Australia’s Lash Queen Comes To British Shores…

Australian make-up artist Helen Dowsley is a world renowned hair and make-up artist whose clients including some of the world’s most famous faces including Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Rihanna, Lily Allen and Lady Sarah Ferguson. Her training as an aesthetician has given Helen a deep understanding of the skin, body and the ingredients used in beauty products, which enables her to achieve flawless looks for her clients.

Having started in the beauty industry at 17-years-old, she was trained by the best and her natural affinity and artistry meant she was quickly recognised for her skills. But it was also her father’s business acumen, and that he encouraged his daughter to explore hers, that helped to really launch the in the industry. “When I was 18 my father said to me to go and find a new product, bring it back and sell it,” Helen says. “I went on a journey throughout the world, found a great piece of equipment and came back and sold it to a huge company. Standing there at 18 years old in front of entire boardroom of men, selling my idea, it worked and funnily enough it is used all around the world to this day with my old sales patter.” The woodslamp that she brought back to Australia is used to show dehydration, sun spots and other conditions of the skin.

Helen’s passion means she loves to find and see new trends, and be at the forefront of it all. In trying to find the best false lashes on the market, she wasn’t perfectly satisfied with any that she found and decided to develop her own ethically sourced ones instead. “I have worked very hard on my products, some would say it wasn’t a smart move as I started this all five years ago before lashes came back in a big way.”

But it wasn’t as quick and simple as she thought. “I could have had them up and going years ago,” Helen says, “but I wanted something from an ethical source. Being a woman and seeing the conditions that some are working in, let alone never having a day off to be with their family, I just couldn’t buy from this kind of company.

“I finally found the people I knew were the ones for me, a husband and wife team. They employ mostly women as it has been proven, educate the woman and that will bring the entire family out of poverty.

Once Helen had perfected her lashes, another trial she had was the packaging. Time after time people would close their door to me, or use my ideas and go and tell the big companies my packaging ideas, “next thing I would see same idea on the shelves in the stores” she says, disheartened by the set-backs. So it was back to her husband and wife team she went as they were the only ones that she trusted to do a thorough job and produce what she needed.

“I now have the most beautiful lashes in the world; light weight, easy to apply but above all you wear my lashes with pride!” Helen says. “My secret to making all my clients look and feel great are my lashes and how I apply them. I am very good at what I do and I love being so involved in my product.”

Helen has also developed an app so that people can ‘try’ her lashes on before they buy to ensure they choose the right one for their eye shape or occasion.”I needed something new to get the attention of the people and that’s when I came up with my lash app,” she says. “I also use the app on my clients. I do their make-up, then take a shot of them and try the lashes to show them what they will look like. They love it! The teens are loving it also. Her app can be downloaded through iTunes.

Helen’s top 3 tips on applying faux lashes

1. Forget the botox parties, it’s lash and champagne parties now. Get your girlfriends round on a Friday night, pour yourself a glass of champagne and let the fun begin. If you have a round eye you can wear my “favourites”. This will give the illusion that your eye is more almond and create that sexy, smouldering eye.

2. Layer for a full-lash effect. technique, apply the individual lashes first, then apply another false lash over the top. The extras you have left, place on the outer bottom lashline to open up the eye.

3. If you have straight lashes, apply the faux lashes underneath your own. This will not only give you the effect that the fake lashes are your real ones but it will lift and curve your own lashes.

If you would like try your own Helen Dowsley lashes, visit her website www.helendowsleylashes.com.au