Customer of the Week: Elegant Lashes

Elegant Lashes provide beauty treatments that minimise your daily makeup routine, giving you more time to spend time doing the things that matter most to you.

“I spend 5 minutes doing my makeup in the morning. If I do any at all. I have my lashes and brows done so a base, blush and some lippy and I’m out the door.”

Merryn Calear and her team were the first business in Sydney to specialise solely in brow and lash design.

“We have clients that have been coming to us since we opened in 2010. It’s testament we are doing it right.”

Before opening her salon, Merryn worked in television production — an industry famous for being camera ready, always. Merryn fell in love with the no-fuss element of wearing lash extensions, “you just get up and go.”

After her lash technician moved overseas, Merryn was on the hunt for a new therapist. On her hunt, she came across an advert for training. Her passion for lashes grew from a side business into an enterprise.

Today, Merryn runs two salons in Sydney, a training arm and a wholesale division which sells lash supplies to other salons, Elash Supplies.

One of the first businesses in Sydney to offer feather brow cosmetic tattooing in Sydney, Merryn is truly ahead of her game. It’s this clear vision for the beauty industry which has helped her see such success.

Merryn is admittedly addicted to the challenge of business, enduring a few sleepless nights.

“There is risk and reward in what you are doing and this gives you the impetus to strive to be the best — I love it.”

Merryn believes the key to success is not cutting corners.

“We care about the longterm health of our clients’ lashes and brows.”

Merryn is innovative and abreast of new services, techniques, and products for lashes and brows. She is realistic about what she can do for her clients and won’t carry out a service if they believe it is inadvisable.

Another key to the businesses success has been automation. Merryn stresses the importance of automating what you can to free up time.

“Often in beauty you have one employee per client so it’s time and labour heavy and it is an area you can’t really trim down. So you want to trim anything else that is time-consuming and taking your staff away from what they do best.”

Merryn never settles, and that is what makes her business so innovative. In her mind, there are always ways to be better or execute to a higher level.