Blink and you’ll miss it: All about false eyelashes! (Part 1)

Being a monolidded Asian with heavy, hooded eyelids, my love affair with false eyelashes started early. Somewhere in my teens, I think, in between the separation of the monobrow and the coloured contacts. Today I have about 8 pairs in rotation at any one time, depending on my mood, and I would just love to introduce you to this world of false eyelashes!

Full band, half band, clumps and individuals

There are basically four categories of false lashes – the full band, half band, clumps and individuals. Full band lashes means that all the individual lashes are attached to a strip that you stick onto your lid, slightly above your natural lash line.

Half band lashes refer to those that just sit on the outer half of your lash line, usually with slightly winged corners to help with the illusion of a cat eye. Clumps come in even smaller packages, and allow you to create volume by gluing them inbetween your natural lashes.

And finally, individual lashes are single strands, that get glued on directly to your natural lashes.

Volume vs Length

Just like mascara, lashes (mostly) serve one of two purposes: to lengthen, or to thicken your lashes. Some lashes, to create a more natural look, are fairly short in length, and just serve to fill in where your lashes might be a bit sparse.

Others try to create the spidery doll-like lashes that are quite reminiscent of Betty Boop.

And some, well, they do both, as well as act as an umbrella for your eyes when its raining. A.k.a the 60’s look.

There are even some that try to create that feathery finish by having a criss cross pattern across the band.

The possibilities really are endless, depending on what effect you’re trying to create. Sometimes I wear more than one pair at once, for, you know, that va va voom effect.

Bling it up!

And of course, if something is worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. Falsies these days also come with a whole lot of bling options, from the downright sparkling…

…to the slightly more subtle.

Whatever the case may be, I think false eyelashes are a fantastic tool to showcase your creative chops when it comes to beauty! It can even change your eye shape dramatically for a while brand new look. No need for plastic surgery!

Now if I could just remember where I put my feathered lashes…

Join me next week for part two of this series, where I show you just how to apply and remove your falsies, as well as take care of them! Think you’ll forget? Simply subscribe for updates!