Eyelash Extensions Ivanhoe: Can Eyelash Extensions Affect How You Feel?
People usually talk about eyelash extensions in visual terms. Longer lashes, darker lash lines, less need for mascara, a more defined eye shape. But clients sometimes describe something else entirely. They tell us they feel more put together. They enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror again. Their regular lash appointment becomes a small part of the fortnight that belongs to them. Occasionally, these comments come during periods of considerable change or emotional difficulty. At Lena Utmost Beauty, we have heard versions of this from clients travelling to us from Ivanhoe, Box Hill, Ringwood and other eastern Melbourne suburbs.
That raises a question worth taking seriously. Can eyelash extensions actually affect mood, confidence or how someone feels about their appearance? There is no good research showing that eyelash extensions themselves treat depression, anxiety, postpartum distress or the psychological effects of separation. We should make that clear immediately. There is, however, research suggesting that appearance modification, self perception and personally rewarding activities can interact with mood and self evaluation in interesting ways. The relationship is therefore neither imaginary nor as simple as saying that beauty treatments make people happier.
Why Can Looking Different Make Us Feel Different?
How we see ourselves is not completely separate from how we feel. An experimental study involving women who had professional makeup applied found changes in several dimensions of self perception. Participants reported greater appearance satisfaction after makeup, while some conditions were associated with higher self esteem, perceived health and confidence. Interestingly, even a simulated makeup procedure using colourless cosmetics altered some self evaluations, suggesting that the process and expectation of beautification may matter as well as the visible result. Another experimental study found that women rated their own faces as more attractive when wearing makeup and showed different neural responses to made up faces, including their own. These studies investigated makeup rather than eyelash extensions. We therefore cannot simply replace the word "makeup" with "lash extensions" and claim the same psychological effect. But they demonstrate something relevant. Changing one's appearance can influence self perception, and that influence may involve more than how other people respond to us.
A Client From Ivanhoe During a Difficult Separation
One of our long term clients from Ivanhoe continued having her eyelash extensions during an extremely difficult period surrounding the end of her marriage. Before the separation was finalised and afterwards, she would sometimes tell us that having her lashes done helped her feel better able to face everything else happening in her life. That was her experience. It would be inappropriate for us to transform that experience into the claim that eyelash extensions help people cope with divorce. A beauty appointment cannot resolve grief, conflict, financial pressure, loneliness or the psychological consequences of a relationship ending. But her comments point towards another possibility. During a period in which large parts of life felt outside her control, maintaining one familiar routine and recognising the person looking back at her in the mirror may have had personal meaning. The distinction matters. The extensions did not fix the difficult situation. The experience of doing something familiar and personally valued may have made one part of that situation feel a little easier for her.
Can A Beauty Routine Become Part of Emotional Self Care?
Potentially, although the phrase "self care" has become so commercially abused that almost anything involving a scented candle is apparently now psychological treatment. There is nevertheless a serious body of psychological research showing that engagement in rewarding and meaningful activities can influence mood. Behavioural activation is an established psychological intervention in which people increase engagement with activities and environments that can provide reinforcement, meaning or positive experience. A large 2026 systematic review and meta analysis involving 105 trials found behavioural activation effective in treating adult depression, although effects varied across studies and behavioural activation is a structured psychological treatment, not simply a collection of pleasant activities. Earlier research similarly described activity scheduling as increasing pleasant activities and positive interactions with one's environment. This does not make a lash appointment behavioural activation therapy. A beauty salon is not a mental health clinic and a lash technician is not providing psychotherapy. What it does help us understand is why a counsellor might encourage someone to preserve enjoyable or meaningful activities rather than withdrawing from everything they normally value.
A Box Hill Client and Advice From Her Counsellor
We had a client from Box Hill who was already working with a counsellor during a difficult period in her life. She told us that her counsellor had encouraged her to continue making some time for activities that she genuinely enjoyed. She mentioned that having her eyelashes done was one of those activities. For her, coming for an infill approximately every second week became one small part of a wider routine of doing things she enjoyed. Again, the distinction is crucial. Her counsellor was not prescribing eyelash extensions as a mental health treatment. The lashes happened to be one personally valued activity within the client's own life. For someone else, that activity could be gardening, swimming, coffee with a friend, reading, exercise, painting or sitting somewhere quietly for an hour without another human asking them to locate a missing sock. The psychological significance lies partly in what the activity means to that particular person.
