Why LashJoy Exists (From Me to You)

Why LashJoy Exists (From Me to You)

Hey, I’m Joy, owner of LashJoy.

I wanted to take a moment to properly introduce myself and share a bit of background on who I am, and who LashJoy is really for.

Not in an overly polished brand-story way. Just honestly.

So this is that.

It does feel like there are more lash brands than lash artists these days. Everyone’s claiming to be the best. Everyone’s loud. And it can be hard to know who to trust or where you actually belong.

So this isn’t me trying to convince you of anything.

It’s just me saying this. If you read this and feel like you get us, and we get you, then you’ve probably found your people. And if not, that’s okay too.

How It All Started (Back in 2008… Yes, I Know)

My career in lashes started back in 2008. Yes, I know. That makes me sound ancient. I promise I just started when I was basically a baby, okay? 😅

Before lashes, I ran my own clothing store and had always been drawn to intricate, hands-on work. I loved creating and working with fine details, even hand-making my own jewellery at one point. But what really hooked me about lashes was how my craft made my clients feel.

If you’re someone like me, you know that feeling. When a client opens their eyes, looks in the mirror, and is completely obsessed. Suddenly you’re basically a god. It’s addictive.

But if you’re old enough to remember 2008, you’ll also remember the Global Financial Crisis.

Almost overnight, businesses shut down. Mine included.

It felt very similar to how things did when COVID hit back in 2020. Uncertain, scary, and completely out of your control.

Around that time, I travelled to Thailand to visit my family and ended up attending a short lash course while I was there. This was long before Instagram, before online courses, and before lash education was really a thing.

To be honest, nobody really knew what they were doing back then. Myself included.

Looking back now, starting a brand-new business in lashes when hardly anyone even knew what lash extensions were, right in the middle of a global financial crisis, probably wasn’t the most sensible move.

But it turned out to be the best one I ever made.

Starting From the Bottom (Literally)

When I returned to Brisbane, I started Brisbane Lashes as a mobile lash tech because I didn’t have anywhere suitable to work from.

I charged $50 for a full set and $30 for refills, driving all over Brisbane with my kit in the car.

I was lashing clients on the end of their bed or on the couch. No special lighting, just whatever was in the room and my trusty little wooden stool. Looking back, it’s honestly a miracle I didn’t go broke. I was basically working for petrol money.

If you’ve ever started with less-than-ideal conditions, you’ll know exactly how that feels. But I want to say this clearly, because I know it still holds so many artists back.

Here's the truth: your clients care far less about how Instagram-worthy your setup is than you think—as long as it's clean and hygienic, they're happy. What they really care about is how you make them feel. It's the quality of your work combined with the genuine effort you put into making them feel seen, valued, and never like just another appointment on your books.

A year or so into my career as a Lash artist, I realised I was actually pretty good at it. And if I wanted any chance of building a real business, I needed to charge accordingly. Not to be expensive for the sake of it, but to attract clients who genuinely valued the quality of my work.

Then I had a bit of an uh-huh moment.

I wasn’t charging too little because people wouldn’t pay more. I was charging too little because I was scared to charge more.

I realised I was basically projecting my own price sensitivity onto my clients. 

And after meeting and chatting with thousands of artists over the years, I can tell you a lot of artists still struggle with that exact same thing.

Once that clicked, everything changed.

Knowing my worth and charging accordingly is what allowed "my people" to find me.

True story. My very first ever paying client, who I lovingly call my first victim because I truly had no idea what I was doing back then, still comes to me today. She’s become one of my closest friends and is also the only person I trust to puppy-sit our two dogs, Hansel and Pepper, whenever we go away.

That’s an 18-year relationship built on lashes and forgiveness.

Why I Still Lash After All These Years

These days, I still lash most days when I’m not teaching or working behind the scenes at LashJoy Academy.

I do this on purpose.

Because staying hands-on keeps me grounded. It keeps me honest. It means I know exactly what lash artists are dealing with right now, not what they were dealing with ten years ago.

Drive past my salon on any given night and it’s not uncommon to see me lashing a client at 11pm. Not because I have to. Because I still genuinely love it.

Why I Built What I Couldn’t Find

LashJoy itself was born in 2014, out of pure frustration if I’m honest.

By then, I’d been in the industry for seven years and was an internationally awarded artist with a solid reputation, but I was constantly dealing with products that let me down. Sometimes they were great. Other times they were barely usable.

If you’ve ever had your lash glue behave perfectly one day and terribly the next, you’ll know how maddening that is.

Or your favourite lashes that are a dream to fan suddenly become a nightmare to peel off the strip. You can’t make a volume fan to save your life, and of course it happens on a day stacked full of volume refills.

Can you tell I’m still a bit traumatised? 😅

I also had a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t the only lash artist feeling like their products were holding them back.

So I built what I couldn’t find.

That meant spending any spare money I had attending trade shows all around the world, doing 12-hour factory visits with sourcing agents translating for me, inspecting facilities for suitability and ethics, and doing endless product testing and development.

All so artists didn’t have to gamble.

What Does “The Best Quality” Actually Mean?

Everyone says they have the best “quality,” but here’s what that actually means to me.

If I wouldn’t personally use it in my own salon, it doesn’t belong on our site.
If it doesn’t perform consistently, it’s gone.
If it compromises the health or safety of a client’s natural lashes, we won’t touch it.
And if a manufacturer cuts corners even once, we don’t continue working with them.

That’s how only the very best products earn the LashJoy name.

From a customer service point of view, it also means this.

If something ever goes wrong, we fix it. Always.
If you have a question, we’ll answer it properly. We actually know what it’s like to use the products.

From 10 Orders a Week to a Global Community

We’re not the biggest lash brand in Australia, but we’re not the smallest either. In the early days, we processed just a handful of orders a week. Today, we’re grateful to process thousands of orders each month and have grown into a multi seven-figure business.

LashJoy has since been recognised by the Australian Financial Review as one of Australia’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies, which I think is pretty cool for a “little lash business” that started in my spare bedroom.

Today, we’re still a small team (less than 10 people), but every single person at LashJoy genuinely cares about our customers. Where most brands simply do what’s expected, we actively look for opportunities to go above and beyond. And that shows in the loyalty of our community.

Built for Artists Who Actually Care

The truth is, a lot of lash supply stores today are just e-commerce businesses. They’ve never lashed a day in their life and have no idea what it’s like to actually use the products they sell.

They focus on margins, not real-world performance.

That’s fine if that’s what you’re looking for.

But if you’re serious about your craft, care about the results you deliver for your clients, and want to partner with a brand that holds itself to the same standards you do, LashJoy is for you.

We’ve been here since the beginning. And we’re not going anywhere.

— Joy 🤍