Black Magic~the ins and outs

You’ve just purchased Black Magic Lash Adhesive, so how do you use it?

Storing Black Magic:

Once your Black Magic arrives, store it UNOPENED in the fridge until you are ready to open it for the first time and use it!  Black Magic is good for up to 1 year in the fridge.  Once you open your Black Magic, it is good for anywhere from 4-7 weeks.  You will know when it is time to throw your Black Magic away once either the bottle is empty, or if the consistency becomes too thick/ goopy when you try to squeeze out a fresh drop. This is a sign that your bottle has been opened and exposed to the humidity of the air too much and that it needs to be thrown away and replaced with a fresh bottle!

Once opened, store Black Magic at room temperature (in a cooler room) in a dry and airtight environment with silica.  Storing Black Magic in the Plumerian Black Shield container with color-changing silica is best to maintain the freshness of your adhesive and protect it from excess humidity in the air.  Silica packets aid by absorbing the humidity from their environment, but is only functional until it has become saturated with humidity.  Our color-changing silica packets change from orange to green once they have become saturated with humidity, letting you know when it is time to order some fresh silica to keep your adhesive fresh at all times.


Opening Black Magic:

For starters, you need to open your Black Magic lash adhesive! Depending on how a particular adhesive batch was processed, some are sealed with a sealant product just inside the tip of the nozzle and some are sealed with an airtight sealing of the lid itself and do not have any sealant product inside the tip of the nozzle. Once you unscrew the lid of Black Magic you will be able to tell if a sealant product was used if you are unable to squeeze out a drop of adhesive straight away.

Once you unscrew your Black Magic adhesive lid, take one of the pins provided in the packaging with your adhesive and use this to pierce the inside of the nozzle to break through the sealant product and open up the spout of the nozzle so that the adhesive can be expelled.  This pin may LOOK like a sort of lid, but please do NOT use the pin for any purpose besides initially opening your adhesive bottle or to unclog it if it becomes clogged.  This pin will NOT create the air-tight seal that Black Magic requires to stay fresh.  Always screw on the original lid to Black Magic as soon as possible after each new drop is expelled during the lashing process.


Shaking Black Magic:

So now your Black Magic is OPEN! What you must do next is to vigorously SHAKE your adhesive for approx. 60 seconds.  When we say vigorously, we mean vigorously!  You should be able to hear the adhesive slosh back and forth from the top to the bottom of the bottle and it should sound very loose/ watery when shaken, as Black Magic has a very thin consistency.


Using Black Magic:

Next, unscrew your lid and tip your bottle over and very gently squeeze the sides to allow the desired 1-3 drops to drip out and on to your work station.  Then, bring your bottle upright once again and use an adhesive wipe to wipe around the nozzle if any excess adhesive spills over the edges at this time.  Then firmly screw the lid back on and store your adhesive in an air-tight environment.  The Plumerian Black Shield is a great storage container to keep your adhesive away from excess moisture in the environment.

So how often do you use a new drop of Black Magic as you lash? Will 1 drop be enough for a lash fill, or even a full set!? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Sorry guys, a drop of this adhesive will just not last that long.  Black Magic has a very fast curing time of 0.5-1 second and a very thin consistency.  The time before needing a new adhesive drop will depend on the humidity in your lash room.  As a general rule, the higher the humidity, the more frequently you will need to use a fresh drop.  The lower the humidity, the less frequently you will need to use a fresh drop.  As a general timeline, expect to replace your adhesive drop every 7-15 minutes. How will you know when to change it?  Do we set a timer every 10 minutes and change it then? NOPE! You need to gauge based on the properties of the Black Magic drop.  Is the drop starting to feel “sticky” when you dip your lash fan into it?  Are your bases starting to become a little boxy and not so tight and rounded anymore?  Is your drop starting to appear slightly more opaque (dull) instead of shiny black?  These are all subtle signs that you need a new adhesive drop! The moral of the story is- don’t cheap out on your adhesive! This will only make your job a lot harder and could also end up negatively impacting your client’s retention.


Environment for Black Magic:

What environment does Black Magic thrive in for lashing? Temperature-wise, Black Magic likes 18-30 degrees Celsius and Humidity wise, Black Magic likes 40-65% humidity.  Don’t know the temp and humidity in your lash room?  We highly suggest getting a small battery-powered humidity reader that also displays the temperature in your lash room.  These are often $10-15 or less and easily purchased on Amazon.  Trust us, the thermostat and humidity reader for your home will NOT accurately determine the precise conditions within the lashing room in your house.  We recommend getting a separate unit for this.

Do you find your humidity level is too low in your lash room?  Is it taking too long for Black Magic to dry and/or are you finding that you are frequently needing to un-stick lashes from neighboring lashes that are boding together while you lash? This can very easily be rectified by getting a humidifier for your lash room! We are located in Calgary, Canada where the humidity gets down to as low as 15% in the wintertime.  So we get it!  A humidifier is a MUST!  We turn ours on for 1-2 hours on HIGH prior to a client coming for an appointment.  This timing will vary depending on what humidity you are starting with and the humidity level that you love to work at the most that you are aiming for!

Is humidity too high? This will be less possible when using Black Magic.  Black Magic LOVESSSS humidity and we have personally used Black Magic in as high as 70% and find that it really thrives in these high humidity conditions.  However, if you find that your humidity really is too high, then you can consider getting a de-humidifier.

Temperature range is always a question we get and have difficulties answering due to the adaptability of Black Magic!  Assuming that you are lashing in a HOUSE and not in the freezing outdoor temperatures in Canada or the scorching outdoor temperatures in Australia, assume that your temperature will be fine.  We have lashed in conditions that are anywhere from 17-35 degrees Celsius with minimal impact on its performance.  As you get up into the higher temperatures, you may notice that your adhesive drop will get tacky or sticky more often than usual, perhaps up to twice as often you may need to use a new adhesive drop while lashing.


Aftercare of Black Magic:

So now you are done lashing, so now what? Do you nanomist?  So here’s the deal with nanomisting, we have done tons of sets with and without the use of nanomisting following a set and have found there to be no added benefit to using a nanomister following the completion of a set.  In fact, we find it is actually easier to incorrectly use a nanomister than it is to correctly use one.  Correct use is to hold the mister 30cm away from your client’s face and lightly mist from above.  The idea is that this added moisture will activate the curing process of the adhesive quicker.

However, when we hold the mister 30cm away, it is difficult to physically SEE the mister particles reaching the lashes (even though they are).  So what do we naturally do? We move the mister much closer to our client’s lashes, thinking this will be more effective.  But often this leads to shock polymerization of the adhesive which can cause it to become brittle, thus leading to poor retention of the extensions to the natural lash.  And the worst part is that we can’t even tell that we are doing this… So our recommendation? Is to skip the misting, Black Magic already cures fast enough to not need this added step that is all too often done incorrectly.

What about getting the lashes wet right after application?  I’m sure we all saw those Instagram videos trending last year with the post-lash appt lash baths! There is just something that seems so wrong about getting a perfectly fresh and fluffy lash set all wet and clumpy, so we can’t say we are advocates for this practice.  We would say it is safe for a client to shower after a couple of hours post lash appt, as Black Magic would be more than cured by then.