It’s really not advisable to put mascara on them unless you want to reduce the time they’ll stay on for drastically.
You won’t be able to get them clean With mascara on without removing them/possibly removing your natural lashes in the process.
You can’t use any oil products around the eyes. Do you have a place in mind to go to? Most lash tech’s are on Instagram these days, they’ll have examples of their work and different styles you can go for.
I used to have a very uniformed ‘cat eye’ type look that flared longer at the outer corner of my eye, more like the strip lashes can look. This looked really good/high impact when it was first done for about a week/2 weeks, but then you’d get natural fall out it disturbed the uniform pattern and was more noticeable. Now I go for a more whispy look with ‘spikes’ which are longer fans that haven’t been opened out so much to create texture and length. This looks a lot better for the whole duration until my next infill appointment.
Provided you don’t rub or use excessive force, keep them clean, and don’t use any heavy cream/oil products, and you go to a good lash tech who doesn’t overload each individual lash, your natural lashes won’t be damaged. You will get addicted to how it looks though! And a lot of people feel like it’s damaged their real eyelashes as they get used to having the extended look and once they’ve gone, you feel like you look bald. You won’t have, that’s just what your eyes have always looked like!