Review : Eyelash Extension at Tokyo Belle Surabaya (SPONSORED)

Hey everybody :D!

So, most of you who're following my Instagram (it's @Mgirl83 , in case you haven't!) should already know that i went to have eyelash extensions with Tokyo Belle a while ago ^^!

Coz who wouldn't want luscious, lush eyelashes like this, right?

You might also already know that i am quite nervous because i always worry about having anything done around my eyes >.<. But Hiro San (one of the owners of Tokyo Belle) encouraged me to try it out and assured me nothing bad's gonna happen (like my own lashes falling out and i am left with bald eyelashes T.T) so i decided OK LAH! Let's do it!!! *LOL*.

I went for my appointment on August 18th :

Tokyo Belle Surabaya
Galaxy Mall 2nd Floor (no. 230)
Jl. Dharmahusada Indah Timur 35-37 Surabaya 60115
031-5937238

I purposefully made my appointment at the same time as Sabsab because having a friend to go to any event/treatment is better than being alone (for me lah, i guess i have a fear of going solo for these kind of stuffs haha) so we could help each other out to take a pic.

Hiro San already kindly made reservations for us so we were welcomed warmly by their staffs upon arrival, they also already knew what we're there for (nothing beats the awkwardness of having to explain who we are to clueless staffs >.<, especially because not everybody knows what bloggers are yet!).

Since it was our first time getting any treatment there, we were asked to fill in some forms :

Sabsab's filling a different form because she was there for IPL treatment

And this is the kind of form i had to fill in

Tokyo Belle has four different types of eyelash extensions to choose from :

Me listening to Tokyo Belle staffs' explanations regarding the types of eyelash extensions, or rather... pretending to hahaha. I was really listening lah, but then Sabsab made the staff repeat herself because she wanted to snap this pic!

For clearer explanation of the types, pic taken from Tokyo Belle's Facebook Page

I don't think the Natural DX's available in Surabaya branch though. But i digress. I guess if you're a loyal reader of this blog, then it's easy to guess which type i went for? Obviously the cute type la hahaha. It is said to give a bigger, dollier effect on your eyes, and i am all for that direction la hahaha.

Eh. Mirror selfie with Sabsab while waiting for the staffs to prepare our treatments. I look like i just woke up and threw in the first thing i saw (actually it's a carefully thosen attire though, i wanted to be comfortable and i knew i shouldn't wear skirts for treatments la hahahaha) and in dire need for a fringe trim (i still do)

Before we go in, let me show you the condition of my natural eyelashes first (because the thickness of your natural eyelashes determined the end result of eyelash extensions!).

Eh yeah. I should say the lack of natural lashes i guess *LOL*. They're barely visible even from a short distance without tonnes of mascara on zzz

As you can see here, i don't have THAT much of them. They're actually quite long for a Chinese girl, but very thin

And they're very straight. Why my naturally thick brow looks bald from this angle, i dunno

Ohai!

Tokyo Belle only uses the best quality mink lashes for their extension, this is J5 type

And i think they used this one for my lashes because i asked for the Cute extension

LOL

The beautician preparing stuffs needed for the extension

Choo. Yeah, i was bored *LOL*

The first step after they made sure you're comfortable (you NEED to be comfortable because you'd be lying down for approximately 2 hours for the procedure!) and warm (the air conditioner in their Galaxy Mall salon is no joke, i tell you. So COOOLD *LOL*), is applying some scotch tape under your eyes to make sure no glue would be in contact with your skin.

Ready!

So... After that first step, i don't actually have that many pics of the procedure *LOLOLOL*. I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time okay! I did try to snap some pic blindly, but when i went through them i realized i was aiming too high and only caught the beautician's forehead!!! There's nothing much to see anyway. 

They would apply some special glue to your lashes. I did not realize this beforehand, but i turn out to have very sensitive eyes. The more i think about it, the more it makes sense. My eyes are very watery, there are days when i can't even apply cat-winged eyeliner because the corner of my eyes would always leak and cut the wing off-it'd be VERY red and raw at the end of the day. I also have allergies-which makes the watery eye situation worsened, i would be sneezing and crying at the slightest presence of dust. I also cannot wear false eyelashes for too long period of time because it'd hurt my eyes and they'd become very red afterwards.

