Marquette grad sticks it with magnetic false eyelashes invention

Sometimes the best ideas come to you in the shower. That’s exactly where the concept of magnetic eyelashes came to Marquette University graduate Katy Stoka.

After spending years gluing on false lashes, she wondered, “Why can’t they be an accessory like a watch?”

Stoka took trips to The Home Depot to purchase metallic and paramagnetic materials, then was off to beauty supply shops to buy a bunch of lashes. She wanted to make sure a magnetic sandwich concept around natural lashes could actually work.

She presented her handmade examples to engineers and chemists. During the research and development process, she made hundreds of phone calls and drove hours to meet with people to discuss her product.

“I was a bad dinner party guest for a year,” Stoka said.

Only a tight-knit group of people on a need-to-know basis were aware of the product before its launch in summer 2016.

The lashes quickly gained publicity. They have been featured on The Today Show, named a winner of Allure’s Best of Beauty 2016 and been written about in Cosmopolitan and Teen Vogue, just to name a few. They are in such high demand that the lashes have been on back order (they are not now).

The reusable magnetic lashes come in four styles and sell for $59 to $69 at onetwocosmetics.com.

Fashion lawyer and mother of four Danielle Garno said the magnetic lashes have changed her life.

“It really is a revolutionary product,” said Garno, who used to get eyelash extensions, but didn’t like the amount of upkeep they required.

“It’s quick, it’s easy and I don’t have to mess around with glue,” she said.

“When I created this, I created this for me,” Stoka said. “I was equally excited that I have a lash that I can take on and off.”

How do the lashes work? Place the first lash above your natural lashes along your lash line. Then, put the lash with the red dot on the other side of your lashes so that they can connect.

One of Stoka’s favorite parts of her job is watching women put the lashes on in the mirror for the first time. She said it gives her chills.

“I think that women realize how fundamental lashes are to the look of your face,” Stoka said. “Sometimes you want to be glammed up—lashes are a quick fix.”

Stoka's career as a beauty product inventor started after she spent a decade working in real estate.

“I always loved creative things,” the Grand Island, Neb., native said.

She was on the newspaper staff in high school. When deciding where to attend college, she said Marquette University kept calling to her. Being a Jesuit institution, it aligned with her Roman Catholic upbringing. Stoka said she met her husband, Dario, and lifelong friends on campus. She participated in Marquette University Television (MUTV) as an anchor and graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.

“Marquette gave me a beautiful, well-rounded experience,” Stoka said.

Stoka and her husband live in Miami and have two young boys. She said she was at a comfortable place in her life when the magnetic lash idea came to her. She had been selling luxury buildings for 10 years and credits her career in real estate with turning her into the businesswoman she is today.

“Every experience up to this moment helped,” Stoka said.

It took two years from the inception of the idea before the product went to market.

“It’s important to have laser focus on what you’re working on,” Stoka said. “Keep believing in the product, yourself and keep pushing through each day.”