Everyone's Favourite RHONY Jenna Lyons Spills the Truth on Falsies

“Any creative business is about being of service to the customer, filling a void, or answering a need,” begins Jenna Lyons, founder of false eyelash brand LoveSeen, exclusive to MECCA. She would know; she is also “the woman who dresses America” according to The New York Times of her time as J.Crew’s creative director and is renowned as a modern day style icon with her bowerbird tastes.

Beyond her headline-making style, Lyons was born with incontinentia pigmenti, a rare genetic disorder that left her with only seven eyelashes – and her line LoveSeen directly addresses her own need. “One of the side effects is I have no eyelashes myself. So, I inherently pay close attention to them. Eyelashes give you a natural shadow and/or definition around your eyes, to which I have none. There were not many options in the marketplace that sat between lash extensions and a high-octane beauty look… and after doing research, I realised I was not the only one looking for something different. LoveSeen set out to be a service for people looking for a more natural approach to false lashes.”

LoveSeen has 10 different styles of lashes, each with various lengths, colours and density to suit various eye shapes and occasions. Lyons and her team developed the lashes with a fitting (“it’s the only way I knew to do!”) of 21 different women aged between 18 to 72 with different skin tones, ethnicities and eye shapes. “Our mission was to find what looked best on them and enhance their natural beauty. The best way to do this was by really asking them how they felt, when they felt they found something that worked for them.”

“My current favourites for a daytime natural look are Iris and Luca, but if I’m going for a little drama or a smoky eye, I pull out my girl Noor.”

“The lash tool,” says Lyons immediately, which helps to put on the lashes. “Strip lashes can be challenging to put on, and I myself have struggled. While tweezers are effective, they work really well with your dominant hand, and not so well with your other hand. I could get one on perfectly, and the other looked lopsided.. It’s been a game changer. We’ve sold out twice now. It was the most challenging to create. Having something that’s truly yours with a patent involved is a whole new world.”

“The thing I do appreciate about beauty is its boundaries are less rigid. There is no label consciousness in beauty, and there’s no seasonality, making the beauty industry incredibly open and rewarding to work in.

What I love the most about beauty that I didn’t necessarily experience in fashion is that the world of YouTube and Instagram are really perfectly designed for communicating and sharing information with your customer, as well as getting direct feedback.

I think the best thing I’ve seen to happen in the past few years has really been the vast number of smaller brands that have emerged that really are speaking a new language to a new customer. A customer that I don’t think has been addressed or has felt unseen, whether that be the young boys who love to wear makeup, older women, darker skinned women, or very young girls of any background that want to engage in makeup but not look made up. What it says to me is that beauty is really less defined by big business and more defined by what the customer wants to look like.”

“I’m watching Ted Lasso – if you have not seen it, please do. I’m finishing the last season of Schitt’s Creek slowly because I don’t want it to end but I know it has to. Reading Barack Obama’s book. Listening to anything from The Gap Band, Stevie Wonder, Jessie Ware, Britney (free her) and Whitney Houston.”

“La Mer Treatment Lotion, Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (the only kind I can use that doesn’t get into my eyes), Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, and the Verso Night Cream.”

“For makeup, the MECCA COSMETICA In A Good Light Face Tint with SPF 30 (I’m old, and I also need to cover shit) and MECCA MAX Off Duty Blush Stick (it reminds me of my childhood). Another favourite is the NARS Liquid Blush, Rituel de Fille Ash and Ember Soot in Love Spell, an old school Clinique Chubby Stick and NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in ‘Red Square’ and ‘Dolce Vita’.”