Portland-area mall now has an eyelash vending machine

Out shopping at the mall, this pink vending machine caught my eye. So I found the person behind it.

• Portland beauty entrepreneur Leilani Symone set it up on the second floor of Clackamas Town Center in late 2021 after looking for an efficient alternative to spa sales or direct delivery.

• "I was like, where can I put eyelashes that a lot of people will be at and sell them there without me having to be there," she told Axios.

Context: Symone grew up in Portland and went to esthetician school here. While her machine is busy vending, she does spa treatments, including more traditional eyelash extensions, at her own studio in SE Portland.

Details: The machine is stocked with eyelash strips, shampoo and mini blow dryers to help temporary glue dry faster.

• Vending sales ebb and flow with the season, Symone says, rising in summer.

One of her motivations is "just being a big inspiration to the younger Black girls that look like me and aspire to be like me," she said.

• Another is just helping people feel great.
• "Especially through beauty treatments. I always get poppin' — you know, so I want other people to be poppin'."

What's next: Symone says she wants to put her pink vending machines in other malls like Washington Square or Pioneer Place, or perhaps at PDX.