A Guide to Cat Style Mapping
Lash mapping is essential - it shows our professionalism, keeps our sets even across both eyes and gives each of our clients bespoke looks that are tailored to their preferences, their eye shape and their bone structure.
Whether you’ve been in the lash industry for five minutes or 15 years, you’ve undoubtedly had a client or two ask for a cat style - but what exactly is a Cat Style, and how do you Map a Cat Style lash set?
A cat style is known for its sexy sweeping flick on the outside of the eye, which elongates the eye and adds a sweep which is in equal parts gorgeous and iconic.
So How Do You Map A Cat Style Lash Set?
As with any lash set, begin by marking out the middle of the eye so that your set is symmetrical across both eyes.
Next, split the section towards the outer corner in half, and then half again - the segment closer to the outer corner will be your longest section.
Now, split the final section of the outer corner into three equal parts - though we’re aiming for a sweeping flick toward the outer corner, we still want to ensure that we are protecting the lashes there. Using too long a length in the outer corners also increases the likelihood of the lashes drooping and giving the eyes a sad appearance.
The sections towards the inner corner will be much wider than those in the outer corner, this will also help with that elongation!
Who is A Cat Style Best For?
Despite them being something almost all of our clients ask for at least once, they’re actually not well suited to very many of our clients!
A Cat Style mapping on the wrong client can cause their eyes to look super far apart, droopy, or sad - not ideal! A Cat Style is very well suited for those clients with eyes which are a little closer together as it will create the illusion of extra distance between them. If a client with a proportional set of eyes (this refers to the space between the eyes being the same size as the width of the eyes themselves) would love a Cat Style, you can still make their dreams come true, just try using fewer lengths, or suggest a squirrel style as it will be far more complementary!
Clients with almond shaped eyes will benefit from a cat style (assuming they are not very widely spaced) as it will really accentuate that gorgeous shape, and clients with lashes growing upwards will also look amazing with a Cat Style!
If your client's eyelashes grow straight or downwards naturally not all hope is lost! While using regular curls can cause that drooping effect, swapping to an M curl of L curl will give far more lift to those lashes!
Looking for a different Lash Mapping Guide?
Check out our Squirrel Mapping Style Guide!
Check out our Dolly Mapping Guide!
