NY POST ARTICLE


"....Mary Schook, a power player in the latest cosmetic craze starting to sweep the city: voluminous, flirty fake eyelashes. It's addictive because the effect is so dramatic and glamorous says Schook who has created a cultlike following......"







New York Times' 911 List:
"Schook painstakingly bonds each synthetic lash to a real one with nonfuming glue."










VOGUE- CRIMINALLY CHIC:
"I get home and find an E-mail from Mary Schook, the lash extension master. "I know you're busy, but you've GOT to come in and try this new machine," she writes.
What does it do I write back?
"It's a microcurrent facial- it stimulates cellular metabolism, not just the muscle, so the results LAST. I call it the Platinum Lift."
Tomorrow at two?
"Look in the mirror and say goodbye,"she types back, "because this is the last day you're going to look this way" (i.e. my age).
We meet at her new salon.....She's assured me that the treatment is painless, quite pleasant. I doze off, in fact, as Schook delivers microcurrents to my skin via two wands that look like curling irons.
I wake; she hands me a mirror. I see a tightening, a subtle contouring. Me, but six years ago. Amazing.
"I don't make victims; I treat victims," says Mary....."Hydrate! See you in three weeks."
Three weeks to the day, I'm back in the chair. You were right, I tell her. The results have really lasted.
"It's cumulative," she says. "Your skin is getting thicker."






PEOPLE-ENTERTAIN IN RED CARPET STYLE (OSCARS Prediction 2006):
Mary Schook- Celebrity Makeup Artist
"When it comes to makeup the overall look is 40's glam. Skin is done up, but dewy in pale or bronzed tones. Eyes are more stylized, emphazing lashes and liner on the top lids. Lips are either natural and nude or dramatic and stated."








Lashes That Flirt And Flutter But At What Cost?





FITNESS-FLAWLESS MAKEUP
Get staying power. To prevent midday eye-shadow and blush meltdowns, use gels, stains, of cream-to-powder formulas. "They'll stay put even if your skin turns into an oil slick," says Mary Schook, owner of Beauty By Mary Schook salon in New York City.






BRIDAL GUIDE- LASHING OUT:
For flutter-worthy lashes in a flash, try eyelash extensions. "They make you look at least five years younger by appearing to open up your eyes," says Mary Schook. Individual silk lashes are placed at the base of your own and secured with an opthalmologist-approved, medical-grade glue. The application takes about 90 minutes...








NEW JERSEY BRIDE- COSMETIC ENHANCEMENTS:
Every bride is bound to shed a tear or two on her wedding day, but how do you avoid mascara runs? "Eyelash extensions,"says Mary Schook. Individual synthetic lashes come in different lengths and colors and are bonded to your own lashes with a medical-grade glue. "You get longer lashes and you don't have to curl them or apply mascara. You can even go swimming," says Schook......








