What Equipment Do You Need to Start Doing Lash Lifts?
The complete equipment list for a professional lash lift service is shorter than most artists expect. A certification course, a professional starter kit (which the course includes), and most of the supplies you already use for extensions. The total day-one investment is around $555, and you can perform 15 services from the kit alone before you reorder a single thing.
If you've been thinking about adding lash lifts to your menu, one of the first questions is almost always the same: what do I actually need to buy? Lash lift equipment lists online range from minimal (a sachet of solution and a few shields) to overwhelming (50-item Amazon checklists with products you'll never touch). The truth lives in the middle. This guide breaks down exactly what's in a professional lash lift starter kit, what you almost certainly already own, what's worth investing in beyond the kit, and what to skip entirely. Written from inside an actual working lash studio — by someone who's been doing this since 2009.
1. The Short Answer: What You Actually Need
If you're already a licensed esthetician or cosmetologist working out of a treatment space — and most artists reading this are — your day-one equipment list is shorter than you'd guess.
You need three things: certification, a professional lash lift starter kit, and your existing treatment-room basics. The first two often come bundled in one purchase. The third you already own.
Everything else is optional, situational, or sold to you by someone who wants your money more than they want your service to succeed.
Let's walk through each piece in detail so you know exactly what you're buying, why it matters, and where the corners can — and absolutely cannot — be cut.
2. What's Inside a Professional Starter Kit
Every brand's starter kit looks slightly different, but a professional kit from an authorized distributor will always include the same core categories. Here's what comes inside the Elleebana One Shot Lash Lift Starter Kit, which is the kit I use in my own studio:
Step 1 — Lifting Lotion Sachets
The product that softens the bond inside each natural lash so it can be reshaped onto the silicone shield. Single-use sachets keep the formula stable between services. The kit includes enough Step 1 sachets for 15 full services.
Step 2 — Setting Lotion Sachets
The product that locks the new curl into place once the lashes are reshaped. Same single-use format, same 15-service supply.
Flex Rods in Multiple Sizes (S, M, L, XL)
Silicone shields that sit against the lash line. The size you choose controls how much lift you create — smaller rods produce a more dramatic curl, larger rods produce a softer one. Most artists end up using M and L most often, but you need the full range from day one because every client's eye shape and lash length is different.
Adhesive
The glue that holds the natural lashes against the silicone shield while Step 1 processes. Without it, the lashes won't stay in position and the lift won't take. Professional adhesives are formulated specifically for the eye area — this is one of the most important products in the kit, and a place where the cheap online versions fall flat.
Makeup Remover
Used for a pre-treatment cleanse — every lash has to be completely free of mascara, residue, and skin oils before Step 1 goes on, or the lift won't process evenly.
Precision Lifter Tool
A small angled tool used to lift each natural lash up onto the shield without breaking it. This is the single tool that makes the difference between a smooth, professional placement and a service that looks rushed.
Flat Tip Brush
Used to apply Step 1 and Step 2 evenly across each lash. The flat shape is important — round-tip brushes can apply product unevenly, which leads to over-processing in some spots and under-processing in others.
Elleebana certification courses include the starter kit with enrollment. You don't buy them separately. One enrollment, one price, and you walk out of the course with everything you need to start booking clients.
That's the entire kit. Seven items. Enough product to perform 15 full lash lift services — which, for most artists, is your first month of clients.
3. What You Already Have (Probably)
If you currently do lash extensions — or any kind of treatment-room service — you already own most of the supporting equipment a lash lift requires. Here's the list, with notes on what to look for:
- ✓Treatment bed or chair. The same one you use for extensions works for lifts. A flat, comfortable surface where the client can lie still for 45 minutes.
- ✓Good lighting. A magnifying lamp or overhead task light is essential for accurate shield placement. If your extension setup works, your lift setup works.
- ✓Under-eye gel pads. The exact same pads you use to isolate lower lashes during extension application. Same brand, same shape, same purpose.
- ✓Micro-swabs and cotton rounds. Used for cleansing, product removal, and finishing. Standard treatment-room supply.
- ✓Tweezers. A clean pair of straight or curved tweezers for separating lashes during placement. Your extension tweezers work fine.
