The eyes are the window to your soul and they can make or break the work and care we put into looking beautiful. There’s many tutorials on the web on how to make your eyes bigger or smaller and which eye shadow colors to use with which colored eyes you have. But what about lashes? Some of us were not blessed with thick curling lashes and those of us who want fuller lashes without having lash implants done have to contend ourselves with false lashes. Now how to get those tricky little buggers on?
One of the first things I do when I get false lashes is consider what I’m using them for. A night out might call for thick luscious lashes maybe dolled up with hot colors, glitter, or rhinestones but this isn’t practical for going out for coffee with coworkers. Unless you intend to compete in Rypaul’s Drag Race sometimes less is better. The easiest way to control your false lash use is to use individual lashes. Be forewarned though this can take longer and requires more patience to use.
The next thing I do once I get home with my prize is take them off and hold them up against my lid so I know where to trim them and I can shape them to suite my eyes. My peepers happen to be small so often times it’s necessary to trim both ends of the lash strip. However everyone is different and you may not need to trim the lash at all. Unless you’re a beautician I wouldn’t recommend trimming the lashes themselves. Without practice you can wind up with a weird uneven length in which people might assume caterpillars crawled up on your eyelids and took residence.
A very helpful thing to have on hand is lash glue. A lot of false lashes will come with a tube of glue. Generally the tube is so tiny you might feel like you need special instruction just to measure out and apply it. Also don’t expect to get high quality in this little gem. I find Duolash false lash glue to be an excellent remedy for the ‘ try-to-squeeze-the-tiny-tube-just-right ‘ syndrome. Bad enough we’ll be leaning into the mirror squinting more then Clint Eastwood and trying to apply lashes, eye shadow, and mascara without making it more difficult.
A word to the wise one of the best practices is to have your eye shadow and eyeliner already applied. This might seem like a no brainer but I’ve lost count of how many times I have done this backwards. It doesn’t mean total disaster and a restart…but the tackiness of the glue can gum up your eye shadow if your forced to apply it after the lashes.
Q-tips are definitely a girl’s best friend! After applying my eye shadow and liner I wet one end of the q-tip with water and I use the other end for the lash glue. Apply the glue right on the lash line and try to apply it to the lash as well. Now comes the moment of truth….the point that separates the sophisticated women from the scrambling ‘Oh my gosh what the heck am I doing wrong?’ gals.
The trick is try to apply the lash on your lash. Don’t worry the glue dries clear. If you shake, misapply, or accidently glue them to your nose use the wet end of the Q-tip to loosen the glue and try again. If you have a space between the false lash and your real lash and there is eyelid showing through apply black eye shadow or fill in with liner. When you’re done apply mascara, this will help bring together the lashes.
You may need to clean off glue in the crease of your eye so that it doesn’t stick together. Most important of all let the glue dry!! A general rule of thumb to follow is don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it right off the bat. It takes practice just like walking on high heels without killing yourself takes practice. Once you have it down though it’s all worth it to be happy with what you see.
