Get Your Glue to Work With You

Eyelash glue is the lifeblood of your work. This carbon black liquid can perform magic and transform the everyday look into a stunning, bold and eye-catching one. Lash glue is important because if you're unsure of how to use it or work with its speed, it can cause many issues from retention to stickies and ultimately, harm the client's natural lashes.

There are a few things you can do to make working with lash adhesives a bit easier and to make sure your client's lash extension retention is long lasting. Some of these may seem fairly obvious but trust us, a lot Lash Techs tend to overlook the smallest details.

Shelf Life

This one may seem like every Lash Artist should know about expiration dates, after all, every beauty product has one, but it is super easy to forget when you purchased a pack of glues or to find that pesky date on your small glue bottle. At London Lash our Lash Glue has a shelf life of 6 months from the date of production - you can find this date on the bottom of the bottle. For the best client lash retention it is best to use your glue within those 6 months, if unopened you can store the lash glue in a fridge.

Once you have ordered some fresh London Lash glues you have plenty of time to get the most out of them. We package our glues well so you can rest assured knowing that your glue will arrive to you without coming into contact with moisture in a temperature controlled package. Once your glue reaches you, how can you ensure it stays perfect?

• After you have opened your lash adhesive, it has a shelf life of up to 2 months. If you don't keep track of this, it can be difficult to remember when you opened your glue and suddenly you're in the middle of a eyelash extension treatment and your last glue is suddenly difficult to work with. With a small piece of tape you can easily write down the date you opened your glue and when to use it by, stick the tape on your glue and you have a little reminder of when you should move on to another glue.
• We do not advise clients to bulk buy on glue products. Sure, you can take a look at our products which do not expire, like Lash Extensions of course, but with lash glue it is a different story. If it takes you a long time to get through a single bottle of lash glue and you've bulk bought three or four bottles, it's not hard to believe that by the time you reach the last one or two bottles they may have expired from the date of their production. Ultimately, that leaves you out of pocket with your lash extension products and you have to purchase new, fresh glue. We are transparent with our customers and want you to make the best choices for your business, so we advise you to purchase only as much lash glue as you need.

Room Conditions

Summer time, a Lash Tech's nemesis. It's the time of year when most Lash Artists hope it ends the quickest. For most it's also the busiest time of year, vacations, beach days, barbecues, lash extension clients want to show off a bold look and suddenly you're swamped with bookings. But while you're working hard, your glue is working hard against you. Why is this? 

Room conditions are very important for eyelash adhesive. It's one of the biggest factors that can affect the quality and behaviour of lash glue. Fluctuating temperature and humidity can be the difference between a great eyelash set, and the lash set which makes a client never want to come back.

Temperature is arguably the more noticeable factor here - in other words, we’re more likely to notice if the temperature changes by two degrees than if the humidity changes by 5%. What is our natural reaction when the temperature increases? Cool it down. Cooling your space down is all so well and good, but it often has a knock-on effect on the humidity levels in your room - opening a window to let in a breeze is likely to increase humidity and speed your glue up, while putting on the air-conditioning will suck the moisture out of the air, and make your glue slow down. Similarly, in the winter, putting your radiator on will dry out the air.

Temperature is arguably the more noticeable factor - we're more likely to feel a warmer environment if the temperature changes by few degrees, but humidity is harder to notice. If the temperature increases, we tend to cool it down. Cooling your workspace down is all well and good, but it has a knock-on effect on the humidity levels - opening a window for a cool breeze is likely going to increase the level of humidity, and this will speed up the drying time of your lash glue. If you turn on the air conditioner it may suck out all the moisture from the air, this will make your glue drying time slow down. Using a Digital Hygrometer you can monitor your working conditions to find the levels suitable for your lash glue. To see the best working conditions for our Lash Glue range, take a look at our Glue Chart.

TOP TIPS - How to Increase Humidity!

• Place a damp towel over a radiator.
• Get a humidifier - but keep away from immediate range of your lash glue.
• Add some little droplets of water along an Eyepatch using a Microfibre Brush.
• Brush on Primer in sections as you work to keep the lashes moistened. 

Keep it Clean!

Shaking your glue can be a messy process. Shaking glue by hand can take up to one minute as advised, this is so that your glue ingredients are all incorporated and working perfectly. If you do not use Biodegradable Glue Nozzle Wipes to make sure there isn't any glue around the nozzle after shaking, it can clog up and dry out, blocking your bottle. This can be very frustrating.

A quick fix to glue shaking problems is to use a Glue Shaker, this little and stylish devise will not only reduce shaking time, so you can spend time lashing your client for longer, but also it will keep your glue bottle clean. The centrifugal force of the Glue Shaker means the glue is being mixed in one direction, away from the glue nozzle. 

To dispense your glue, simply follow these steps.

• Don’t squeeze. Tip the glue and let gravity do the work - it might feel like it takes a bit longer, but less air will be sucked into the nozzle, which means less air has to exit the nozzle and causing a splatter.
• Give her a little tap on the bottom. Before you pop the lid back on after dispensing the glue, give the bottle a little tap on your trolley to encourage any air to come out. Wipe away using a Nozzle Wipe and place your lid back on.
• Have some back up Rescue Kits - despite your best efforts, sometimes the nozzle and the lid just want to be stick together forever. Having some spares in your kit will save you time and effort.

Storage

Storing your glue is very important. If you follow all of the above steps, but then store your glue incorrectly, you may as well just throw your glue in the trash. We have developed our handy Airtight Glue Container which fits up to six London Lash glues so that you never go out of fresh adhesive. We have a fully dedicated blog detailing the benefits of our glue container and perfect storage, which you can read here.

Glue should always be kept:

• Upright.
• Somewhere cool and dry.
• Away from sources of heat.
• Away from direct sunlight.

You should never keep an opened glue in the fridge. While we advise keeping unopened glue in the fridge, an opened glue will have been in contact with the air, some air may still be inside the glue bottle (that's normal) but if it has a sudden drop in temperature after being kept in a fridge, the air can cause condensation and liquid lash glue coming into contact with moisture / water will cause shock polymerisation, your glue will cure inside the bottle.