- ✓Timer. Critical for processing time. Most artists use a phone timer or a small kitchen-style timer — either works.
- ✓Sanitization supplies. Your existing barbicide, surface disinfectant, and hand sanitizer setup.
Nothing on that list is lift-specific. If your treatment room can host an extension client, it can host a lift client without a single new purchase.
4. What's Worth Adding Outside the Kit
There are a small number of items that aren't in the kit but are worth investing in once you're ready to scale up. These are optional on day one and most artists pick them up after a month or two of services.
Flex Shields and Flex Hybrid Shields
The starter kit includes Elleebana's Flex Rods — the foundation shield that produces a soft, rounded C curl. Flex rods handle medium to long lashes beautifully and are the right starting point for the majority of your first clients.
But Elleebana actually makes three different shield styles, and each one produces a different lift effect. Once you've performed your first 10 to 15 lifts, you'll start running into clients whose lashes or eye shape call for one of the other two — and that's when adding the rest of the shield line becomes one of the highest-impact upgrades to your service menu.
Flex Shields. Flex Shields create a straight-up lift from the base for a lengthened look, rather than a rounded curl. They're the right choice for shorter lashes (though they work on long lashes too), naturally curly or unruly lashes that need to be smoothed and directed, and clients with protruding eyes where a rounded curl would push lashes too far forward. A Flex Shield is what lets you serve the client who walks in saying "I want my lashes to look longer, not curlier."
Flex Hybrid Shields. Flex Hybrid Shields combine a curled base with lifted mids and ends to create an M/L curl — the in-between option when a Flex Rod is too curled and a Flex Shield is too straight. They work on medium to long lashes when sized precisely to match length, handle straight, curled, or downward-growing lashes, and are often the right call for hooded or deep-set eyes and tapered lids. Hybrid Shields also tame unruly grow-out and handle multi-layered lash lines that Flex Rods alone can struggle with.
Most lash artists add Flex Shields and Flex Hybrid Shields within their first month of offering lifts — usually right after they've finished their starter kit's 15 services and have a clearer sense of which client types are walking in. Having all three shield styles available is what separates a lash artist who can do lifts from a lash artist who can deliver the right lift for any client who books.
Add Flex Shields and Flex Hybrid Shields to your shelf early — after 10 to 15 lifts is the sweet spot. You'll have enough hands-on experience to know which client types you're seeing most, but you'll still be early enough in your portfolio-building that having the right shield for every client makes a real difference in your before-and-after photos.
An Aftercare Product Line
The single highest-ROI add to your menu beyond the kit itself. A professional aftercare serum — like Elleeplex ProFusion or Elleevate — is something every lift client should leave with. It extends the life of the lift, supports lash health between services, and adds $40 to $60 of retail revenue per client without adding service time. If you're going to invest in one additional product line, this is it.
A Lash Tint Kit (If You're Offering Lift + Tint)
Lash tinting is the most natural add-on to a lift service. It's a 15-minute add-on that earns roughly $35 of additional revenue per appointment, and it makes the lift result look more polished by darkening the natural lashes for a no-mascara finish. A professional tint kit runs $40 to $60 and lasts dozens of services.
Brow Lamination Products (If You're Stacking Brow Services)
Brow lamination uses a similar chemistry to lash lifts but with different formulas and tools — they're not interchangeable. If you're planning to add brow services to your menu alongside lifts, plan to buy a separate brow lamination system. The combo of lift + tint + brow lam + brow tint is the highest-ticket appointment on most modern lash menus.
A Client Aftercare Card
Not a product — a printed card or post-appointment email. Aftercare adherence is the difference between a 4-week lift and a 7-week lift, and clients who get clear written instructions follow them. You can print them at home or set up an automated post-appointment email through your booking system.
5. What to Skip
This is the section most equipment guides leave out, and it's the most important one. Here are the things you do not need, despite what you'll see recommended in beauty Facebook groups or marketplace ads:
Generic "Lash Lift Kits" from Marketplace Sellers
You'll see lash lift kits online for $20 to $30. The formulas, shields, and adhesives in these kits aren't designed for the standards a licensed professional needs to deliver on. The shields are often the wrong shape, the adhesive doesn't hold consistently, and the chemistry varies batch-to-batch — which makes it impossible to build a portfolio of reproducible before-and-afters. The starter kit isn't the place to save money.
