Beyond The Tweezers
A podcast for lash and beauty artists who want more than just technique.
This is about the artist beyond the skill - the business moves, the real stories, the lessons you don’t see on Instagram.
Ever wondered what the artists you admire are really like behind the polished posts? This podcast pulls back the curtain with honest, unfiltered conversations.
Expect industry insights, mentorship moments, a little bit of gossip, and fly on the wall chats from inside the room - through solo episodes that go deep and in person interviews you can also watch on video.
Beyond The Tweezers
Lash Competitions Changed My Life
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Lash competitions didn't change my life because of the trophies.
They changed my life because they gave me visibility.
Main Sponsor: This Episode is Sponsored by London Lash, the go to brand for professional lash products, education, and tools designed to help artists achieve consistent, long-lasting results.
Enjoy an exclusive listener discount on your next order: 20% off with code KARIS20 T&Cs apply.
Shop London Lash: https://londonlashpro.com/?utm_source=podcastsponsorship&utm_medium=videos&utm_campaign=behindthetweezers&utm_content=episode16
Episode Sponsors: This Episode is Sponsored By Lash Oasis. want to try their new Hybrid Korean Lash Lift system? Use code: KARIS10 on your first order!
Shop Lash Oasis: https://lashoasis.co.uk/
In this episode, I'm sharing how entering my very first lash competition completely changed the direction of my career. Growing up and running my business from a tiny village in Essex, I genuinely believed nobody would ever know who I was. Competitions gave me the confidence, feedback and opportunities that helped me build a reputation, become fully booked and eventually create the career I have today.
In this episode we talk about:
✨ Why visibility matters more than awards
✨ The feedback that transformed my lash work forever
✨ How competitions helped me build my reputation
✨ Why you have to get comfortable with losing
✨ How to choose competitions that are actually worth entering
✨ Why I'm stepping back into the competition arena this year
If you've ever wondered whether competitions are worth entering, or you've been waiting for the confidence to put yourself out there, I hope this episode gives you the push you need.
Main Sponsor: This Episode is Sponsored by London Lash, the go to brand for professional lash products, education, and tools designed to help artists achieve consistent, long-lasting results.
Enjoy an exclusive listener discount on your next order: 20% off with code KARIS20 T&Cs apply.
Shop London Lash: https://londonlashpro.com/?utm_source=podcastsponsorship&utm_medium=videos&utm_campaign=behindthetweezers&utm_content=episode16
Episode Sponsors: This Episode is Sponsored By Lash Oasis. want to try their new Hybrid Korean Lash Lift system? Use code: KARIS10 on your first order!
Shop Lash Oasis: https://lashoasis.co.uk/
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What changed my life was visibility. I booked this competition with no clue of what I was getting into. It was exciting but also terrifying. The feedback is worth more than the trophy. People started to know my name. You have to get comfortable with losing. This episode of Beyond the Tweezers is brought to you by London Lash, a brand that I've trusted and used throughout my entire journey as a lash artist and trainer, and one you'll always find in my lash room every single day. Hello and welcome back to Beyond the Tweezers. If you are new here, my name is Karis Warren and I am the um I am a lash artist and trainer in Essex, and I've created this podcast to help you feel less alone, mentor and guide you through solo and guest episodes, and I wanted to give the industry the conversations I wish I had at the very beginning of my career. So don't forget to press the like, follow, subscribe, or whatever button is in front of you so you never miss an episode. In today's episode, I'm talking all about the competition world. So when I look back on my career, I generally don't think I'd be where I am today if I never entered a lash competition. And to be honest, that's a big statement because if you asked most people what competitions gave me, they probably say trophies, the awards, the titles. But honestly, that isn't what changed my life. What changed my life was visibility. Competitions gave me a way to get my name out there when I felt like nobody knew who I was. Now, if you've listened to my episode about my journey, you already know this. But I grew up in a really tiny village called Tillingham in Essex. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. One road in, one road out, no train station, a bus every few hours, if you were lucky. I don't even know if they even have buses at all now. But I was very isolated in this village. I loved it, don't get me wrong. But when you're trying to build a beauty business and get your name out there, it was very hard to do so when you live in the middle of nowhere. And I always used to sit there thinking, how is anyone gonna know Karis Warren when I am working from home? At the time I was around 20 years old and I was working from my mum's house. Literally, you'd walk through the door, turn right, and my beauty room was there. It was so it was a very small room. I had my bed, my trolley, a mirror, a couple of shelves, and that was it. And to be honest, it was perfect for what I needed it for. And although I absolutely loved lashes, I remember constantly thinking, how is anyone gonna know who I am? I wasn't in London, I wasn't surrounded by other artists, I wasn't attending events every weekend, I was in Tillingham, I was in a really small village. So when competitions first got mentioned to me, I had absolutely no idea that they even existed. So when I first heard about it, I was on a mega volume course, and we were all sitting around the table, and one of the girls was asking the educator for feedback about this competition that she had entered into, and I was sitting there