Aoife Durity Firstly, may I introduce myself. My name is Aoife (pronounced “EEFA”) Durity. As Lash Masters 2 goes to press, I am a 41 years young entrepreneur-in-the-making!
My business is called Ms. DIVA – Master Lash Stylists and it’s a busy, successful Eyelash Extension Academy and Salon in Ireland.
I established it in April 2010 after realizing a life-long dream of working in the beauty industry. A highly skilled Master Lash Stylist, I also train and mentor eager students, thirsty to learn everything that I know. I am also a serious, budding entrepreneur on a mission to explore every aspect of the lash industry.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND An honors graduate of University College Cork, (I achieved a B.A. in Archaeology and Ancient Greek & Roman Civilization in '95), I also always had dreams and aspirations of becoming a free-lance makeup artist. However, in my 20s, I didn't have the courage, 18
know-how or motivation to become my own boss and buried that thought at the back of my head for a while.
During my spell of taking part in excavations the length and breadth of Ireland up to 15 years ago, had anyone told me that I would end up working in a job that didn’t involve being knee-high in mud everyday, I would have thrown down my excavating trowel in complete disbelief!
How life can change! I guess I always had an interest in anything beauty related. From an early age, I remember spending more time than is usually required in front of a mirror carefully applying makeup, especially eye makeup. While most people prefer the natural look, this diva was loading it on till the cows came home! There is no denying how eye makeup has transformed the look of many, be it female or male. It has magical powers that can make one look better or worse, depending on what look one is going for! Actually, humans have been wearing makeup since back in the cave man days of Neanderthals. Archaeologists have found lumps of yellow and red pigments that suggest they were used as cosmetics in that era!!
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CAREER CHANGE
My two handsome sons came along in 2000 and 2001 and I took a career break from Archaeology as I couldn’t see myself juggle two tiny babies, one who has Down Syndrome, and being on call for the next exciting excavation that could have led me to travel anywhere in the country. After four years of being a stay-at-home mom, I decided to help out part-time in my local opticians and ended up a few years later as a full time lab technician grinding and polishing lenses and making glasses. It was there that my work colleagues nicknamed me Ms.DIVA, (I even had a locker with my nickname on it!) as everyday I would turn up to work looking like a wannabe glamour puss with striking eye-makeup! The job involved a great degree of focus, concentration, an eye for detail, precision, accuracy and steady hands, all of which would later come in useful in my career as an eyelash extension technician.
I absolutely loved dealing with the general public when now and again I was asked to man the floor and help customers to choose their glasses frames. I realized I was more a people person and didn't want to be hidden away in a laboratory forever.
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MY DREAM OF OPENING UP MY OWN BUSINESS
The recession began to take hold in 2008 and I watched staff being let go left, right and center in all industries. Spirits were low. Nobody's job was guaranteed. By this stage in my life, I realized that I had become a high achiever, a highly driven, motivated soul. I began to dream of opening up my own business. I toyed with the idea of completing a dispensing opticians degree and of opening up my own opticians but as always the aspiration of becoming a makeup artist kept popping into my head! I realized that my own business had to be something that nobody else had done before to (a) make it stand out and be attractive to my target market and (b) to survive this recession.
MY HOME LIFE
Unfortunately though, life had become tough at home. I found myself in the position of having to deal with my sons’ dad who used threatening, abusive behavior regularly. For a whole decade, I felt I was surviving, just existing, trying to keep things together, but not actually living to my full potential. When you are dealing with violent behavior, you lose sight of yourself. Your self esteem and confidence is greatly compromised, because you are being constantly put down and all of your effort is being put into trying 21
to keep the perpetrator happy and put up a front to the outside world that everything is ok, when it’s not.
In 2010, all that changed! I found it within myself to leave the situation for good!! I fled to a women’s refuge with my sons for a week. It was a secure crisis accommodation for those experiencing domestic abuse. I became extremely focused on moving my life on independently, free from violence once and for all. I was hell bent on starting to do things that made me feel happy at last. While there, I had a vision of finally opening up my own business in the beauty field and making something of myself to feel independent and to repair the self esteem and confidence within myself and also to give my two sons a good life.
However, I am a person who thinks outside of the box. I wanted to try and create something that would excite and attract clients. I wanted to do something a little bit different than the norm. My dream of becoming a makeup artist began to fade, After much brainstorming with myself , I decided that what I wanted to work towards was to open up an exclusive eyelash extension studio, doing nothing but lashes and to create an alluring lash menu.
There was nothing like that in the area where I lived at the time! Just like my experience of being in the woman’s refuge, I wanted it to
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feel like a haven where women could retreat to, to escape the hustle and bustle of the outside world, to forget their worries, feel soothed, get pampered and to leave my salon with a lingering feeling that it was like it was a therapy of sorts.