VOGUE- LASH LUST By MARINA RUST:
...We're introduced to Mary Schook, a former model and makeup artist who we've been told is the person to trust. I shake hands and stare at Schook. Her lashes are fabulous: long and dark, spiky but natural. Are they extensions?
"Yes, but these are a month old," Schook replies. "I've lost half of them. The woman who does mine is in California, and I haven't been able to get back out there. What's left I had to trim this morning."
You had to trim your lashes?
She nods. "That's the thing. They keep growing."
I have to have them.
Schook takes us to her workstation and shows us the lashes, which lie scattered according to length in cotton-lined petri dishes. Made out of slik, they look just like the real thing: black, slightly curved, and pointed at the tip. Lengths, Schook explains, range from six to sixteen millimeters, or a quarter to two-thirds of an inch. Several pairs of long, sharp tweezers lie nearby.
Yikes. Charlie first.
Schook has her lie in a recumbent beauty chair and examines her lashes. "We do not put on more weight than the lash can handle," says Schook. She shows us a photo of a lashline damaged by another salon. Scary. "For safety," she advises, "ask the technician to see photos of their work. Make sure the extensions are individual lashes, not clusters. And make sure they are placed straight." Also, she tells us, beware of salons that apply lashes with the client sitting upright or without taping the lower lashes to keep them out of the way. There's the story of the lady who got her eye glued shut, and of course the tweezers are pointy. This is plenty of cause for caution.
Schook asks us to make sure neither of us has thyroid conditions, as they weaken the lash. Although Charlie's own lashes are strong and she could probably handle the length, Schook recommends shorter, as longer are a "nuissance." (The idea of lashes being long enough to be a nuisance is deeply exciting.) Charlie and Schook agree on a mix of ten and twelve millimeters. The lashes will be long enough to flutter, but short enough to not get caught in a car door.
Schook cleanses Charlie's eye area, then blasts it with a warm hairdryer. She applies a protective eye pad, tapes down Charlie's lower lashes, and asks her to close her eyes, which is good, so she can't see the huge, pointy tweezers coming at her. With the tweezers, Schook lifts a lash from the dish and dabs in special black glue. The glue dries quickly, so Schook's experience and precision pay off.
How long will the extensions last?
"Until your own lashes shed naturally. You'll be back for a fill-in every three to six weeks. I tell women to think of it as getting their color done."
Will we feel them?
"Barely. They might tickle your brow bones."
Charlie grins. Like I said deeply exciting.
Schook tells me to take a break if I like, and to come back in an hour and 20 minutes for the "reveal."
The hour passes quickly in the shoe department at Jeffrey. When I return, Schook is just finishing. "You may sit up," she tells Charlie, and hands her a mirror. "OK, open."
WOW. Clean, natural, and very long.
Charlie flutters her lashes and considers herself from all angles. "I always did want to roll out of bed looking pretty," she says.
"Now the sealant, which strengthens the bond," says Schook, swiping Charlie's lashes with what looks like a mascara brush. Charlie must leave for a job.
For me, Schook recommends the "tens," which will be change enough. "Remember...they'll grow!"
"You're going to love this," she says, getting started. "It makes everyone look five years younger." Our lashes were longer as children, she tells me, and we talk about Calvin Klein's spring runway and it's bare teenage faces.
Roughly one hour later, she removes the tape and the pads and hands me the mirror. I have a fluttery thicket of lashes: long and dark; clean not showgirly.
Schook sends me off with a printed card detailing lash care and reminds me of the instructions she'd given Charlie: "No oil, no mascara, no curling!" None needed.
In the taxi, I stroke my incredibly long lashes and review the care card. "Avoid touching or getting your lashes wet withing the first 24 hours." Oops. I remove my hand from my left lash. "For the first three days after application it is best to avoid swimming....Any steam or oily products will reactivate the bond and will cause the lashes to twist or stick together." The card also says not to perm lashes which I never knew you could do.
On Schook's advice I switch to Guinot's nonoily eye makeup remover and Illuminare's Fantastic Finish oil-free makeup, which I like, especially for the Lanvin runway look. But even when I'm not wearing makeup-nada, zip-the lashes look kind of glam. Suddenly my lids appear shimmery, not shiny, and dark circles dramatic, not dreary- sort of derelict-starlet vibe. I need neither blush nor lip color. I remember feeling this way
after my first brow shaping, but that was ten years ago, so these lashes must really be doing the job.
That's not to say I roll out of bed looking pretty. The third night I must have slept on my face because upon waking, my lashes look tangled, like dried up black spiders. I splash cold water on my face and they spring back to life. I pat them dry and they're perfect again. (Except for a few rogues on the left that haven't looked right since the taxi touching incident.) Each time I get out of the shower, my lashes- beaded with water- spike and curl in the most unnatural way like an old-school Noxema ad. They're fabulous.
Does anyone notice? People can tell something is different; they just don't know what. Taxi drivers call me "Miss." In fact, no one "Ma'am"s me for weeks. I do feel different. Passing mirrors, I flirt with myself.
On a phone with a friend: "Lash extensions?" she says. "Who does that? People with too much time on their hands?" I see her next day. She stares. "I've got to get them."
Several weeks later I call to rebook, leaving a message for Schook:"It's not five years, it's ten."