On March 11, L.E. Studios, an esthetician studio located in Glassboro, less than a mile from Rowan’s campus took to social media to announce that their main services which include eyebrow laminations and lash lifts were no longer available due to regulations from the state.
The studio, which is currently located at 22-24 High St W, just went through a relocation from its previous studio space, which was just up the road on High St E. The studio was originally opened in 2021 and since then, has been providing customers with body waxing, eyebrow laminations, “lash lifts,” and just recently, spray tans.
The studio relocated in January 2024, that’s when their inspection took place. Although the inspection had passed for these services at their old studio, the second time around, the NJ State Board of Cosmetology forced them to sign an affidavit, promising that they would no longer provide eyelash and eyebrow services at the studio because the services were deemed to be illegal.
Owner and CEO Ellie Festa specializes in lash lifts and brow laminations in her work at the studio but also as an educator. She specialized in it for so long, that her Instagram handle, which is now @fatherspraytans was @fatherlashlift until the recent restrictions.
“One of their arguments is because it’s not in our curriculum at school, okay. It’s not legal. However, it’s very misleading because the schools around New Jersey…have an extracurricular class. So it’s not part of the curriculum, but they have it where someone comes in and teaches a class,” said Festa.
Festa even was certified to teach these lash and brow classes around the state to esthetician students in the area. However, despite this according to Section 13:28-2.15 of the New Jersey Administrative Code, estheticians in New Jersey are unable to “perform or offer to perform eyebrow and/or eyelash tinting” and “perform or offer to perform permanent cosmetic applications, such as tattooing and permanent make-up.”
Lash lifts and brow laminations are semi-permanent cosmetics, similar to hair perms, but they ultimately still fell under this category and were asked to be discontinued.
While disappointed about having to stop what made up such a large part of her career, Festa is mainly upset about the loss of clients who regularly came to get these services. While they may still come in sporadically for spray tans or waxing– the regularly sought services have now been taken off of the service menu.
“Right now we’re losing out on a ton of just clients. Like, honestly, that’s what makes me super sad, is I’ve grown the clientele of almost 1,000 people in the past three years. It’s not that I’m losing them, obviously, I’m still going to try and check in on them but what are they going to come for? You know, they haven’t been coming for waxing or spray tans this whole time they’ve been coming for purely lashes and brows,” said Festa.
For regular customer Tara Consalvi, getting this type of service was a way for her to feel more confident as opposed to other cosmetic services like eyelash extensions, which replicate the look of false eyelashes for a few weeks at a time.
“As a girl that doesn’t like extensions on myself, I just loved having a ‘lash lift’ that kept my look more natural and made getting ready in the morning much easier not having to add mascara or curling my lashes. That goes for eyebrows too. I’m so disappointed I couldn’t make another appointment,” Consalvi said.
She also indicated that the community aspect of the studio made her feel at home and provided her with a space where she felt welcomed and excited to get her services done.
“Firstly Logan Paige who has been doing my services is so easy to talk to… the studio overall is spotless, when I came in the girls [were] so welcoming and it feels like you have known them forever. Especially how active they are on social media, showing their personalities as well as keeping the account professional, sharing that day’s availability was very helpful,” said Consalvi.
Even though lash lifts and brows will no longer be offered, Festa has made it clear that this isn’t the end of the studio.
“It’s one of those things where I keep telling my team like these things, unfortunately, they happen, right? But also they happen to people who can handle it. In a way, I just, I feel very confident in my team that we can get through this, no matter what that looks like,” Festa said.
Currently, Festa is looking at potentially downsizing the space into a salon suite and focusing on the available services– specifically spray tans. She also just launched a weekly podcast called “Sittin’ Pretty” which airs every Wednesday. Spray tans and waxing will still be available and the studio remains pretty active on social media platforms like Instagram.
“I don’t think there’s any future in the advocacy [for lash and brow services], like as much as I would love to, and that was my passion for the past three years. There’s a side of me, that’s an entrepreneur and I have to move on in order to have my team survive in this whole situation,” Festa said.
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