thinking, competition? What do you mean competitions? I've never heard anyone talk about it, but when I actually think back, I was solely on my own at home working from that small room at my mum's. I didn't really have many lash friends, I wasn't connecting with anyone online, so competitions were just no idea anything about them. So she was asking the educator for feedback, and the educator was like, Oh, it's because you've got a close fan there, because you need to your symmetry is a little bit wrong, and I was like, Oh my god, this competition world sounds exciting, it sounds interesting. Like, I wanted to know more about it, and that's when I started sort of researching competitions around my area. I left that course so interested, but I didn't really think much more about it at the time. It was only when I submitted my case studies and when I got the feedback back, one of the educators said something that stuck with me. She said, Your work is really good. You should really consider thinking about entering into competitions. Now that was the second time someone had mentioned competitions to me, and I remember thinking, maybe there's something in this, maybe I should have a look. So that's when I started researching, and I found a live competitions at Olympia Beauty in London. I'm not sure if they do it anymore, but I don't know if it was like their second edition. And the funny thing is, is I actually booked my first competitions while me and Jack were in Thailand. I can't remember if we were travelling there or travelling home, but I remember standing in a queue looking at my phone and saying, I think I'm going to do this. And Jack being Jack was just like, Go on then, book it, why not? And I think when you're on holiday as well, you have so much time to think about things that you'd like to do, and you almost get like this courage when you're on holiday because you're all relaxed and you're like, Yeah, go on then, I'm gonna do that. To be honest, I booked this competition with no clue of what I was getting into. My first competition was gonna be live, it wasn't online. I don't even think I found any that was online. I think all I did was Google Lash Competitions London, and this was the first one that came up, and I was like, right, I'm gonna do that. But live and online competitions are just completely different. So I went into it completely blind, not knowing what to expect, what it was what was it was gonna be like. I didn't have any friends who were doing competitions in the industry. I didn't know anyone, so yeah, it was exciting but also terrifying. Fast forward a few months and it was competition day, and my sister was my model. I was absolutely stressed, I was overthinking everything, questioning everything, and looking back now, I probably made myself more nervous than I even needed to be, but then something happened I never expected. I came second, and honestly, I couldn't believe it because although I worked hard, I was also incredibly hard on myself, and I would pick every tiny deep little detail, every fan, placement, attachment. Nothing ever felt good enough at that time for me. So to suddenly to have my work judged and for them to give me an award, that really meant something to me. It gave me confidence, and more importantly, it made me want to improve even more. The competition door opened and I was fully submerging myself into every single competition that was out there. A lot of lash artists blame their glue when they're struggling with retention. But actually, a lot of the time it's down to technique, attachment, or simply using an adhesive that doesn't suit your room environment. Every adhesive works best within a certain temperature and humidity ranges, which is why understanding your room conditions is so important. That's where London Lash can help. They offer a wide range of adhesive designed for different room environments, lashing speeds, making it easier to find one that's suited to you. So if you're struggling with retention, it might be worth taking a closer look at whether your current adhesive is the right fit for your setup. You can shop London Lash Adhesive Range and save using my code Caris20. I'll leave all the details in the episode description. Now, let's get back into the episode. I discovered online competitions, international, UK, global, and I just went for it. I entered every single one that I could, not because I was obsessed with winning, but because I was obsessed with learning and bettering myself. And there was one person who really inspired me, and that was Anastasia from London Lash. Throughout my whole journey, I remember watching her win competitions after competition, traveling, speaking, building her name in this industry. And I was sat there thinking, I'd love to do that one day. I'd love people to know who I am and what I can do. So I kept entering. Sometimes I'd win, sometimes I'd come second, third, sometimes I wouldn't even place at all. And even though I didn't place, I'd always still get the feedback and I'd analyse it, I'd implement it, and then I'd just go again. And if my if I'm honest, my biggest motivation wasn't actually the trophy, it was the fact that I lived in the middle of nowhere. The thought that constantly went through my mind was how is anybody ever going to know me if I'm from Tillingham? That was it, that was my driving force. Every competition gave me another chance to put my work in front of people I admired. Every competition gave me another opportunity to learn from artists I respected and wanted to be like. And every competition gave me another opportunity to get better. Because here's what people forget: the feedback is worth more than the trophy. Every single time I received feedback, my work improved. Every single time. I remember getting feedback once about my inner corners, and the judge said, Caris, try angling your wrist slightly in the inner corner so that the inner corners point towards the nose. It will give you more shape, a nicer smooth transition. And I was like, Okay, tried it, completely changed my lash