Silly me didn't even think of these symptoms beforehand zzzz. Long story short, since my eyes are so sensitive, the extension's glue's fumes stings my eyes and i teared quite a few times during the procedure.

This is the beautician... drying the glue, i suppose?

Then she began attaching the lashes one by one to my natural lashes.

Sorry, this is the best shot i got. LOL.

No glue touches my skin, they left a 2mm gap between my lid and the extension to make sure there's no direct contact between my skin and the glue. Since they attach the lashes ONE BY ONE on each strand of natural lashes, it took around 2.5 hours to be done. If you're the type that can go to sleep easily, good for you! Just relax and sleep! As for me, i am a very antsy kind of person and i find it really hard to relax so i was in my happy place (day dreaming la hahaha) while listening to the J-Pop they played in the salon. I drifted off a bit and was able to caught some snooze eventually, but not for too long.

After the beautician's done with one eye, i asked her to snap a pic so you can see the difference!

Immediately blacker, thicker and longer with beautiful curls without being over the top!

Then she proceed with the other eye. FYI, eyelash extension should be totally pain free and i definitely was not in any pain during the process-however, since i do have very sensitive eyes, i did teared quite a bit a few times like i already mentioned. When the beautician pry off some of the lashes that got caught with the scotch tape, that also hurt a bit >.<, but in general it should be fine.

The final touches while she's drying off the glues

When the beautician's done, she asked me to open my eyes carefully and asked if there's any stickiness left. I did feel some stickiness on my right eyes and she clean them off immediately. She then gave me a mirror to see the result, which i LOVE!

Here it is, with the before pic to compare!

Ta dahhh. I personally think my lashes look very different (a lot prettier!) even from a distance!

A closer look. I love it so much T.T, my eyes look so much dollier and cuter with the extra lashes T.T

Since my natural lashes are very thin and they would only attach one mink eyelash on each eyelash, i ended up with this result (not very thick but totally noticeable), if you have more lashes than me then you'd ended up with thicker result as well

Quite impressive, huh? One of the concerns that i have for eyelash extension was that i was afraid that my lashes would feel heavy and weird like when i wear falsies. But i shouldn't have to worry! These top notch mink lashes are super light weight and soft that i did not feel like anything was attached, it felt just like before it was attached!

I am super in love with the result and i kept on looking at my own eyes in the mirror *LOL*. I also became very lazy and stopped wearing any eye makeup (except lining my waterline) because i feel like there's no need to! My eyes already look so pretty without any makeup on!

I can even wear non-enlarging contact lenses and don't feel weird or naked! I definitely love the way they make my eyelash line dark so my eyes appear awake and dolly without having to apply any eyeliner. You can still use non-waterproof eyeliner if you want (i don't feel the need to) and even non-waterproof mascara (but why???? You really wouldn't need them anymore and it'd be hard to clean!)

Doesn't look like falsies right? More like... My natural lashes suddenly got darker and longer!

I was over the moon with the result! However (this pains me to write *sigh*), eyelash extension doesn't seem to love me back :(.....

Eyelash extension should last 2-3 weeks (even a month, for some lucky people), but i guess the result would not be as good for very watery (i do cry a lot, intentionally or not *LOL*. I mean, i cry watching movies/reality show, then i cry when i yawn-which is every night, in multiple times), sensitive eyes. I am also a contact lens wearer, and i need to use eye drops to keep my eyes from being dry so contacts with water is totally inevitable for me.

I actually asked Tokyo Belle's staffs (and Hiro San, for that matter) if the eyelash extension should never be in contact with water (because i heard from people that they should stay dry at all time, which is pretty impossible for me. How does one wash their hair then???), they said it's not a problem as long as i don't touch them while it's wet. Just let the water runs through them, then it should be fine. They even said that you can swim (!!!) while it's on. I guess i forgot to ask if SWEAT is a different matter altogether because i do yoga twice a week and the extension would definitely get in contact with sweat.

