Many of my friends have heard this story numerous times. I don’t think I mentioned much about feelings I’ve experienced when I was working on this creation though. This story happened sometime ago, in 2008 to be exact, but it still feels like yesterday. There were so much emotions involved at that time and they created the strongest memory. It all started with me seeing an ad in Sephora magazine which I picked up at the store. Make Up For Ever and Sephora together announced a contest - Lash pimpin’. In an instance a thought came to my mind -- I’m going to create and make an amazing eyelash and win this contest. I just finished make-up school - TNT Agency in Chino Hills, California. It’s a great make-up school. I was very excited for my new journey as a make up artist and had so much supplies available to me - feathers, gemstones, rhinestones and more. I started creating right away. I was extremely exited but had no idea how much time this will take and how frustrated I will get creating this seemingly simple thing.
I did not know how to put feathers together into eyelash strip. I knew I had to have a base of some kind that I can work on, and change, and make into something new and different.
I made one. It took me days, actually evenings after work. I did not like it at the end. The more I looked at it, the more I did not like it. It was okay, I thought, but something wasn’t right. I wasn’t inspired by it. I was sad. I spend so much time on this tedious work — cutting these small feathers, gluing rhinestones, thinking and re-thinking design….. and no feelings at the end.
My friend said - “Make another one”. I couldn’t believe it. After all this work…. more work. Okay then, I thought. I took a few days break and decided to make another one. I decided to take a Make Up For Ever eyelash for the base on which I could create a new design of my own. (You can see it on the photo - white long feathers) I took these colorful feathers different in size and started a new creation. I actually created a new set of golden-brown feathers on top of these colorful ones. You can not see it in the photo unfortunately because the eye is open.
Once I glued all those feathers, they became very heavy and very straight without any curve to them. “What’s next?” - I thought. It’s so tiny not one curling iron is going to help. I took a screwdriver, heated it over a gas stove, went over the top of the feathers with a smooth motion like a brush stroke. Magic happened before my eyes -- curly and beautiful. I glued the rhinestones after that. It took me a long time to decide what to do with the bottom lashes. I didn’t want to overdo it and overpower the top lash. I came up with this simple way, just a few cut white strips on the bottom. I liked it. I was inspired this time.
Now I needed a photographer to take the photo of the lash to send to a competition. I knew no photographers at that time. The craft of photography wasn’t even on my radar then.
Passion for photography and long journey in school started a year later. A new hair stylist was just hired in our salon she was modeling on the side too. It didn’t take me too long to ask if she knew any photographers she could recommend. She did. I had a great feeling about this photographer. His name is Perry Gallagher. I called, explained the story, he said yes. Shortly I was on my way to see him after I spend nearly an hour gluing this thing onto my own eye. It was a bit challenging to drive and see with this one big and heavy eyelash on one of my eyes.
It was funny when we met. It didn’t take him long to take a few shots in beautiful natural light. I received the photo and it was on it’s way to the competition.
There was a date by which a person would be notify in the event of winning. I waited for a phone call every single day for about a month I believe. Doubts rushed to my head so many times. I could only imagine how many beautiful photos of lashes would be sent, at the same time thinking about how much I want to win it. I could do nothing else but hope. One morning I received a missed call notification on my phone. I listened to the message and couldn’t believe it was from Sephora corporate from San Francisco. I called and spoke to this lovely girl. She was talking about how much every body loved my eye lash. It steel wasn’t clear to me. The voice message stated you are a potential Grand Prize Winner. I was asking her few questions about how many entrances they’ve received — she said over a thousand. How many jury members? She said 10 choosing one winner. I asked if I was in second place? No, she said. You are the Grand Prize!!! I could not believe it. The smile just lit my whole face, my kind voice could not say “thank you" enough to this girl. She told me about the next steps I would have to take and the adventures began.
The trip to Paris awaited us: meeting a founder of Make Up For Ever — Dany Sanz, a make-up lesson in her studio, thousand dollars in make up from a catalog, and so many more gifts from Dany Sanz at her studio in addition. I was in heaven. What a gift, what an opportunity, what an experience that started from seeing an ad in Sephora to walking the streets of Paris, staying in a Boutique Hotel on Champs-Elysées, visiting Notre Dame, Versailles, The Louvre, Opera Garner, Eiffel Tower, attending a Moulin Rouge performance, eating in beautiful cafes and restaurants. It was truly a Dream. Never give up your Dreams even if they seem impossible to attain. They tend to come true.