If you do lash lifts or brow lamination for a living, The Skin Games has a stage for exactly that work, and we’d love for you to enter both categories. Lash Lift and Brow Lamination are scored by judges who know the services inside out, on the technical points you already care about, and entering both gives you two chances to show how well you do the work. Start with Everything You Need to Know About The Skin Games 2026-27 Season if you want the full picture of the season, and then come back here for everything Lash & Brow.
Two categories, one stage
Both categories are performed in person, in front of the judges panel and an audience, and that matters more than it sounds. It means your technique is seen from the first step to the last, not summarized afterward, and everyone in the room gets to watch what skilled hands actually look like.
Brow Lamination is judged on uniformity, lift, and client safety, following your work from mapping and solution application all the way to the final brushed result. Lash Lift is judged on rod selection, solution timing, lift result, and curl consistency from the inner corner to the outer corner. Those aren’t the same list, which is exactly why they work well together: one rewards design and control, the other rewards timing and consistency, and a professional who is strong at both has a lot to show.
What the judges want to see
The good news is that the judges are open about their standards, so you can prepare for them directly.
Julio, who judges Lash Lift and Brow Lamination, keeps his standard foundational: correct rod placement and adhesive application before anything else. The reason is mechanical, because a flawed base undoes an otherwise good lift no matter how polished the finish looks, and his rule of thumb is that you should expect to need roughly fifty reps before the skill is reliable. If you’ve been doing these services for a while, that number probably describes your past, not your future.
Kimberly Morfin, founder of Artistry Beauty in Houston, is a lash and brow educator with more than seven years of hands-on experience who has trained over 500 students. She looks for precision and clean execution, proper hygiene and product control, intentional styling choices, and creativity that’s backed by skill rather than shortcuts. She says, “Passion matters, but preparation tells me you’re serious,” and she believes in “critique that makes people better, not smaller,” which tells you the feedback you receive is meant to help you grow.
Jolita Shishmanova, who owns House of Lashes and Brows Salon & Academy in Yorkshire who was a 2024-25 Lash & Brow judge, puts her standard in one sentence: “I value skill, precision, creativity, technique and attention to detail.”
Put those three side by side and the shared ground is easy to see: nobody is scoring flair before they’ve scored the fundamentals. If your fundamentals are strong, you’re already speaking the judges’ language.
Why enter both
The first reason is practical. The fundamentals the judges reward in one category, precision, hygiene, product control, and attention to detail, are the same ones they reward in the other, so the preparation you do for Lash Lift makes you sharper for Brow Lamination and the other way around. You’re not doubling your workload, you’re getting more out of the same habits.
The second reason is that each category is its own registration, so entering both is simply a matter of registering for each one. TSG’s FAQ notes that you register separately for each category and pay a separate fee for each, and that entries can be transferred between categories.
The third reason is range. Judges and audience members see more of what you can do, and so do the people who remember your name afterward. A competitor who shows up with both services polished makes it clear that their skill runs wider than one trick, and that’s the kind of reputation that travels well in a room full of professionals.
If you’re not yet confident in both, that’s okay too. Enter the category you trust today, and start counting reps on the other one, because the best time to build a skill is before you need it on stage.
Who can enter
The Skin Games is international, so you don’t need to be a U.S. citizen to enter, and a cosmetologist license is accepted as long as you work within your scope of practice. Players bring a model, whether that’s a friend, a client, or a family member, and bring the products they’re comfortable using. Finalists need to be present at the event to win.
How to get ready
Practice the full service from the first step to the last, on real clients, on a clock you set for yourself, and with someone watching if you can arrange it. Kimberly’s advice is to simulate judging conditions beforehand so the nerves don’t surprise you, and to keep your attention on your own growth, not only the outcome. Then read the current rules before you register, because they’re the document that defines what’s allowed. And if you want to see how judges read every category, A Season-by-Season Scoring Guide on What TSG Judges Are Really Looking For covers the throughline across all of them.
That’s the whole idea, broken down as simply as possible: the judges are scoring the fundamentals you already work on every day, two categories means two chances to be seen, and the stage is ready for you.
Ready to compete? Register for Lash Lift, Brow Lamination, or both.