Loose Powder

With my fantastically stubborn eyelashes, traditional eyelash curlers don’t work for me. If I can get them to curl at all, it never holds and the lashes got right back to pointing straight down.

I recently saw a review by Eki for a heated eyelash curler. At first, it sounded a bit scary to be putting a heating element that close to your eye! Looking at other reviews, the girls seemed to have both eyeballs intact, so it was probably fine right?

The Panasonic Heated Eyelash Curler (model EH2351AC) had good reviews and for $10, it was a great deal!

I liked the form factor of this design, as opposed to some of the other ones I’ve seen that were more like a thin mascara tube. There is a simple on/off switch and the cap functions as a safety measure – with it on, the curler will be in the off position.

The head of the lash curler is a plastic comb with a flat top and teeth  on the sides. It also functions as a cover for the heating element underneath. DO NOT use the lash curler without the cover – you’ll definitely burn yourself and those heating elements get very hot! The third picture shows the indicator on the back of the head – when the tool gets hot, it will turn pink.

It did take a couple uses before I was used to using this and I’m not going to lie – I did kind of poke myself accidentally with the teeth. Thankfully, I wasn’t really injured nor did I burn myself. However, it definitely made me treat this thing carefully while learning to use it!

There are a few tutorials on youtube that might be able to help, so do a search for those.

Here are my before and after photos; sorry the before photo is so dark!

I really like that this looks more like a natural curl than the harsh angular crimp you get with a traditional curler. Without applying mascara, the curl does stay for several hours. Once I apply mascara, however, the curl falls a little almost immediately (depending on how heavy/wet the mascara is). It’s okay, though, since my lashes don’t go back to their normal state, which is to point straight down.

The best technique to use when curling your lashes is to hold the curler at the base of your lashes and press a little for a few seconds, then slide it up the lash to the tip and to the tips, and hold for a few seconds. Brushing a heated curler through does nothing – much like curling your hair.

Depending on the mascara, you can use the heated lash curler after your mascara is dry. This technique works really well with mascaras like imju Fiberwig and blinc. I’ve also tried it with Buxom mascara and it smooths out the lumps but the heat will melt the mascara a bit and remove some.

The heated eyelash curler runs on a single AA battery. I’ve been using it every other day for the last month and the battery is still good. The first couple times you use it, it will heat up very quickly and get very hot. Be careful! Each subsequent time, it will take a little longer for it to reach full temperature, but so far it’s still been quick – a minute or less. I haven’t tried using a rechargeable battery in this yet.

This is definitely the best tool investment I have made! If you have trouble with curling your lashes, be sure to check out a tool like this.

I share a bathroom with my sister. It isn’t fun, but it has its advantages. For example, when I ran out of mascara and asked if I could borrow hers. She said yes and immediately launched into a rant about how her mascara is amazing and I’m going to love it. I mentally rolled my eyes.

I take my skepticism back. Diorshow waterproof mascara is my favorite to this day. It lengthens. It volumizes. It’s magic.

The brush is thick and straight, which I find easier to maneuver than curved brushes, and it narrows at the tip so you can get the lashes at the corners of your eyes without blotting mascara everywhere. It’s $24 (at Sephora) and worth every cent.

It’s bold and full, and I mention it first because it’s the standard to which I hold all other mascaras. Why am I even looking? I love trying new things, and maybe I can find something good at a better price in the process. Sometimes all I need is a quick fix but all I can find is a drugstore. And not everyone wants to pay $24 for mascara — thus my search for a more frugal substitute begins.

This week I tried Maybelline’s Waterproof Define-A-Lash Lengthening Mascara in Brownish Black, which is supposed to define and lengthen. It looks okay, but it doesn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat or anything. I kept applying more, waiting for the length to show up. I felt like my shorter lashes got lumped together with my longer lashes, which certainly makes them stand out, but that’s not really defining each lash — and it comes at the price of volume.

Maybe it was the awful brush. I didn’t pay attention to the packaging when I bought it, but the brush is “flexible” and “shaped to the lash,” which I translate to cheap, flimsy and oddly-shaped. Honestly, the shape might not be so bad if it stayed in place, but I could feel it bending while applying it to my lashes and I don’t understand how this is a good thing. That is a smudge waiting to happen while you’re in a rush, already running late for work. Not that I would know…

Pros: $8.29 and it really is waterproof. I went to the gym, sweated like a hothouse tomato and still had great eye makeup when my workout was over. No raccoon eyes for me.

Cons: The lengthening effect was unsatisfactory. My lashes don’t look any longer than they do with any non-lengthening mascara. Hooray for returns policies.

I’m not ready to give up on Maybelline yet, though. They make like 20 different mascaras. This morning I tried their Waterproof Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Mascara in Very Black, which is supposed to give your lashes length and volume. I’m happy to report it does both.

The brush is, thankfully, not flexible, though they’re still doing something fancy with the shape. This had me worried. I always think that if a product is good, it doesn’t need gimmicky selling points like a loop-de-loop brush that glows in the dark and doubles as a vibrator. Curvy shapes get in my way more than actually helping. I think it’s because I know where the straight brush is going to go, whereas the curve of a brush might not end up where I think it will, and that is how I end up poking my eye…like I did this morning.

But it looks pretty good. You get length and some volume, and my lashes don’t feel stuck together.  It’s not quite as full a look as I would like, but for $8.49 I don’t expect miracles. I would say you definitely get your money’s worth. Lash Stiletto is a good drugstore brand choice that gets the job done.

Pros: It’s a good look for the price, length + volume.

Cons: Brush is unnecessarily curvy, but some people like that.