ESTEVAN - A local eyelash specialist, along with hundreds of other beauty professionals, will partake in an event in an attempt at setting a Guinness world record as the most numerous simultaneous online eyelashes and eyebrows laminated this weekend.
The international event will see potentially a thousand masters participating and live streaming the procedures they will be performing in different parts of the world at the same time.
For Alena Kilasova, who works out of Empire Salon in Estevan, the event will start at 3 a.m. local time on Sunday, which will be noon in Moscow, with the bulk of the participants located in Russia and elsewhere in Europe.
On a signal, participants will start simultaneous lash or brow lamination streamed through Zoom.
"I found it through Instagram … And of course, I couldn't pass it by," Kilasova said with a laugh. "I really enjoy doing lamination. It's not as popular here as lash extension, but it's a big deal in big cities and many other countries. And I wish it was more widespread because I really like doing the procedure and it makes clients look gorgeous."
Kilasova said the organizers will have an MC and some entertainment at the studio in Moscow, where they will be streaming all procedures.
Usually, brow lamination takes about 30 minutes, and lashes require 45-60 minutes, but the event will last for two hours to allow for introduction and wrapping up.
Kilasova will perform eyebrow lamination on her colleague, who agreed to sacrifice her night sleep to help with two potential records, as the participants will be setting a record for Russia as well as a world record. Kilasova also noted that her colleagues were very supportive of her initiative.
The event organizer, Irina Andriyanova of BeautyKey, based in Moscow, said they wanted to do something valuable to attract more attention to the technology.
"We decided to set this record to advance our industry, industry of lash and brow lamination," Andriyanova explained. "Our niche in the beauty industry is really small, and we wanted to popularize the procedure."
The organizers applied to the Guinness World Records office in London back in July, but the approval came only in mid-October. While the original goal was to have 1,000 masters participating, with under two months to put everything together, Andriyanova said they may have fewer people partaking. Nevertheless, they still hope to set the record, as no one before attempted anything like that in their industry and the Guinness committee had to open a new category for them, Andriyanova said.
Once the event is over, BeautyKey will have to provide all the video records and information about the event and participants to the Guinness World Records committee, and in six months they will decide if the record was indeed set.
While setting a record is exciting in itself, Kilasova said that for her the popularization of the lash and brow lamination is important as well. She explained that lamination is a procedure to fixate the lashes and eyebrow hairs. For example, if your lashes are long but straight, lamination can curl them up and make them look like a mascara commercial, she said. It also allows for shaping the eyebrows and making them look fuller.
The lash effect lasts up to a month until all lashes and eyebrow hair naturally shade and get replaced with new ones. The eyebrow lamination usually lasts for four to six weeks.
"There are no artificial lashes or materials involved, it's all natural. And once it's done, it doesn't require any maintenance," Kilasova said.
The solution is also loaded with vitamins and nutrients, which turns the procedure into a hair health treatment, she added.
"We want to see more people joining the industry, both masters and clients. Lamination allows your eyes to look beautiful, and more natural than with extended lashes," explained Andriyanova, who's been into lamination since 2012. "Our mission is to make it more popular and prove that it's safe and beautiful in the hands of a professional."
Andriyanova said they organized big industry-specific events before but never attempted setting records.
"In 2017, we were the first ones in Russia to organize an Eye Design conference and trade show for lash and brow masters in Moscow," Andriyanova recalled. "We had about 600 people participating, and it turned out to be a really beautiful and successful event."
Kilasova also partook in mass offline events and competitions as a participant and even claimed some prizes, but if everything goes by the plan, it will be her first record of any kind, much less one for the Guinness book.
"I don't even know anyone who attempted at setting a Guinness world record, let alone claimed it. Even for mass events. So, despite it being the middle of the night and a crazy busy time ahead of the holidays, I knew right away that I had to partake. I think it's super cool," Kilasova shared.
She hopes to partake in activities of a similar kind in Canada in the future and to see more large-scale events in the beauty industry happening in Saskatchewan and probably even in Estevan.
The registration for the event is still open at record.beautykey.ru.
