Learn How To Finally Apply False Eyelashes

By Elle Bear

I’m not sure I even need to say anything about fake lashes at this stage. I feel like maybe everyone is an expert these days and this might be a waste of precious internet space but here I go anyway anyway…

There isn’t a whole lot of intrigue or history to how I got into false eyelashes: strip lashes are simply the business. They make pretty much most of the looks I do look 10 times better. And they’re ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Especially bottom lashes. So, I love them even more.

I’ve tried the individual ones. They’re impossible to use, don’t even try! (What? No, I’m not at all bitter about not being able to use them!)

In genuinely thinking about why I wear them and the people who have influenced how I wear them, the first thing that comes to mind is drag queens. Larger than life figures with exaggerated features and over-the-top in every regard. One drag queen I know of wears 3 sets of lashes on each eye on the top lid alone. If that’s not the closest thing to fantasy we’re going to get in real life, I’m not sure what is! It’s those kind of small touches (or maybe 6 sets of small touches!) that I love in makeup. It’s creating something just beyond the everyday with yourself. A surreal self. In that regard I feel false eyelashes are a force to be harnessed.  

There’s a huge amount of false eyelashes to choose from on the market, there’s really no need to settle for something you don’t love! (or that isn’t cruelty free) I tend to use SOSU a lot, I find them very lightweight and easy to wear. They’re also incredibly full on! Banish the idea that you can only wear the full-on eyelashes on nights out and let them see the light of day!

I use Penneys lashes a lot too. Since they’re a bit cheaper, they are great to cut up to create more…er… unique lash shapes, especially for my lower lash line! I’m quite fussy about what I want on my lower lash line. Penneys is, for the most part, my go-to lashes place. Its mad convenient. If I were to order online I would have to say Sugarpill. Their designs are to die for!

Application was always the difficult part in the early days I tried lashes. Those spontaneous nights out I’d get a notion to wear them in college ended with the lashes hanging off one side of my face. Proper gorgeous.

I’ve learned since! If you know how to apply lashes you might not need to read this. But if you don’t I have one word for you: tweezers. Learning to use a tweezers to apply my lashes changed my world.

I have a little (amazingly awkward) video of applying some strip lashes. I do hope it helps!

So! You want to take your lashes and put a layer of glue along the strip. Not too much! Enough though. Then leave it. Go do something else. Anything. If you try and apply before the glue is tacky it will only end up with you having glue covered eyelashes. Give it a good 2 minutes. Time it. I like to put something on the end of it to hold the wet edge up so it doesn’t stick to the table.

It might be a good idea to take a peep at the video as you read this. I tried to do a video with some lovely makeup on to show the full effect but I found it was a lot clearer to follow on a makeup free face.

When the glue is tacky take your lashes by the outer area with your tweezers. Maybe position a mirror below you so you  have to look down. You want to lower the strip onto your lash line. That way you avoid getting caught on your natural lashes. If you try and just stick them straight on with a normally open eye you’re gonna have a bad time.

Secure the outer edge to where you want it to sit on your lash line. When it’s stuck, use the tweezers to place the inner part of the strip. Once you have it all lined up and sitting where you want it to sit, give it another second and then gently ‘squeeze’ the lash band down onto your lash line. And presto! (hopefully)

Add some mascara if you want your lashes to really blend in with the false ones.

If you find the inner or outer corner comes free at any point, I blob a bit of glue and place it gently back where it should sit, using the force of the rest of the glued down lash to hold it back where it needs to be.

Remember! The more dramatic and unconventional your makeup is, the more creative you can be with your lash placement so you don’t even have to worry then about it being snug to that tricky aul natural lash line!

As regards the bottom lash line. You must consider it the same way you approach the top. Use a tweezers and make sure you’re going up from underneath so you’re getting under all your lashes before you try stick it to the skin. You don’t want to stick them to your water line and you don’t want to stick them to your lower lashes!

On a more serious note, it is super important to be aware of what you’re using and where it comes from. And while I know many may disregard this I do appeal: Do not use mink lashes.

I’ve seen it claimed in many different places that there is ‘cruelty free’ mink lashes available. We’re told they’re free range and they’re brushed for their fur, or its naturally shed. It would be lovely if this were true. The truth of the matter is they’re still kept on fur farms. They are kept in tiny wire cages piled up on each other in filth and squalor. They’re surrounded by disease and dirt and often end up covered in sores, hurting themselves or getting really sick. Mink by nature are vicious little things. They’re not gonna let you brush them for their fur.

Your eyelashes looking longer is not worth the heinous and disgusting conditions those animal live and die in. It really only takes a quick google search to properly inform yourself about what you’re putting on your face. If it’s something you use and want to continue using lookup mink farms. Look at the conditions they’re kept in, truly look at the photos and consider what’s happening. Don’t brush off the issue or ignore it. Take responsibility and if you’re okay with what you see, then feel free to continue doing what you want to do.

Otherwise, find yourself some savage, cruelty free lashes and go be unreal!

For more beauty content, check out Emma’s guide to Glossier and Elle’s guide to contacts!