I have been gabbling about getting eyelash extensions since I knew such a thing existed, but who has $250 to spend on fake lashes? Other than the cast of True Blood, whose ladies’ lashes look like they might be wearing four or five sets a piece. Last month, Groupon ran a coupon I couldn’t resist, and I snapped up a full set of extensions, plus a lash tint for $89.

In the wild, my lashes are a very good length, but they are so blonde they might as well be transparent. See:

I very rarely leave the house without mascara. Nothing against rabbits–I just don’t like looking like one.

The lash tint took about 10 minutes, and was fine. My technician, Vanessa at the Lash Lounge, daubed my lower lids with vaseline and stuck eyepads to them to keep tint from staining my skin. I closed my eyes onto the eyepads, and she went to work painting tint onto my lashes. I blinked and got a little tint in my eye, and it burned like the dickens, but she rinsed me out with saline solution and all was well with the world.

Once my lashes had some color, eyepads replaced with fresh ones, I closed my eyes and chatted with Vanessa while she laid in lashes one at a time. It was comfortable and pleasant, and I dozed off a couple of times. If the client across from me hadn’t had an unhappy dog in her purse (what puppy wants to sit in a purse at a lash salon for two hours?), I might have gotten a nap.

Some of the lashes going in tickled. Once or twice I felt a poke, as if being pricked by a tiny broomstick, but otherwise, it just felt like someone was playing in my eyelashes.

The result? Definitely worth the Groupon and most likely worth follow up appointments.