How To Slay Lash Extension Mapping
As a lash artist, you will encounter a variety of different eye shapes throughout your career, paired with different personalities, which means varying lash maps! One client with almond eyes may opt for a subtle, Doll Eye lash map of shorter lengths while another wants a mega volume Cat Eye with lots of length. It's your job to determine which map suits their eye shape, their lifestyle, and their desired look. Sometimes, a client with a certain eye shape may request a lash map that isn't ideal for their eyes, so it is up to you as their lash tech to gently suggest other lash maps that will make their eyes look stunning!
Determining Your Client's Eye Shape
The first step to figuring which lash map will fit your client is determining their eye shape! There are six common eye shapes: monolids, round eyes, almond eyes, downturned eyes, upturned eyes, and hooded eyes. It is also possible that a client can have a mixture between two eye shapes, so that's when you can get creative!
Monolids
If your client doesn’t have a crease on their lid, then they are considered to have monolids. This is typically common in individuals of Asian ancestry.
Round Eyes
If your client has a visible crease on their eyelid, and their iris is surrounded by just a bit of white, disconnecting it from the top and bottom eyelid, then they have round-shaped eyes.
Almond Eyes
Your client has an almond eye shape if they have a visible crease on their eyelid and their iris touches both the top and bottom of the eyelid.
Downturned Eyes
Downturned eyes are when the outer corners of the eyes turn downwards in comparison to the rest of the eye.
Upturned Eyes
This is the opposite of downturned; if your client's eyes flick upward on their outer corner, then they have upturned eyes.
Hooded Eyes
Hooded eyes typically occur as we age, since the skin loses elasticity. Your clients have hooded eyes if they have a crease, but it isn’t visible because of their skin.
Choosing a Lash Style
Once you have decided on the eye shape of your client, you can then choose their lash style. There are lots of different lash map styles, but here are three very popular maps that we often do on our clients:
Cat Eye: To create the illusion of wide-set “exotic” eyes, use the longest extensions towards the outside edge of the lash line. Suits: Almond, Close-Set, and Round eyes.
Doll Eye: By using longer lengths throughout the midsection of the lashes, this creates the appearance of large, open eyes. Suits: Almond and Monolid eyes.
Kim K: One of the most popular lash styles. The Kim K lash map involves placing ‘spikes’ (longer lengths) in different sections of the eye to create a minimally wispy set. Suits: Almond and Round Eyes.
At the end of the day, your lash mapping skills will get better with practice, experience, education, and time! If you want to gain more education on lash mapping, or lash extensions in general, check out our lash training courses to help you gain more knowledge and improve your skills.