For more than 25 years, lashes have been my world.
I’ve watched eyelash extensions go from something most people had never heard of, to an entire professional industry. I’ve worked behind the treatment bed with clients from every walk of life, including some of the most recognizable names in entertainment and fashion.
But after all these years, the biggest lessons I’ve learned have little to do with lashes.
Clients remember how you made them feel just as much as they remember how beautiful they looked when they walked out the door. That realization has shaped the way I think about the modern spa business, and ultimately how I created my own lash and wellness spa.
While my business was built on lashes, I don’t believe a great lash appointment (or any beauty service) has to live inside one box. Beauty can be wellness. Beauty can be rest. Beauty can be education.
And luxury can simply mean that for the next hour or two, somebody is making you their priority.
Why the Best Wellness Experiences Go Beyond the Service
After decades in this industry, I knew clients were coming into appointments carrying much more than their handbags.
They’re running businesses. Raising families. Sitting in traffic. Answering emails. Caring for everyone else. Going through health challenges. Celebrating things. Grieving things. Reinventing themselves.
Sometimes their beauty appointment is one of the few times during the week when they actually stop. That matters.
That’s why I didn’t want clients walking into a space where the entire experience is to sit down, get their lashes done, pay, and leave.
I wanted to maximize that rare moment of self-care for them.
My perspective on wellness became much more personal after going through breast cancer treatment, which changed my relationship with time, health, rest, and my body. Returning to my work after that experience made me see the spa differently. I understood even more deeply why clients might need more than a beauty service.
That doesn’t mean every treatment needs to become a therapy session, or that salon and spa professionals should step outside our licenses and scope. It means we should never underestimate the value of care.
Sometimes luxury is beautiful lashes. Sometimes it’s healthy-looking skin. Sometimes it’s a haircut. And sometimes luxury is lying quietly in a beautiful room for 90 minutes while somebody else takes care of you.
There is room for all of it.
Your Specialty Is Still Your Superpower
I would never tell a lash artist, esthetician, massage therapist, or other specialty provider that growth means becoming everything to everybody.
I believe the opposite: Your specialty is why people trust you.
That expertise shouldn’t disappear when a business expands into wellness; it should become the foundation.
For salon and spa owners considering expansion, I encourage them to ask: What is the thing we are already exceptional at — and what naturally supports it?
That question will usually lead to a better service menu than simply chasing whatever treatment happens to be trending. The smart move is to add services that make sense in combination with your specialty.
When services naturally support one another, a salon or spa has more opportunities to serve the same client instead of constantly trying to acquire new ones.
A lash client may discover skincare. A facial client may become interested in brows. A busy professional may add massage to their wellness routine. The relationship expands because the business has earned permission to serve more of their needs.
The Consultation Is Part of the Luxury
Before I work with a client, I’m looking, listening, and interpreting.
I’m looking at their natural lashes. I’m looking at their eyes. I’m considering their lifestyle. I’m listening to what clients tell me — but I’m also translating what they mean.
That personal assessment is where expertise lives.
I believe consultation is becoming even more important across the spa industry as clients become more educated and have more choices. Technology can make booking faster. Social media can inspire a treatment. AI can help businesses communicate.
But once that client is physically in front of us, personalization is still one of our greatest advantages as professionals.
That’s luxury you cannot mass produce.
Wellness Doesn’t Have to Mean Reinventing Your Business
There is a tendency to hear the word “wellness” and immediately think a spa needs to install something expensive or renovate its concept.
I don’t believe that. Wellness can begin with the environment and the way a client moves through it.
Is your treatment room calming? Private? Does your client feel rushed? Can they put their phone down? Are you explaining what you’re doing? Does your schedule allow you to give the service the time it actually requires?
Are you creating an experience that feels restorative, not transactional?
Give Clients Something They Can’t Get From an Algorithm
Our industry is moving quickly.
Consumers can purchase beauty products from their phones. They can watch thousands of tutorials. They can use at-home devices. They can ask technology for recommendations.
Professional spas have to offer something deeper:
- Expertise;
- Human connection;
- Touch;
- Taste;
- Judgment;
- Safety;
- Personalization; and
- An environment created specifically for that person in that moment.
The opportunity I see for the next generation of spas isn’t necessarily becoming bigger: it’s becoming more intentional.
After more than 25 years behind the treatment bed, that’s where I believe true luxury is headed.
More care. More expertise. More personalization. More intention.
And when a client leaves looking beautiful while also feeling a little better than when she arrived? That’s the experience I want my business — and our industry — to keep creating.
Dionne Phillips is the founder and CEO of D’Lashes Lash & Wellness Spa in Beverly Hills, CA. She’s a licensed esthetician, celebrity eyelash extension expert, educator, and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in the professional beauty industry.