At Opti Labs, we sit on the threshold between high-end medical and luxury beauty. We’re like a very well groomed private-practice surgeon, in Louboutins.
That matters because when we design new products we’re not just thinking about what feels good, what looks good, what might hit the headlines (although trust us, this will). We’re thinking about what’s going to work (and usually why it’s going to work, how could it work better and is there a patent in this somewhere?)
A year or more ago we were having a product development meeting, which had turned into something of a story telling session. We love hearing our customers’ stories, and they play a huge part in our product design. We were each sharing feedback we’d heard from customers and proposing innovations; what can we do to help customers manage irritation when they start using the growth treatment (hint: this was the start of the Sun Protect Serum)? What can we do about single use applicators falling loose in make up bags?
“I’ve got an interesting one,” said Tom, our founder.
Tom had been chatting with his good friend (and the original London Lash Queen) Sue Marsh. Sue had shared with him a different kind of story; a story about a very well-known beauty journalist (who shall remain nameless) who had, in utter frustration at the lack of decent sleep masks on the market, fashioned her own one out of a padded bra.
It wasn’t just a soft sleep mask she was after, or one that blocked out the light. It was something slap bang in the middle of our wheelhouse: she wanted one that protected her lashes from friction and night-time rubbing. Not only that, her experience tied in with what we’d heard from other customers here and there over the years; there were no masks designed for lashes as long and luscious as theirs.
Queue several months of product testing (ours and competitors), rounds of prototypes (including one green floral number lovingly hand-sewn by Tom himself) and a lot of calculations based on facial anatomy.
We didn’t just want to add extra padding (although we did that too). We wanted the mask to work with the natural shape of the face, to get its lift from the ridge of the nose and the brow.
And that’s where we came to another important discovery. All those competitor masks we tried? They squashed our poor eyebrows flat overnight and did unspeakable things to our brow lams.
Back to the drawing board. Our mask wouldn’t just be the best eyelash protecting sleep mask on the market; it’d be the only one to protect the eyebrows as well.
We came up with a design that followed the bridge of the nose, positioning the mask above the eyebrow at the top and on the zygomatic arch below. This follows the natural contour of the face, creating sufficient depth to avoid friction, without simply relying on bigger & deeper cups.
Finally, we had it, a vision in our signature teal mulberry silk, the Opti device embroidered over the temple. A far cry from a padded bra and our hand-sewn green floral number. This mask not only looks and feels as luxurious as it is, it works. I can actually flutter my eyelids inside the mask without the slightest bit of friction. I can sleep all night in it without a minor ruffle to my brows. If I could work in it, I would.
There are just so many!
It’s wide-fit and spacious nose gap are designed for comfort. There are no awkward straps to dig in, and the wide fit means exceptional light blocking. It even provides a noise cancelling effect.
The luxurious mulberry silk isn’t just soft on your lashes, it’s soft on your skin. Silk is generally considered beneficial for your skin because of the reduced friction (fewer wrinkles) and lower absorbency (plumper skin) when compared to cotton.
Our signature deep teal and embroidered logo are the final touches on a product which is designed not just to make you look, but feel beautiful, morning and night.
