Flutter of the lashes

It is all about the flutter


Those wonderful long dark eyelashes that only naturally seem to come-attached to young boys are truly unfair and the goal of many a woman for years. Gently curled- long lush- full and fluttery and not attached to your eyes – very unfair.

In our search to replicate this cruel hoax of nature women have attached small metal tools to their lashes, brushed on millions of tubes of black ink- in the hope they too can bat some long lush lashes in the air. We have made Revlon and Max Factor rich, had scientists taken away from far more noble feats to dawn white research coats and make for us better mascaras.

We spend the $30 or $40 dollars on the luxury brands being dolled out by perfect little cosmetic sales clerks ( I swear there is a secret makeup only for them- and special lighting to make these rare creature look like no-one on the other side of the counter) only to find that after a week or so the black goop coming our of the slick silver container is clumping on our lashes. Off to the drugstore brand for $7 or $9 dollars and a few weeks later, clump again starts.

Chatting a few months ago with a friend on mine she mentioned to me eyelash dying and perming. I had heard of the dye- but having dark lashes was one feature I was not that interested in- but for my fair skinned strawberry blond friend it made sense. She swears by the 4 to 6 week luxury.

Semi-permanent lashes- now that made me caught my attention. Similar to the small clumps of traditional false lashes that line up at the local drug store these are applied by an estician and are expected to last a week to 10 days. Lying down they are applied with glue that can cause some weeping of the eye and some irritation –but rest assured the sting does not last long.

Conclusion: If you can afford new mascara every month at $40 dollars for a slick silver tube- great for you. Me, nope I can’t afford that. Personally I have gone back to the Cover Girl/ Max Factor camp buying two or three tubes at a time so when the clumps appear I can happily toss the plastic tube out and fetch me another one with no pangs of guilt.

Semi-permanent lashes have arrived! They carefully ‘glue’ individual lashes to your own- and they grow out as your own lashes do- so a ‘refill’ is needed approxiamentlly every 2 weeks. The initial application takes about 2 hours and the initial investment is $200.00. The ‘re-fills take about half an hour to one hour and the cost is around $50 depending on how many lashes are needed to refill. The cost is not cheap and the maintenance is also time consuming. Careful how you sleep, rub your eyes, swimming and steam baths also can loosen the glue and make the upkeep higher.

On the plus side though you wake up every morning with great looking lashes, no clumps and takes away time from your morning routine and leaves you looking and feeling like a movie star. Semi-permanent lashes may be terrific for the holiday season, weddings or vacations if you prefer not to wear them all the time.

The other alternative is false lashes- which do require some practice to get it right! Drugstore lashes all the way to mink lashes worn by Oprah and J-Lo are available to all either through your local make-up haunt or on-line. Mac Cosmetics has fabulous lashes of varying lengths and densities where all is needed is a booking and one of their trained consultants will apply them for you free of charge. Perfect for a night of
Flirting- those younguns best beware!