says, that "you might never wash your own hair again." Aestheticians at the company's new Benefit Boutiques which include eighteen outposts from Chicago to San Francisco will wax, tweeze, thread, tint, or simply trim your way to more shapely arches in a promised fifteen minutes.

MAKEUP ON THE GO

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before professional makeup became a staple of the everyday. Step into the West Hollywood makeup lounge Blushington, with its glittering mirrored wall and coral-colored curtains, and you may want to spend the entire afternoon lingering at one of the glamorous, vintage-style vanities. But a quick look at the salon menu reveals that barely any of the individual services from a full face ($35) to an "eyes only" application ($25) runs longer than 30 minutes. It's a similar story at Makeup & Go in nearby Brentwood, where you can request airbrush makeup by body part ($20) or charge someone else with the task of applying your false eyelashes ($18).

SPEED BROWS

"You can get away with a lot if you have good skin and great brows," says the much-photographed New York dermatologist Lisa Airan, M.D., who swears that regular maintenance of her own dark arches means "I don't need much more than concealer, curled lashes, and lipstick" when rushing from a day of seeing patients at her Upper East Side practice to an evening event. The pros at Benefit Cosmetics agree.

BRIGHT SMILES—IN A FLASH

The path to a gleaming smile has been substantially accelerated, too. Manhattan cosmetic dentist Lana Rozenberg, D.D.S., offers a 20-minute in-office Microdentabrasion service that gently polishes away a year's worth of stains in fifteen minutes flat. Dentist Jonathan Levine, D.M.D., created the GLO Brilliant device slim LED-powered whitening trays that hook into a cool iPod–like charger to lighten teeth in three to five days.

SPEEDING UP THE SPA

After relocating from Paris to New York last year, Caudalie founder Mathilde Thomas realized that something very important was missing from the menu at her sprawling vinotherapy spa at The Plaza Hotel. "New York women are always in a rush, including me," says Thomas, who responded by whipping up a series of express treatments designed to pack "a maximum of relaxation into a minimum of time." Each multitasking 50 minute session is a study in sheer efficiency, disguised as the most luxurious lunch hour you've ever taken. Favorites include the Vine Flash (a minifacial, brow shaping, bikini wax, and polish change) and the Vine Reset (a detoxifying body wrap, moisturizing ritual, and scalp massage that miraculously won't muss your hair). Dermalogica has shaved its problemsolving MicroZone treatments from the skin-brightening Flash Exfoliation to the blemish-shrinking Rapid Spot Clearing, available at its concept spaces in Santa Monica and New York down to a mere 20 minutes. Cowshed Spa at the Soho Beach House in Miami Beach and the Cristophe salons in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C., have begun offering condensed 30-minute versions of their traditional treatments, as well. Cristophe's St. Barth's location even offers hair, makeup, and nails via "yacht service" the equivalent of a house call for the timepressed island hopper whose idea of fast beauty means never having to set foot on land. Still, the ultimate time-cheating trick may have more to do with the power of distraction, according to jet-setting jewelry designer Monique Wan. When faced with a last-minute, semi-panicked dash for the door, she reaches for a piece of statement jewelry like her new, bright-blue opalinaand- woolly mammoth tooth drop earrings. That and a swipe of Nars Red Lizard lipstick, she says, "and you're on your way in ten minutes or less."

“Thick” isn’t usually a compliment.

Except when it comes to your lashes. Show your smarts with a set of extensions from new Cow Hollow studio Lashfully.

Co-owner Liv Contreras (an expert with eight-plus years of experience) and her staff choose from 100 extensions in different lengths, thicknesses, and curvatures based on each client’s face, eye shape, and lifestyle. After an hour or two of magic, you’ll have a refreshed, wide-eyed look that lasts from two weeks to a few months (with touch-ups).

The salon also offers steam-free facials (so those babies won’t fall off), brow tints, and makeup application — all in a chic parlor that can be rented for private parties.

What a bright idea.

Lashfully, 1728 Union Street, between Octavia and Gough Streets (415-673-3240 or lashfully.com).

http://dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/94179/Lashfully-Lash-Extensions

"Lashfully, A beauty lounge for eyelash extensions was doing 3-4 day lash application. Being someone who has laughed at women who get lash extensions I was somewhat intrigued. I used to be a dab hand at applying strip lashes back in the 90’s when I was a young ‘it’ girl in London. I was so good I could apply them whilst in the back of a black cab on the way to a club! Unfortunately, they always used to fall off in particularly awkward moments, so I was interested in the new ‘lash technology’ that would prevent this. Again, I fell in love with the results and will definitely be popping in occasionally for special occasion lashes. Just waking up in the morning looking fluttery with perfect 60’s corner lashes is well worth the money! For details go to www.lashfully.com."

