You know the scene. You’re rushing to get to work on time. Wet hair. Unmade bed. Slapdash makeup application. You may even be that woman in traffic applying her mascara in the rearview mirror. Josie Philippe can relate—and her goal is to take at least one makeup must off your daily routine. “A lot of women need that extra time in the
morning,” says Philippe. With that in mind, the Ashburn resident and mom of three opened DC Lash Bar in 2016 in Georgetown. This December, she’ll open her second location in Ballston Quarter. Philippe’s beauty studio offers a number of eyelash services,
including lash extensions, lift and tint, and eyebrow tinting and shaping, all in service to making her clients’ eyes look gorgeous—and saving them time on their beauty routines. Philippe has been in the beauty world since her teens. One of five sisters, the NoVA native says she grew up in a family where doing hair and makeup were constants, and going into the beauty business felt like a natural fit. She went to cosmetology school at 17 and did
a stint working at Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Salon before deciding to go out on her own. She landed on specializing in lashes at the advice of one of her sisters. The concentration
it takes “is very meditating for me,” she says. It also gives her clients—many of them busy moms like her—a chance for some self-care. An initial application of faux-mink lashes takes about two hours. Refills take about an hour and are recommended every two weeks. That bi-weekly hour spent laying on the application table means you get to reclaim a few minutes in the morning—plus sneak in a much needed nap. During the application process, says Philippe, “I play music. I chat with my clients, but many fall asleep.” // Initial extensions start at $290, refills from $130; dclashbar.com