work, and it's something that I still implement today, and the experience is what I share with my students. Another thing I learned from competitions was if you've followed me on my personal Instagram, there's a video of where I check for stickies horizontally, so I weave my tweezer in and out the layers, and I learned this from a judge in a live competition. My first ever competition, the judge said to me, You only got second place because you didn't check your stickies in your layers, and she showed me how that's done, and I was like, Oh my god! And I literally only had a student the other week, and I showed her that way of checking for stickies, and she was like, I never knew you could do that. So, all of these experiences I've had in competitions, I've taken into my education, into my everyday work. Without competitions, I honestly don't think my sets would have would have progressed as quickly as they did. Because I wasn't just learning from one educator, I was learning from multiple artists around the world. People whose work I generally admired, and I took every bit of that feedback seriously and implemented it. Then I would enter again, and eventually something started happening. People started to know my name, people were recognizing me online, educators I looked up to were commenting on my work. Judges were interacting with my content, and suddenly this girl from a tiny little village who worked in a room at her mum's was now connecting with people all around the world. And to be honest, that still blows my mind. I don't know about you, but I've done quite a few Korean lash lifts where I've got to the end of step one and thought, oh great, I'm gonna have to open another sachet. Then you use the tiniest bit from the second sachet, throw the rest away, and all I can think is what a waste of product and money. Well, I don't need to worry about that anymore with the Lash Oasis Korean lash lift system. Their sachets contain one milliliter of product, meaning there is plenty to work with, and I've never found myself needing to open another sec another sachet halfway through a treatment. It might sound like a small thing, but when you're doing lash lifts regularly, those little things make a huge difference. If you'd like to try it for yourself, I have an exclusive discount code just for you for your very first order. Use code Caris10. Head over to lashoasis.co.uk and grab yours today. I'll leave all the details in the episode description. Now, let's get back to the episode. Because competitions didn't just help me improve, they helped me build my reputation, and I truly believe they played a huge role in helping me build the business, the fully booked business I have today. Clients were seeing the well, clients were seeing the awards, seeing the training, seeing the commitment, seeing that I was constantly trying to improve myself all the time, and they trusted me. I always worried people wouldn't travel because I lived in a no in the middle of nowhere. But actually, when you're really good at what you do and you put yourself out there, people will travel, people notice, people do pay attention, and I think that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned so far. I actually used to have clients who would travel an hour just to come to me for lashes when I worked in Tillingham and that tiny village because I perfected my craft, I mastered the skill, and no one was doing lashes like me, so people would travel for it. Now I know competitions get a mixed reputation these days, and don't get me wrong, I understand why. People worry about being scammed, people question whether they're worth it, people say the same people always win, some competitions aren't fair. I feel like the competition world has changed dramatically from when I used to enter, but that doesn't mean every competition is bad. I think you should absolutely do your research. Look at the organizers, look at the judges, look at the judging criteria, don't be scared to ask questions to the organizer. Don't write off every competition because of a story you've heard. For me, there's there are three questions I'd always ask. Do the judges inspire you? Do you respect their work? Do you admire their work? And does the competition give you feedback? If the answer is yes to those three things, I'd seriously consider entering because the feedback alone can completely transform your work. And if the same people keep winning, good. Use that as motivation, learn from them, study their work, connect with them, push yourself. Because competitions aren't about proving you're better than everyone else, they're about becoming better than you were yesterday. And funny enough, after years of competing, winning around 22 awards, judging competitions and speaking at events, this year I'm entering again. I'm going to Opal in October, and I'm actually really excited because I've missed that feeling, the anticipation, the nerves, the excitement when your category gets called. And whether I place or not, honestly, to me, it doesn't matter. Because the biggest lesson competitions ever taught me was this you have to get comfortable with losing. You win some, you lose some, you learn, you improve, and then you go again. If I could leave you with one thing from this episode, it's this if there's something that scares you but could put you in a room with people you admire, do it. Just go for it. Because entering lash competitions didn't just win me trophies, it introduced me to opportunities, people, and experiences that completely changed my career. And I generally don't think I'd be where I am today without them. So if you're thinking about entering one, maybe this is your sign. And if you're going to Opal in October, come and say hello. I'd love to meet you. And I wish you the best of luck if you're entering into a competition. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to press that like, follow, subscribe, or whatever button is in front of you so you never miss an episode. I hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll see you next week.