No, this is not another ordinary blog...

Sometime after finishing my first education, I discovered the Kallos group and, in addition to discovering that I actually " didn't go to school ", I also discovered that Lash Challenge exists. It seems like the first must-have thing in my lash career, and since I "didn't go to school" to compete, I responded to Martina's first announcement that they were looking for models for the Challenge with "I want it, I want it." After sending the photos, I passed as a model and started googling Lash Challenge.
Sheraton, dress code, rules, regulations . As someone who is completely not typical of the beauty industry, everything is starting to seem somehow stiff, tense and stressful to me and I'm slowly starting to wonder why I needed something like that, I'm an outdoor guy, I climb the Dinara Mountains, how will I fit in, huh??
But all for your future career.

I arrive at the Sheraton in the morning, in the manner of a good model, probably too early of course. After a few minutes, a couple more girls arrive and we decide to have coffee while we wait, and that's where I meet my first lash colleagues. My gaze meets a familiar face from the Kallos pages. That curly educator. She looks arrogant and totally feminine. We exchange arrogant glances again, she doesn't seem to like me either. Luckily, Kallos has more educators.

After registration, we prepare for the start of the competition. Given that I have turned into an eye and an ear, the hardest part for me is the very beginning of the competition. I came to see, and now I have been lying down and squinting for three hours and 15 minutes. After those three hours of lying down, which I still highlight as the biggest sacrifice in my career, we come to the evaluation of the models, or rather, the works.
While I'm waiting for my turn, I feel like I'm about to take an important test or exam, so I'm nervous and time-consuming by studying the grading sheet I'm holding in my hands. The girl next to me loses her temper and asks the girls next door why it's taking so long, and she replies: They're counting their eyelashes.
What are they doing??
They check them eyelash by eyelash!
I laugh at the answer, and I think to myself, Aaaaah, these women are not normal!! I want that. I have to go to the next challenge!!

Finally, it's my turn and I approach what I've considered the most rigid part of the competition so far. The judges and their "stations". After they pointed Glamcore at my face, I think about that Dinara once again.. At the next "eyelash technical inspection station" I lie down, and Jill H. Peloquin "digs" at my eyelashes and occasionally says stickie.
Even though every single model is silent during the judging, I wouldn't be me if I didn't decide on a different approach, so I ask her what does stickie mean??
Since she answers my question kindly and extensively like a "regular model", after she says "leg" I ask her what the heck that means, after which she explains that and then the other elements. By the end of the evaluation, everyone is joking and so friendly that not only does she seem stiff to me, but I don't know why my girlfriend who did my eyelashes is nervous. It's harder to lie down for three hours.
My girl is a junior, she came from Belgium, she didn't win a trophy but she got excellent marks and the judges were delighted that a "junior" had done such a job.

She returned to Belgium and I returned from the competition full of information, experiences and with great eyelashes that need a makeover. I'm looking for a girl on the Kallos group who would be willing to make them, and Martina writes: Go to Daria. I click on Daria. Life. She's curly. And nothing, Martina recommended her, I'm going to Daria.
After just two applications, Daria became my educator, eyelash artist, colleague, and friend.

So, what did the Lash Challenge bring to me as a curious model?
Experience. Quality education. Motivation. And most importantly, acquaintances and friendships.
This year, after only four months of volume work, in which I managed to squeeze in one bout of pneumonia and two hospitalizations, as I promised myself last year, I am competing in the lash challenge.
What can competition bring me after just a few volume builds?
Experience. Education. Motivation. Acquaintances. Friendships. And what I'm particularly weak at: dinner and a goodie bag. The trophy? No. I'll go get that next year.

Am I nervous? Not in the least. Precisely because of the friendly atmosphere that I experienced last year. I even chose a heavy category. Relano, Lash lift and Brow styling were ideal categories for both "just showing up" and "going for the cup" thinking.
"Easier" categories of one hour in which everything is possible, even for a junior to win the cup with great precision.
But since I'm not stage-nervous and in "just wanna have fun" mode, I set myself Dramatic as a challenge.
No matter how it ends, it's important to me that we hang out afterwards.

So, for me, the Challenge is a must have for a million reasons, if the last Lash Challenge hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't be in the lash world today, not even a trace of me, and here I am, writing a blog for Kallos, I'm famous 😉

And you? Are you hanging out with us this year? 😉

Nina M., The lash blogger