Is It the Appearance or the Experience That Matters?
Possibly both. Research on cosmetics suggests that visual appearance modification can change how some women evaluate themselves. But the finding that simulated makeup application could also alter certain self perceptions is particularly interesting. It suggests that the process itself may carry meaning. An eyelash extension appointment contains several elements that are difficult to separate scientifically.
There is the visual result.
There is anticipation of that result.
There is a regular routine.
There is time set aside for oneself.
There is the experience of lying still while someone else takes care of the treatment.
There may also be conversation and social interaction with a familiar practitioner.
No study that we are aware of has separated these elements specifically in eyelash extension clients.
So when somebody says, "I always feel better after I get my lashes done", we do not actually know how much comes from seeing the finished lashes and how much comes from everything surrounding the appointment.
A Ringwood Client After Having Her Baby
Another experience stayed with us for a different reason. A regular client from Ringwood had stopped her usual lash routine for a period around pregnancy and childbirth. Once she felt ready to return after having her baby, one of the first beauty treatments she wanted to resume was her eyelash extensions. She told us that having them back made her feel much more like herself and improved her mood. She also felt that when she felt better personally, she approached caring for her baby differently. That was the client's description of her experience. It would be irresponsible to claim from this story that eyelash extensions improve postpartum mental health or make someone a better parent. We cannot know that. Postpartum emotional changes can range from ordinary adjustment through to serious mental health conditions requiring professional care. A beauty treatment should never be positioned as an alternative to appropriate healthcare. But her comment illustrates something subtler. Motherhood can involve an enormous reorganisation of time, identity and everyday routines. For this particular woman, returning to something that had formed part of her pre pregnancy routine seemed to carry meaning beyond the physical lashes themselves. She did not describe becoming a different person. She described feeling more like herself.
Can Eyelash Extensions Increase Confidence?
They may for some people. The experimental makeup literature provides some evidence that appearance modification can influence confidence and self evaluation. In one study, confidence increased after actual makeup application, although other psychological measures did not all change in the same way. That last point is important. Beautification does not produce one universal psychological response. Someone may feel more attractive without feeling more competent. Someone may feel more confident without experiencing a meaningful change in general self esteem. Someone else may simply like how her lashes look and experience no broader emotional effect whatsoever. A beauty treatment does not need to transform someone's psychology in order to be worthwhile. Sometimes liking the lashes is enough.
What About Research Claiming Cosmetics Can Improve Mood?
There is some intriguing evidence, although it needs cautious interpretation. A randomised controlled study published in 2024 investigated frequent makeup use in adult women who did not normally wear makeup. The intervention group showed improvements in self image and reductions in depressive symptom scores compared with controls. The researchers also reported changes in salivary cortisol. That sounds dramatic. It should not be translated into "beauty treatments treat depression". The intervention concerned makeup rather than eyelash extensions. It involved a particular sample and programme, and one study cannot establish that cosmetic routines should become mental health interventions. It does, however, add to evidence suggesting that appearance related practices can interact with self perception and emotional experience in ways that deserve more serious investigation.
Another small crossover study of cosmetic foundation also reported changes in self esteem, pleasant emotion and perceived stress following use of a particular formulation. Again, the research involved cosmetics rather than lash extensions and was product specific. The broader conclusion is therefore modest. Appearance related practices can influence subjective psychological experience for some people. The size, duration and meaning of that influence vary.
Does Feeling More Attractive Automatically Improve Mental Health?
No.
This is where beauty marketing often makes an intellectual leap worthy of an Olympic event.
Feeling pleased with an aspect of your appearance can be positive. Building your entire sense of personal worth around appearance is something very different. Research on appearance contingent self worth has found that placing too much of one's overall self evaluation on physical appearance is associated with greater appearance anxiety and lower self esteem. That gives us an important boundary. There is nothing inherently problematic about enjoying your appearance, wearing makeup, having eyelash extensions or feeling particularly good when you look in the mirror. The difficulty arises when appearance becomes the condition upon which someone believes their worth depends. Healthy enjoyment of beauty and dependence on beauty for self worth are not the same thing.
Can Eyelash Extensions Make Someone Feel Worse?
Potentially.