Specialty Pre-Treatment Cleansers
Some artists pile up "lash cleanser," "lash primer," "lash prep solution" — three or four products doing what one cleanse with the kit's makeup remover already accomplishes. Save the shelf space and the money.
An Extra Set of Tweezers
If you're doing extensions, your existing tweezers work for lifts. There's no specialty "lash lift tweezer" you need to buy. Marketing language convinces a lot of new artists otherwise.
Eye Pads in Multiple Brands
One brand of under-eye gel pad is enough. Many artists end up with three or four open boxes because they keep testing alternatives. Pick one, stock it, move on.
A Standalone Magnifier Headset
If you already have a magnifying lamp in your treatment room, you don't need a separate headset magnifier. Some artists prefer them — but they're optional, not essential, and they're often sold as "must-haves" by people who sell magnifier headsets.
Every dollar you don't spend on something you don't need is a dollar that stays in your business. The professional starter kit and your existing treatment-room supplies are 95% of what you need on day one. Resist the upsell on the other 5%.
Free Download: The Lash Lift Starter Guide
A 13-page PDF written for licensed lash artists — what lifts are, what you'll need, how to price them, and how to add them to your menu without losing extension clients.
6. The Total Day-One Investment
Once you strip out the noise, the actual dollar figure to start performing lash lifts professionally is small. Here's how the numbers break down for the average artist already operating a treatment space:
- $550Elleebana certification course — includes the One Shot Starter Kit, taught hands-on or online in one day
- $0–$5/moInsurance rider — add lash lifts to your existing professional liability policy. Usually free or a few dollars per month.
- $0Treatment-room supplies — you already own everything you need.
- ~$555Total day-one investment
For context: that investment pays itself back inside the first 6–7 paid services. At a $90 lash lift, performed in 45 minutes, with ~$10 in per-service product cost, your kit produces $1,350 in revenue before you ever need to reorder a single thing.
Add a $35 lash tint to a third of those services, and the same kit produces closer to $1,800 in revenue. Stack brow lamination and brow tint into combo appointments, and you're looking at $2,000 from one starter kit's worth of solution.
7. When to Reorder
Once you've worked through the 15 services in your starter kit, you don't reorder the entire kit. You reorder the consumable components:
- ↻Step 1 and Step 2 sachets — single-use, reorder every 15 services. About $6 in product cost per service when bought in bulk.
- ↻Adhesive — replace every 3 to 6 months depending on volume. Once opened, performance starts to drop after that window.
- ↻Makeup remover — replace when you run out. Lasts roughly 30 services.
- ✓Flex Rods (S, M, L, XL) — reusable. Clean and sanitize between every service. Replace only if visibly worn or torn. Expand your shield library with Flex Shields and Flex Hybrid Shields within your first month to handle every lift type and eye shape that walks in.
- ✓Precision lifter tool — reusable. Same care.
- ✓Flat tip brush — reusable. Same care.
The takeaway: a professional starter kit is mostly a one-time investment in tools, plus an ongoing low cost for consumables. Once you're a few months in, you're spending roughly $6 to $10 per service in product cost and earning $90 to $185 in revenue — depending on what add-ons the client books.
8. Your Next Step
If you've made it this far, the equipment side of the decision should feel a lot less heavy. The actual list is short, the actual investment is small, and most of what you'd need is already sitting in your treatment room.
The next decision is certification. The kit and the certification course go together — you can register for an Elleebana certification course online or near you, take the one-day course, and walk out with everything you need to start booking lift clients within the same week.
If you haven't read the full pillar guide yet, that's the best place to go next. It covers the business side of adding lifts — pricing, scheduling, how lifts fit alongside an existing extension book, and the 30-day launch plan most successful artists follow.
This guide is for educational purposes for licensed beauty professionals. Licensing and scope-of-practice requirements for lash lift services vary by state and locality — check with your local government licensing agency to confirm the specific requirements that apply to you. Lash Lift Society is not affiliated with any state licensing board.