Well the folks over at Lashfully had made the process of applying little cluters of lashes as simple and fool-proof as possible. They should know, that is their whole business, lashes! Lashfully specializes in lash extensions, with their signature service called Lash Yourself, which they offer at all of their three locations in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and Los Angeles.

But if you aren’t ready to make that leap, Lashfully has a do it yourself kit for those of us who just want some occasional lash enhancement, called the Lash Appeal Kit. The kit includes salon-quality temporary lash clusters.  The lashes are incredibly gentle, non-toxic, and actually easy to apply at home with the provided tweezers and glue. The set includes a full set of individual eyelash clusters 10mm long, a full set of individual eyelash clusters 12mm long, a pair of flathead tweezer and a tube of temporary eyelash adhesive.

The box they come in have step-by-step instructions printed right on the top. It makes the application foolproof. For those of you who want some more help, they have a youTube video tutorial posted as well. With care, the temporary lashes will last up to five days. I found just a couple clusters on the sides of my lashes added just the right extra volume I wanted, but the beauty of the clusters is your can use as many or as few as you want. I thought the 10mm were perfect for a super natural look and the 12mm for a bit longer, more dramatic look.

If you live in the Bay Area or LA, check out one of the Lashfully boutiques (addresses below), to get more permanent lash extensions or have a professional apply the Lash Appeal lash clusters for you! Email them at appointments@lashfully.com or call to ask any questions or to schedule an appointment.

San Francisco: 1728 Union Street, #107, San Francisco, CA 94123, 415.673.3240
Hours: Monday Closed, Tuesday-Thursday 9:00am-9:00pm, Friday 9:00am-7:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-6:00pm, Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm

Walnut Creek: 1629 Cypress Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, 925.296.0910
Hours: Monday Closed, Tuesday-Friday 11:00am-8:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-6:30pm, Sunday Closed

West Hollywood: 1728 Union Street, #107, San Francisco, CA 941238218 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048, 323.951.9550
Hours: Monday Closed, Tuesday-Friday 10:30am-8:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-6:30pm, Sunday By Appointment Only

• Check your bed: Do you have feathery pillows or a down comforter? If so, you might want to consider switching up your bedding, as the feathers could actually be what's making you bleary-eyed in the morning.
• Don't wash your face in the shower: Sounds strange, right? Instead, Liv recommends that you wash your face with cool water at your bathroom sink to quell the swell.
• Pack it on: Eye masks and cool packs are great ways to provide some relief, all while reducing the puffiness.
• For a DIY option: For another way to take down swelling, Liv suggests applying a cut piece of smooth fruit over your eyes, holding the fruit in place with a facial tissue.

http://www.bellasugar.com/Four-Tips-Banishing-Puffy-Face-Morning-13603033

Courtney - at the new(ish) lovely STRIPT WAX BAR on West 3rd Street.

Have her put her "Lashfully Eyelash Extensions" on you and the lightest, most beautiful, natural, no one would ever know, non-drag queen lashes can be yours.

I have never had such light, clean, non-fake looking extensions, ever. And i've been wearing them since 2007. (yikes). and, so far, over a week in, they have totally lasted, practically every single lash.  But it is how natural they look and feel, that is really the knock out here.  As is COURTNEY - she's amazing, divine, sweet and talented. love her.

While we're on the wax bar itself, let's not forget - they do hardcore lovely waxing.  It's a salon dedicated to the art of waxing. They've been featured on CBS The Doctors, Joan knows Best, On air with Ryan Seacrest; Manny On The Streets, and will be listed in Allure Magazines May 2012 Waxing Directory.

They specialize in men’s and women’s waxing and offer Stript Wax Bar signature Vajacial, Brazilian and custom facials. The Los Angeles location also offers eyelash perms and tints, and South Seas custom full body spray tan. They also host Lashfully Eyelash extensions and Amy Shabani; a Licensed Physical assistant with over 10 years of cosmetic fillers, Botox and Intramuscular vitamin injections experience.

If you've never had extensions - Courtney is the perfect start. I am totally obsessed with her. 

Stript Wax Bar