Review: OMG Beauty in Bow Wharf - Mink Lashes & HD Brows

Long post!

It took me a long time to realise that you really do get what you pay for. If something seems too good to be true then it probably is. However, this usually isn’t the case when it comes to Groupon. Always on the look out for a bargain, I’ve purchased many a Groupon and I’ve always been pleased. So when a deal came up for HD Brows and Mink Lashes for just £16 (a whopping 81% off!) I was sold.

After a bit of googling I realised that the deal was also available on KGB Deals and Wowcher as well, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised when I called for an appointment and was given a date more than three weeks later! I tried to wait patiently and grow my eyebrows out but I caved and got them threaded – blogged here – and I’m SO glad I did.

When I arrived at Bow Wharf and found the salon I was immediately surprised at how tiny it was. And when I say tiny I mean teeny tiny. My bedroom is probably bigger than the whole salon which is saying something, as my room is by no means big!

Anyway, after a little wait for my appointment I was led into the appointment… area? The even tinier space consisted of a treatment bed and a trolley with a packet of lashes on top – erm, individual mink lashes appointment, who invited the packet lashes?! I’d watched a couple of mink lash videos on youtube, so I was prepared to be in the claustrophobic treatment … area … for the next 90minutes at least. However, in less than 15 minutes I was ‘done’.

The girl had explained (read: lied) that the individual mink lashes didn’t give a very ‘full’ look, so if I wanted I could have a few clusters put in just to fill them out. I’m not a fan of clusters but agreed, as I didn’t want them to look too scarce. I was told not to get them wet at all – because that’s possible! – or use anything oily on my face, which again seemed impossible as my face is like an oil slick!

Next were my eyebrows, she waxed off the bits of growth on my brow bone and my emerging mono-brow with the world’s hottest wax. Honestly, she could have poured boiling water over my whole face and it would have burnt less. I’ve never had any waxing done on my face though, and didn’t want to look like a Moany Mindy – but I obviously am! – so didn’t exclaim, and luckily it was over very quickly.

After the burning wax she applied the tint. Very dark eyebrows look too heavy set on me and so I opted for a dark brown instead of black. She applied it and then asked me where I was heading next. I thought it was a little strange, I mean we’d covered the usual salon small talk – where I live, boyfriend, job, going on holiday this summer? – so I wasn’t sure how to answer. I soon realised that she wasn’t making small talk, she was asking because I was finished and was expected to remove the tint myself. WHAT? How does that make sense? People don’t go to the hairdressers, get the hair dye applied and just go home! My mum had her lashes and eyebrows tinted once when I was really young and she didn’t remove the tints herself. However, I was a tinting virgin and wasn’t sure whether that was normal now so I didn’t object to a bit of forced DIY.

After a multitude of questions from me and some very unclear answers from her, I still wasn’t sure when I should be removing the tint. The girl didn’t even look 20 and seemed so blasé about the whole thing that I felt like I was in very inexperienced hands.

I was told not to wipe it off for 20minutes, which was later changed to ‘no more than 45 minutes’. Worried I’d look like a circus act I wiped it off 10 minutes after I left the salon.

Looking in the car mirror I was immediately aware of how stupid the lashes looked. She’d used about 10 individual lashes on each eye and then tried to fill them out with clusters, they looked awful. Some were really long, others were short and stuck together, then there were the awful few that were piled on top of each other. It looked at if the person applying them had done it with their eyes closed! However, my eyebrows did look thicker and definitely more defined – this was short lived though, as it turned out the tint had transferred onto my skin so when I washed my face the ‘thick’ look disappeared and my old brows were back.

In a desperate attempt to fix the lashes I decided to trim down the really long ones thinking that it would make them look slightly better. Wrong. Even though I’d hardly moved them, some of the glue had loosened and I now had hard gunk around my eyes that looked like sleep! That, coupled with my Liz Earle rash? Attractive.

When I woke up the next morning my eyes were really hurting. Bits of glue were falling into my eyes and scratching them as I blinked, so I had no choice but to remove them. I rubbed an oil-based cleanser over my face and around my eyes, which helped loosen the lashes so I could pull them out.

Enough talking, here’s what they looked like.

Just so you know, this was during the time of my Liz Earle rash so please excuse the rash on my face!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

THREE HOURS AFTER 'TREATMENT':

So would I go back? HECK NO! Not even if they paid me! I wasn’t the only one who didn’t think much of the treatments at OMG Beauty, here are a few screen grabs of what others are saying on QYPE.co.uk

If you’re wondering what proper mink lashes should look like then here it is:

source

All in all, I’ve learnt my lesson and will not be returning.

However, if you fancy your chances at OMG Beauty then they’ve got another Groupon running. Or you can check out their website here.