From The Judges Perspective - 5 Aug 2019

I have been honoured on so many occasions in my life to be involved in judging lash competitions.  These competitions have been online and live, lash lift, lash extensions and brow henna competitions and with each competition I am involved in I can’t help but walk away with the biggest smile on my face.  I get to watch and sometimes even be a part of the awarding of a prize that always – and I mean ALWAYS means just so much to the contestants.  How can that not fill me with all of the good vibes!  #blessed 
At Brisbane’s Beauty Expo in July I was invited back by the ever talented Joy Crossingham from Brisbane lashes and CEO of the Pro Series Lash Competition to be an online finalist judge and a technical judge for a variety of categories as well as a floor judge.  With all of my previous experiences, this was my first experience as a floor judge where it was a requirement that I have eagle eyes on each of the competitors in that particular category.  Watching for infractions such as sanitization issues, tweezer pressure on their models or opening their working kits without permission had my “inspector gadget” senses working overtime.  

What a different experience to teaching in a class room where you might see a student perhaps making an error and you gently guide and assist to perfect their technique, a floor judges role is observation and penalty scoring only.  But my experience was not the only one I was surprised by.  
The competition time would begin and the tension was palpable – the contestants were eager to begin of course, but having a time restriction that was so precise (2hrs to complete one eye in volume and 1 hr to complete one eye in classic) it was difficult for many of them to calm their nerves.  As I paced the walk way I visibly noticed the contestants holding their breath and I myself had to remember to calmly breath as I didn’t realise I was quietly anxious for them also.   The shaking hands didn’t assist at all with the first few lash attachments but after the first 30mins I started to notice the contestants settling into their groove and started to see they were turning a corner with their confidence.  It was truly magical to watch.  
Some contestants chose to zone out completely with headphones to help with their focus because without a doubt you need hyper focus in these circumstances and I wondered to myself if headphones would help me.  My previous life saw me as a musician and sometimes even now, some headphones help me to zone in and smash out my tasks.  If I was a contestant I feel this would without a doubt be my assistant to settle my nerves and assist my applications.
After one category was over I had a contestant tell me how difficult it was when she felt my presence teetering past her as the floor judge and how that pressure alone nearly saw her crack.  She went on to take out the second place in the volume student category – congratulations Emma Rohan – I hope next time I watch you work I don’t make you so nervous because it was spectacular to see you compete and yourwork was truly amazing!
It was a real pleasure to watch the journey of these contestants – we talk about overcoming hurdles in our professional and personal lives and there is no reward in staying in your comfort zone – the true growth (and most often the true reward) is when we are in the most uncomfortable positions in our lives and we are forced to SINK OR SWIM – FIGHT OR FLIGHT, however the important thing here is you want to learn things about yourself that you didn’t know before and most often it’s that you can do things you thought you couldn’t.  Win, lose or draw each person who chooses to compete, chooses to challenge themselves, chooses to expose themselves to new learning environments can only come away with success in my view.  

Congratulations to all those that competed – you are all winners and a massive thank you to Joy, Jeremy and the Pro Series Lash Competition team for allowing me to be a part of this nail-biting but fun filled event.
This article has been written by Zoe Mitter and produced for Ex-Import Niche Products.  Modification, misuse, copying or reproduction of this content in any manner without written permission from Ex-Import Niche Products is prohibited and Copyright laws will apply. 
Sharing the link and giving credit to Ex-Import Niche Products for the content is allowed”.