I have a confession to make. I suck at putting on fake eyelashes. Which is SUPER weird because years ago I used to wear them every day and I could literally put them on on the subway. Now I can hardly get them on at my desk. What the hell is that? I guess I’m just out of practice. The point is, I feel like I’m a beginner at this all over again. So being that I’m not so slick at it anymore I’ve been compiling a little list of tricks that help me suck at it less so I can get back in the swing of it. Fake eyelashes for beginners - Let’s do this.

Tip 1:

Use the right lashes. I don’t mean that there are a right or a wrong style of lashes, wear whatever makes you feel pretty. But for a beginner, to make it easier you should look for fake lashes that -

A. Are on the small side. If you go big right away you might feel weird and self conscious about them all day. They are also a little harder to put on correctly if they’re heavier.

B. Have a clear, flexible band. You know the strip that holds the lashes together? If it’s thin and flexible it will stay down more easily on the ends. Thick, stiff ones pop up at the ends and make it harder to get them on correctly. Also a clear, thin band is visually more forgiving in that if you don’t get it close to the lash line you won’t be able to tell. Some people cut their lashes into pieces to keep the ends from popping up, and that works just fine, but I find that it is also more difficult to place so many small pieces properly so I don’t usually do that.

My go-to style for easy application are the #DW lashes by red cherry. They are inexpensive, and fit all the criteria that I stated above. I also really like the shape and how fluttery they are, they are definitely easy to pull off.

Tip 3:

You’ve probably heard this one before but its important. Don’t over do it with the glue, and wait until the glue dries a little before you put them on. Usually around 30 seconds is the right amount of time if you haven’t put on too much glue.

The amount you put on should look like this

I like to put a tiny extra dot at each end, just because that is where they tend to pop off most often. Because you know . . .physics.

TIP 4:

Tweezers- you need them. Well I mean, I think you do. I find it a lot easier to put them on with tweezers than with my fingers.

I alternate between my normal slant tweezers and a scissor style tweezer with a square tip. Both work well, but I have been leaning more toward the slant tweezers lately. Not really sure why. There is a trick to this though . . .It’s all in where you grab the lashes

You want to grab the lashes close enough to the band that you have control over them, but not so close that you are going to poke yourself in the eye with the tweezers. You want to avoid poking yourself, trust me. Been there, done that, do not recommend.

Tip 5:

Try wearing your lashes with eyeliner or eyeshadow on the lid. I personally love the way lashes look on a very plain, neutral eye with no eyeliner but it is very difficult to get them on well enough that they look good like that . . .at least in the beginning. If there isn’t darkness near the lash line there is nothing to camouflage it if you make a mistake and don’t line up the band perfectly with your natural lashes. So while you’re getting better at it, try doing a nice cat eye or something smokey. Lately I’ve been pairing them with a simple winged out liner look.

At this point you can pop your eyelashes on. Are you confident yet? Me either but let’s go ahead and do it anyway. Practice makes perfect.

Just pop the center in place with the tweezers and then give it a second to set. Then tuck the ends in place with the tweezer. Spend a little time making sure the ends are on there right because like I said before, that’s the part that tends to pop off over time.

Tip 6:

Don’t curl your natural lashes until the fake ones are on. I find that if I curl my real lashes ahead of time, they actually end up getting in the way when I put the fake ones on. Instead I wait until the glue on the lashes is completely dry and then give them one gentle squeeze with the eyelash curler. They don’t really need to be super curled anyway, you just want to blend them in with the falsies. Then I like to put a light coat of mascara on just to hold the curl and to make sure they aren’t a lot lighter in color.

And thats it, fake eyelashes for beginners in a nutshell. I’m still not as good as it as I used to be, but I’m getting there. I really wan to start incorporating more styles of lashes into my looks for creative reasons so I’m going to keep on practicing. Hope this helps if you’re getting frustrated trying to put them on, keep practicing and you’ll totally get it 🙂