People respond differently to appearance modification.
A person may dislike the result.
They may feel uncomfortable with a dramatic style.
They may become overly focused on minor asymmetries.
They may compare themselves more intensely with highly edited images online.
Research on appearance contingent self worth and self objectification shows that intense investment in external appearance can sometimes coexist with greater appearance anxiety rather than greater wellbeing. Research on idealised social media imagery also demonstrates that exposure to appearance focused content can negatively affect facial satisfaction or mood under some conditions. This is another reason consultation matters. At Lena Utmost Beauty, the objective is not to convince every client that she needs more lashes, longer lashes or a more dramatic appearance. A set should suit the client's own preferences. Sometimes the best result is the one that makes someone look in the mirror and think, "That still looks like me."
What If Someone Is Experiencing Serious Appearance Distress?
That deserves particular care. Body dysmorphic disorder involves intense preoccupation with perceived appearance flaws and can cause substantial distress and impairment. Research from cosmetic medicine consistently warns that aesthetic procedures do not reliably resolve the underlying symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. Eyelash extensions are far less invasive than cosmetic surgery, but the psychological principle is still relevant. A salon treatment should not be presented as a solution for serious appearance related distress. If someone is experiencing persistent anxiety about their appearance, severe low mood, compulsive checking or avoidance, or other significant psychological symptoms, appropriate professional support matters considerably more than another beauty appointment.
Can Regular Lash Appointments Provide a Sense of Routine?
For some clients, very much so. Many regular eyelash extension clients organise infills every two or three weeks. That repetition can become part of the structure of everyday life. During stable periods, it may simply be another appointment. During chaotic periods, routine sometimes acquires greater significance. The Ivanhoe client going through separation, the Box Hill client working with her counsellor and the Ringwood client returning to familiar routines after childbirth each described the appointment differently, but there is a common thread. The lashes were embedded in their wider lives. They were not isolated cosmetic objects. That is something laboratory research on appearance cannot entirely capture. At the same time, three client stories remain three client stories. They are observations from practice, not clinical evidence. We should value them without asking them to prove more than they can.
Does Saving Time in the Morning Matter?
Some clients tell us this is one of the reasons eyelash extensions make them feel more put together. They wake up with a darker and more defined lash line and may feel less need to apply mascara or eye makeup. Whether that improves mood has not been established scientifically. But reducing one small task from an already busy morning can have practical value. For a new mother, someone working long hours, a person moving through a separation or simply someone who dislikes applying mascara at 6.30 in the morning, convenience can form part of why the treatment feels worthwhile. Again, the psychological effect is contextual. The lashes themselves have not developed therapeutic powers overnight.
Are Natural Looking Lashes Better for Confidence?
Not necessarily. There is no psychological formula stating that natural lashes improve confidence while dramatic lashes do not. Different clients recognise themselves in different aesthetics. Some of our Ivanhoe clients want Classic or Light Volume lashes that other people may barely notice. Others enjoy Volume, Mega Volume or Creative Effects precisely because the lashes are visible and expressive. The important issue is whether the style corresponds with the client's preference rather than imposing one beauty ideal on everybody. Autonomy matters. A treatment chosen because the client genuinely enjoys it is psychologically different from one pursued mainly through pressure to conform to somebody else's expectations.
Can A Lash Appointment Replace Counselling or Mental Health Treatment?
No.
This deserves an unambiguous answer. Eyelash extensions are a beauty service. They do not treat depression, anxiety, postpartum mental health conditions, trauma, relationship distress or other psychological disorders. A person can enjoy beauty treatments while also seeing a counsellor, psychologist, GP or psychiatrist. Those things do not need to compete.
The Box Hill client's experience illustrates this quite well. Her lash appointments existed alongside counselling. They were not a substitute for it. Evidence supporting behavioural activation likewise concerns structured psychological intervention rather than simply telling people to purchase things that make them feel good. That line should remain clear.
So Can Eyelash Extensions Improve Your Mood?