EYELASH EXTENSIONS
Elaine McParland in Co.Wicklow started me off on my eyelash extension journey in April 2010. While visiting Australia the year previously, she learned the art of applying delicate strands of extensions one to one on each natural lash and was one of the first to bring this exciting new treatment to Ireland. I was intrigued by this treatment and very few beauticians offered this service at the time in Ireland. Elaine is a very inspirational entrepreneur and I feel very honored to have had met her.
I attended a one-day group course with her and for months on end I practiced on willing models on a beauty bed I set up at home. I was still working full-time at the opticians but was starting to struggle with juggling everything now that I had found myself as a single parent. My son who has Down Syndrome also had numerous medical check-ups to attend.
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The answer was to give up the day job and work solely for myself so that I could work clients around hospital appointments etc. But, I had no clients yet!!!
To gain clients, I felt I needed to excel at the extensions fast! There had to be more to the treatment than the basic knowledge that I had mastered. There are so many different natural lashes, eye-shapes, personal preferences for styles out there! I am a very driven person when I want to be.
I practiced on everyone and anyone who would let me! Hungry for more knowledge and styling techniques, I joined numerous online forums and networked with lash artists from around the globe. I wanted no stone to be unturned in exploring everything there was to know at the time about eyelash extensions! My favorite forums were Wakeup in Your Makeup and The Salon Geek.
There, I constantly logged on and absorbed the threads and conversed with numerous amazing lash artists such as Loretta Jasilionyte (Flawless L’Lashes), Louise Prunty (Lash Inc), Claudia King (Blinking Gorgeous), Laura Grant (Oohlalashes), Francesca Middleton (LASH by Francesca), Teresa Smith (of The Lash Bible) and many others from around the globe. We were all in the same
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boat. We wanted to be the best that we could be and to provide and outstanding service.
I bought books on the subject from Louise and Teresa, traveled to London for Master Lash Training with Francesca, spent hours online chatting with Loretta, Claudia and Laura swapping tips and generally supporting and inspiring each other.
MAKING THE LEAP In April 2010, my business "Ms.DIVA - Master Lash Stylists" was born. I created a logo that represents my style, a glamorous, curly haired girl who loves wearing corsets! I began to market the business on Facebook and styled clients from home after finishing a day’s work in the opticians. With a friend and very talented web designer Martin Harris, I poured my heart and soul into creating an attractive and informative website www.msdiva.ie.
My lash menu had to stand out! I set my prices high and refused to cheapen my service by offering discounts. I wanted to attract clients who were willing to pay more for a job that was guaranteed to be of high standards. I set myself apart from the few others who were offering the treatment at the time by posting up Before and After photos of work which I did on actual clients and refused to use stock photos of lashes that you’d find on Google Images. 25
I wanted to be truthful and honest to my clients that this was my actual work so that they’d know what to expect! Together with my son, Bradley, we came up with alluring names for the different lash styles on my menu.
BUILDING UP MY CLIENT BASE
Within a short space of time, my client base went from one client who was willing to part with her cash for me to carefully adorn her lashline, to a high number solely through word of mouth and my presence on Facebook!
My first actual paying client, Lisa, emailed me from Dubai and said she had found me on Facebook. She was flying home shortly to visit her mom and wanted to treat herself to my luxurious treatment! The next day after I styled her, her mom booked in!
I can honestly say that through word of mouth primarily, that I have now built up my client base. I knew that I had to move my beauty bed out of my house and into a rented business premises when clients started travelling to me from over 2 hours away!
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I wanted Ms.DIVA Lash Studio to look as professional as possible and it wasn’t possible to do that at home for me as my boys were still small and needed caring for especially my son Cole who has Down Syndrome. I employed a live in au pair, handed in my notice at the opticians and made myself available from 9am-9pm, 6 days a week for my lash clients.
I wanted to put my all into it in the first year of my business and then to set my diary to 8 hour days in the second year and to take on an assistant. The reason I named my business “Ms.DIVA – Master Lash Stylists” (plural) and not “Master Lash Stylist” (singular) is because I had a vision from the very beginning that I would train a number of stylists and have an umbrella of technicians working under my name in various locations around Ireland.
MOVING THE BUSINESS OUT OF HOME
A calming holistic centre was the first location for my salon. I rented a small room and styled it to emulate a luxurious leopard print and gold adorned French Style Boudoir, where clients lie down on extremely comfortable beauty beds for the duration and drift off asleep while listening to relaxing, soothing music.
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Many comment how therapeutic and good for the soul the treatment is! It suits women of all ages and creates an eye lift of sorts! Many clients feel that they are a prettier version of themselves, more confident and more relaxed after their session. They liken us stylists to counselors at times and offload their worries at times to us and overall feel it's not only good for their sense of style but also for their wellbeing that they continue to book in every three weeks.
