It’s a big birthday - eyelash extensions distributor and educator NovaLash, Inc. is celebrating ten years in the business of making women in over 40 countries even more beautiful, more confident and more eye-opening to those around them. When she started the company a decade ago, CEO Sophy Merszei couldn’t imagine how industry-altering NovaLash would become. In fact, her dream at the time seemed a simple one: “I wanted to bring back the glamour and femininity of 50's and 60's false eyelashes in a way that would not scare women,” the biologist and cosmetic chemist says. “I knew we could apply artificial lashes in a manner that would look just gorgeous — natural and feminine.".
The journey was not an easy one. says Merszei, “For the first five years of our company, the public was just not ready for false lashes. We knew they were the next big trend in beauty, but educating consumers and the industry about the health and safety of the service took many a sleepless night." But NovaLash and Merszei pressed on; together they forged the first product safety testing, the first and only physician-developed lash application course, and the first-ever beauty school textbook for eyelash extensions.
To say that it was worth the fight is an understatement, according to Merszei. As the first global distributor of eyelash extension products, the company has expanded to over 40 countries and in so doing, has transformed the faces of women all over the world. Perhaps most importantly to Merszei, however, NovaLash has brought profitable, rewarding careers to thousands of professionals as more women than ever are opening stand-alone lash salons. To help them on that quest, NovaLash created the Signature Studios program, a model that supports lash artists hoping to start their own businesses by providing training and licensing, business support and reduced prices on NovaLash’s premium products.
Cosmetologists, estheticians, scientists and wearers alike sing NovaLash and Merszei’s praises. In 2007, the company won the ICMAD award for cosmetic innovation of the year. That was followed by four straight years as winner in LaunchPad’s Reader’s Choice Awards, plus another four in American Spa’s Professional’s Choice Awards. In 2010, Sophy Merszei was awarded individually as the National Association of Professional Women’s VIP Woman of the Year.
Says Merszei, “Before I started NovaLash, the focus was only on hair, skin and nails. Ten years later, when I walk down the aisles of a beauty trade show and see all the booths dedicated to different lash products, I feel like I made a difference in the history of fashion and beauty.”
[Images courtesy of Joni Rae and Associates PR]
