So, cheap stuff is great, right? I mean, yeah it is. Being a student, money is always a problem, so being thrifty is important. I don't know that buying false lashes constitutes as thrifty, but I'll leave that up to you. I just can't not buy a pair of lashes that cost £1 (of which the Sultry and the black and purple lashes are), or in the case of the spotty lashes, not buy lashes that are that cool looking (hot damn). Lashes are typically around £5, which is fine, as, if you take care of them, they can last a good long while. And you do get what you pay for (in most cases). Mac lashes are £10 because they tend to be real hair, have light, almost invisible bands that are comfortable and look darn good. Now, you're not going to get this with £1 lashes, it's not gonna happen. The likelihood is that they will be synthetic, the band tough and uncomfortable and the shape just all wrong. And this is where this blog post comes in. Let me guide you sweet children.
The Sultry Lashes are £1 at Primark, the Festival Lashes are £2 at Primark and the Black Eyelashes are £1 at Sainsbury's (Halloween is my darling).
For these little improvements, you will simply needed some nail scissors (not the curved ones, that will only bring you pain) and a spooly to comb the lashes through at the end.
Also I recommend something to catch all the waste. As you can see, it is more than a little bit messy.
Firstly we have the Sultry Lashes, these are simple, light, but sort of really dull. And the edges are pokey, like, it hurt to wear these initially.
They add a little length and a little thickness, nothing dramatic.
My main issue is that they are a consistent length throughout, I prefer variation.
Start with trimming the lashes to fit your eyes. I always like going a little shorter than needed, as I prefer the inner edge to start a little way back from the inner corner - sort of just before the iris starts. Always cut from the outer edge - it's like false lashes 101 - mainly because you want the inner corner to be short and cutting it away will only leave longer strands.
I cut away two sprigs, as it were, of the lashes, leaving a more comfortable fit for my eyes.
I started by trimming the inner corners down, cutting the hairs into a v shape pointing upwards (as the picture shows, as I'm feeling my description is not all that helpful).
I then cut these same upward facing v's into the rest of the lashes, aiming to have it longer at the outer edge. This didn't really go to plan, so I made it more or a curved shape, just with added texture. To add the texture, I used the scissors perpendicular to the band, snipping swiftly and moderately randomly across the length. Sort of how a hair dresser stops the ends of your hair looking like a straight line. Be careful with this, less is more, as these lashes ended shorter than I initially intended. Alternative advice would be just to trim down the inner corner, to make it fit more easily with your own lashes.
To finish, comb through the lashes with a spooly to dislodge all the excess little hairs that have been chopped off.
The finished result.
An all together more natural look. Although I wish I'd kept the outer edges a little longer.
These lashes would be great for everyday because they are so light and so subtle.
Next up are these wonders from Sainsbury's. They're part of the Halloween stock, so they'll not be around for ever. It also means they are not the best.
The band is thick, so to wear them effectively it's best to bend the lashes into a curve before applying them.
Now, whilst these lashes are great, they are altogether too long for me to ever wear them. To the trimming!
Again, start with trimming the outer edge to make the lashes fit you eyes. I cut off two bars of colour. (I promise this is the outer corner, the other lash did not have that skinny bit of black at the end).
I forgot to take a photo of how much was cut off before I did the trimming. Sneak peak.
Now, this is going to look waaaayyyy to short, I promise you it is not. These lashes are really long, so I needed to cut off a lot to make them wearable. Do the same action of cutting perpendicular to the band to create the v shape (I'm a fan of spiky lashes).
I wanted to keep the look of the original lashes by keeping the black bands shorter than the purple. I cut each section into a v, leaving the purple sections longer, but still having a graduation of length along the lashes.
And the final result.
The hairs are a lot thicker than the typical lashes (being cheap and synthetic and all), so these will never look natural, but I have a feeling that's not the look you would be going for anyway.
I rather like how these lashes came out, I might even wear them on Halloween.
And finally these beauties from Primark. They're a little pricier at £2, but I can manage because of all the pretty. Being feathers, they're soft, but delicate, so no tugging! I pulled a feather out, but lash glue repaired it swiftly and easily.
Stupendous.
The difficulties with these lashes is that they are so long I couldn't see the band to place it in the right place. The band is soft, however.
To make the job of applying a little easier I trimmed a little off each end. Because of feathers being what they are, I could trim off quite a lot and not change the look of the lashes.
See?
And these lashes are so pretty they need no other change.
And now to bed with me, it's 2:40 in the morning.
