A trendy new beauty salon, specializing eyelash extensions and permanent make up, has recently arrived on Mercer Island.
Parlor Elan, which opened Jan. 12, promises to “make women’s lives easier and help women feel beautiful,” said eyelash technician Regi Bohr.
The salon, located behind Rite Aid at 8431 SE 68th St. in the South-end Mercer Village Shopping Center, was once the location of a dry cleaner but today offers a “glam” atmosphere. Plush and comfy dentist-style chairs for helping clients relax are surrounded in booths painted in warm, earthy tones, crushed velvet drapery and dark-lacquered wood cabinets.
“We think every woman deserves to relax in an environment that’s build to nourish the individual woman,” said Bohr.
The salon’s main focus is a trend-setting niche that’s recently taken off on Mercer Island: eyelash extensions. Salon technicians take silk or brushed mink fur and craft them into sets of eyelashes which are applied individually in a 1 to 2 ½ hour process. The mink fur is brushed in a humane process from live mink and the fur is collected by hand.
Eyelash extensions will fall out little by little each week as you naturally shed off your own lashes. Fills are recommended every 2 to 4 weeks to maintain a "full look".
Prices normally range from $100 for a partial set to $450 for a full set of Siberian mink fur lashes, but Parlor Elan is offering several Valentine’s Day specials of up to 50 percent off.
The end result is longer, fuller and darker eyelashes, rendering mascara unnecessary. Similar eyelash extension services are offered at Indulge and Dulce Lash Lounge in Mercer Island’s Town Center.
The new beauty parlor is co-owned by close friends Annie Messmore and Dina S. Good, who owns a popular day spa in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.
A variety of services are offered, including skin therapies like bee venom, permanent make up, spray tanning and a weight loss treatment called a “triminator”, which pledges to help remove “inches overnight! Lipo without surgery,” by using ultrasonic soundwaves to break up love handles and cellulite, according to Parlor Elan’s website.
Messmore, a former flight attendant for over 25 years with Delta Air Lines, knows a thing or two about creating an aura of style and beauty for the modern woman.
“We feel like we’ve got something to offer for everyone — from college girls, adult professionals or television personalities,” Messmore said.
She compared one of her salon’s main services, permanent make up — which is a form of permanent tattooing to enhance the appearance of women’s eyebrows and eyeliner — as similar to the adoption of acrylic nails.
“It’s a practical replacement for make up and customizable, and great for a lot of active, athletic women who don’t wear a lot of make up to begin with,” Messmore said. “You can still have that glamorous look.”
Parlor Elan’s owners said Mercer Island was viewed as a good location to expand because many of Good & Messmore’s clients at the Seattle salon were commuting from Eastside.
The new salon is open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information or to contact the beauty salon, visit http://parlorelan.com/ or call 206-922-1230.
