For the wedding we attended Friday evening, Mama treated Pookie and me to professional eye makeup. It had sadly been a while since I’d had someone else do my makeup, and I was thrilled. After delivering lovely, demure smoky eyes to my mom and Pook, Rachel at R.J. West in Huntington asked me what direction I’d like her to take with my eyes. I told her not to hold back–the bigger the drama, the better.
What Rachel delivered was an absolutely gorgeous, shimmering pink-and-purple-and-gold smoky eye with false lashes in three different lengths that made my peepers look at once glamorous and ultra-sexy. Josh was swooning. Rachel warned me not to pull on the falsies and added that, if I took extra-special care of them, they could last up to a week. I decided to put her to the test. I’d never attempted to keep a temporary lash going longer than one night, so it’s been trial-and-error since Friday. Here’s what I found:
Rule #1: Leave your lashes alone!
The night of, I went home and washed the lower half of my face as usual. For the forehead, I utilized a gentle dabbing method so as not to have a river of water and soap running down towards my eyes. On me, shadow tends to melt away by the end of an evening, so to remove the rest was easy. I simply took a Q-tip and dabbed it in water-based eye makeup remover, applying it as you would an eraser to the remaining makeup left on my eyes. Basta!
Rule #2: Be a sleeping beauty
I tend to sleep on my stomach for two reasons–first, if I’m on my back the snoring keeps Josh up all night. Second, it’s more comfy than the side. But if you fall asleep on your stomach with false lashes on, you will wake up looking incredibly wonky. Try to fall asleep on your back. If you need to be on your side, move your pretty little face to the very edge of the pillow so that you can blink without feeling any lashes brush against anything more than air. Rest easy knowing your lashes will bounce back in the morning beautifully.
Rule #3: Shower with care
Steam from hot water can melt lash glue, leaving you with missing chunks. Yikes! I took a cool shower in the morning and kept my face away from the stream of water the entire time. Wait till after your shower to wash your face, so you can repeat the method detailed above.
Rule #4: Chill with the makeup
First, heavy liner atop false lashes is too much for day (even for this makeup buff). Second, the more makeup you apply, the more you’ll have to remove, which is risky when trying to keep your falsies intact. I left my top lids entirely alone, adding only some black pencil smudged along my bottom lid line, bronzer all around, and a smear of pink gloss. Perfect for day! If you must doll up in the evening, use a narrow line of black liquid liner on your top lid, and let it flake off naturally rather than using makeup remover at the end of the evening.
Rule #5: No tears! Crying will melt your lash glue and also lends to rubbing, blotting, and other non-lash-friendly gestures. It might sound vain, but when a family member made me so angry on Saturday I felt I might cry, I looked up toward the sky to keep the tears at bay and then focused on other things in the hope of keeping my lashes intact. It worked!
That’s about it! I’m on Day Four and going strong. Hope these easy tips work for you too! Have fun dolls.