I have made many solid friends through my clients who I look forward to seeing every 3 weeks. A special thanks to Siobhan, Janice, Kim, Elaine, Yvonne, Martina, Katie, Helena, Donna, Amy, Gillian, Louise, Jennifer, Susan, Chloe, Sarah, Sead, Criona, Annette, Annemarie, and too many others to mention who have been with me from the very beginning and are still willing to be styled by me, five years on.
Thank you for always believing in me and on the flip side parting with your cash to help pay the rent! ha ha!! ď Š xxx
WHAT I HAVE GROWN MY BUSINESS INTO
Five years on, I employ two staff, have moved to a slightly bigger treatment room and am now making plans to open up the first ever 28
exclusive Lash Spa in Ireland! (unless someone else reads this and does it first! ha ha!) I am proud to have had launched an Eyelash Extension Academy. Students travel from nationwide to me (I offer 1:1 mentoring courses and also group courses in Foundation, Master Level, Improvement Courses and Russian Volume). I started to get enquiries from students abroad who have heard of my name, which was very exciting indeed! My first international training took place in Miami, USA.
A few of my students have opened up their own busy Lash Studios, thus slowly but surely making eyelash extensions a more available treatment to get. It makes me shed tears of joy to know that my training has helped others to make a decent wage for themselves. My courses are not one-day only. I liken myself as being a mentor and offer continuous support to my students.
I have a very passionate objective of supporting other lash artists, even those who haven’t been trained by me, and I feel very strongly about networking and co-operating with each other to keep the standard of eyelash extensions at its highest level. On Facebook, I have created a secret lash group called “Connecting Irish Lash Artists” where members can feel like they are part of a supportive online lash community.
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More often than not, we have a laugh on it. Two of my students Ruth and Vicki have the most wicked sense of humor and keep us all entertained on it! I know what it’s like to feel like a person who is at their lowest ebb, who wants to make their way in life. I am thankful to have met so many wonderful colleagues and have very supportive family and friends in my life to have helped me to accomplish my dreams so far.
My beautiful, strong mommy Anne and sister Natasha have been my rock throughout it all! I just want to do the same for others and to empower and inspire other women. I consider myself to be a very approachable, generous, sharing, caring person and welcome any email, text, Facebook Message , Viber or phone call from anyone in the world who wants to reach out to me to help me with a lash problem or query that they are struggling with.
The key is to surround yourself with other positive people in your life and to let go of anyone who wants to keep you down and who you feel is strangling your dreams. If you are dealt with something bad in life, it’s the way that you pick yourself back up that matters! Try not to crawl into a hole and hide away because it will become increasingly difficult to climb back out of it as the time goes on.
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Try and build your strength up and be brave and make the leap of faith to achieve whatever you want to in life. Be brave! Enjoy life’s journey. It doesn’t really matter whether you actually succeed or fail in whatever you are trying to accomplish once the adventurous journey that you are on RIGHT NOW feels right in your gut and that what you are doing makes you feel whole, fulfilled and happy. Don’t just exist from day to day. The world is your oyster. Never let go of your dreams. Feel alive and live!
MY FUTURE GOALS
I am currently about to open up an exclusive Lash Spa in my home town in Cork and am also in the process of working towards opening other branches and placing my best students there.
I am currently working on creating my own-brand products to sell on to my students and clients, having started off the line at launching “Ms.DIVA’s Super Sonic Glue” just recently and am actively partaking in other projects like being filmed for an Eyelash Extension DVD in Glasgow and writing a few books.
I have a strong objective of supporting other lash artists and feel very strongly about networking and co-operating with each other in order to keep the standards of eyelash extensions at their highest! 31
I approached the inspiring entrepreneur Louise Prunty, and asked if I could run an Irish version of a magazine which she created.
She has a successful Magazine “Lash Inc” totally dedicated to the eyelash industry which is distributed worldwide. Lash Inc Ireland is my chance to give this industry in Ireland the boost that it deserves now that there are many, many extremely talented lash artists here!
I constantly have other business ideas that are whirring around in my head and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a really cool idea that I have to write down straight away in order for me to go back to sleep.
I can safely say that I am married to my lash career!!! I think that my ultimate goal would be to own a branch of Ms.DIVA – Master Lash Stylists, in a warm, sunny country and to train students and style clients there seasonally, but not so many that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy balming out on a relaxed tropical beach! I am mixed race Irish/Caribbean. My handsome late daddy was from Trinidad in the West Indies. Perhaps that’s where I will end up opening up my international headquarters one day and bringing my mommy and sons there on adventurous holidays! Wouldn’t that be bliss
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