The most defensible answer is sometimes, for some people, in some circumstances. Research on cosmetics suggests appearance modification can influence appearance satisfaction, self perception and confidence. Research on rewarding activities helps explain why maintaining personally meaningful routines may matter during difficult periods. But there is no direct clinical evidence demonstrating that eyelash extensions themselves improve mental health. The effect may also have less to do with eyelashes than we initially think. It may involve feeling more like yourself. It may involve enjoying your reflection. It may involve an hour in which nobody needs anything from you. It may involve maintaining a familiar routine when other parts of life have become unstable. Or it may simply involve thinking your lashes look fantastic. All of those experiences are legitimate without converting eyelash extensions into medicine.
Eyelash Extensions for Ivanhoe Clients at Lena Utmost Beauty
Clients searching for eyelash extensions in Ivanhoe regularly visit Lena Utmost Beauty in nearby Balwyn for full sets and infills. Eyelash extensions were Lena's original specialist field when Lena Utmost Beauty began in 2016, and they remain one of our core services today. We offer Classic, Light Volume, Natural Volume, Volume/Hybrid Galmour, Mega Volume and Creative Effects, with each set designed around the client's natural lashes, eye shape, preferences and everyday lifestyle. We also welcome regular lash clients from Box Hill, Ringwood and surrounding Melbourne eastern suburbs. For us, consultation is not only about choosing a curl or length. We want to understand what the client actually likes. If you want something subtle that simply makes you feel more put together in the morning, we can design around that. If you enjoy fuller or more expressive lashes, we can discuss those options too. Lena Utmost Beauty has received more than 220 Google reviews while maintaining a 5.0 star rating across our beauty services. If you are looking for lash extensions Ivanhoe or an eyelash salon near Ivanhoe, you can view our Eyelash Extensions services and booking options and choose the style that feels right for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can eyelash extensions improve my mood?
Some people report feeling more confident, more put together or more satisfied with their appearance after beauty treatments. Research on makeup supports possible changes in self perception and confidence, but there is no direct evidence proving that eyelash extensions themselves improve mood.
Can eyelash extensions help with depression or anxiety?
Eyelash extensions are not a treatment for depression, anxiety or another mental health condition. Enjoyable beauty routines can coexist with appropriate psychological or medical care, but they should not replace it.
Why do I feel better after getting my lashes done?
There may be several influences. You may like your appearance more, enjoy the appointment itself, value the routine or simply appreciate doing something for yourself. Research suggests both appearance modification and the expectation or ritual surrounding it may influence self perception.
Can beauty treatments be part of self care?
They can be if they are genuinely enjoyable and personally meaningful to you. Psychological research supports engagement with rewarding activities, although a beauty appointment should not be confused with structured behavioural activation therapy.
Is it unhealthy to feel more confident with eyelash extensions?
Not inherently. Enjoying how you look is different from making your overall worth dependent on your appearance. Research suggests that appearance contingent self worth can be associated with greater appearance anxiety and lower self esteem.
Can I still have eyelash extensions during a difficult period in my life?
Yes, provided the treatment is otherwise suitable for you. Some clients find maintaining familiar routines personally helpful during stressful periods. If you are experiencing significant psychological distress, however, appropriate professional support should remain the priority.
Do I need dramatic lashes to notice a psychological benefit?
No. There is no evidence that greater lash volume produces greater confidence. The most appropriate style is the one that suits your own preferences and natural lashes.
References
Batres, C., Kramer, S. S., DeAngelis, C. G., & Russell, R. (2021). Makeup and its application simulation affect women's self perceptions. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Cuijpers, P., Ciharova, M., Tong, L., Liu, Y., Sprenger, A. A., Miguel, C., Karyotaki, E., & Harrer, M. (2026). Behavioral activation for depression: A comprehensive systematic review and meta analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 128, 102783.
Cuijpers, P., van Straten, A., & Warmerdam, L. (2007). Behavioral activation treatments of depression: A meta analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(3), 318–326.
Adams, K. E., Tyler, J. M., Calogero, R., & Lee, J. (2017). Exploring the relationship between appearance contingent self worth and self esteem: The roles of self objectification and appearance anxiety. Body Image, 23, 176–182.
Noser, A., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2014). Investing in the ideal: Does objectified body consciousness mediate the association between appearance contingent self worth and appearance self esteem in women? Body Image, 11(2), 119–125.
Bowyer, L., Krebs, G., Mataix-Cols, D., Veale, D., & Monzani, B. (2016). A critical review of cosmetic treatment outcomes in body dysmorphic disorder. Body Image, 19, 1–8.
Comments