I don't know exactly what happened, but on the 5th day, i cried a lot watching Inside Out. It was still fine (although i must say, having eyelash extension makes my eyes very uncomfortable when it's wet, like slightly stings-i wonder if that's because of the glue and my eyes are sensitive to it?), but when i got home they started to itch very badly. I did everything i can not to touch the eyelashes and just wipe the sides and under my eyes to ease the itch but the next day... They started to fall off!

This was taken on the 5th day, right before we watched Inside Out. They were still totally perfect and not a single lash fell off beforehand

I asked my friends and my cousin L, who did eyelash extensions before, if it's normal? L told me, if it's almost a week, one of two fall off is normal. I was like "But it's more like 5!". And ever since, more and more extension fell off :( (they fell off like crazy after yoga classes).

I couldn't help but wonder if i did something wrong (Hiro San said this never happened before to his clients, so i am definitely a special case >.<), but i definitely try to follow whatever direction that i got (not that i get plenty. I have a suggestion for Tokyo Belle, how about printing a do and don't list for first time clients to follow as a guide? Because the beautician also didn't say anything to me, i was left to fend for myself *LOL* and had to ask Hiro San on what i shouldn't do. I don't know if it's their normal procedure to their clients or because i am a blogger and she assumed i should already know what to do). I don't rub my eyes (when i'm conscious, i realize i did almost rub them in my sleep but i jerked awake immediately), i don't touch them when i wash my eyes, and i don't even use eye makeups (partly because i don't feel the need to, also because i was afraid of cleaning the area and cause a fall off!).

In the end, i am left with... Probably 50-60% of the extension after a week *LOL*. Please note that i googled other bloggers' review and all of their extensions last longer than me (for the best success story, check out Tia's review ) and the lashes has stopped falling off on me now (sigh), but since so much has fall off, my eyelash extension's now very thin and barely visible :(. I'm guessing they would be gone in a week or so. I seriously have no idea why this happened, but Shelley had an IPL today and she mentioned about my extension falling off to the beautician, to which she replied that the fact that i teared during the treatment might contribute to the fact that they fall off so much faster than they actually should. I just wished that she would mention this when i was there so i would be prepared for it? I mean, that means she already suspect that something like this might happen, maybe it's better if they let the client be aware of this.

Anyway, since Tokyo Belle Surabaya has a free retouch before one week policy, if you're a paying customer and this happened to you (let me remind you that this is extremely rare, judging from the glowing reviews they got, just type the words "Tokyo Belle eyeslash extension" to read the numerous reviews available), you don't even have to worry *LOL*. As soon as they start to fall off (in my case, the 5th-6th day), go back to Tokyo Belle immediately and they should be able to fix it. I, however, is sponsored and i don't think it's appropriate to barge in on them and demand a retouch *LOL*. I am feeling quite guilty as it is, i cannot stop wondering if i did something wrong that causes this to happen :(. But if it's water then there's nothing i can do about it, not like i want my eyes to be watery in the first place, right?

And i can also safely say that eyelash extension (at least if done in Tokyo Belle. I've never had eyelash extension prior from this so i cannot make any comparison) DOES NOT hurt my natural lashes. All the extension fell off by itself and my own lashes are intact. Oh, you should also know that your own lashes do fall off regularly? They have their own life span too you know, so when a few of your own lashes fall off with the extension, it's actually normal too (but it's definitely not normal if they all fall off okay!).

In the end of the day, i guess eyelash extension is not really for everybody. If you have very sensitive eyes like me (look out for the symptoms that i mentioned earlier), have high contact with water and not very patient at all, maybe you should stick to mascara and falsies *LOL*. But for everybody else, it's definitely a great choice for a bolder, fluttery, beautiful lashes! I personally am not turned off by eyelash extension *LOL*, i would highly consider getting another one on before traveling so i can just wake up with dolly eyes! Save a lot of time in the morning!

Thank you to Tokyo Belle for the experience (and especially for Hiro San, of course! I hope the sun burn's better now!) and giving me a chance to have beautiful eyelashes even though i wish it'd stay longer than it did!

Follow Tokyo Belle's social medias for events, promos and other updates! Look out for promos because they have awesome promos (like the IDR 500.000 for 1 year of under arm IPL, can't beat that!)!

Tokyo Belle

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Thick, luscious lashes... I miss you already

#Pink