Fantastic Lashes

With the festive season upon us, it's time to get glammed up and into the party spirit. False eyelashes are a great way to add instant glamour to any make-up. They can be as bold and dramatic as you like or if you prefer a more subtle look, just a few individual lashes on the outside corners of your eyes can make them shine.

Individual lashes are brilliant for adding depth and length while still keeping the look quite natural. Concentrate them on the outer half of your eyes for an instant lift or apply across the whole lash line for a fuller effect. Gently hold the lashes with your tweezers, dip them in the glue and then lay them on top of your own lashes. The key is to get the lashes as close to your lash line as possible without actually touching the skin.

Strip lashes can give you more of a dramatic look, when deciding which ones to use, think about what kind of effect you are trying to create. If you want more of a feline eye then choose lashes that have more length on the outside edges to wing them up and out. For more of a wide eyed doll look then go for lashes that have more length in the middle. Eylure and Shu Uemura have a great selection to choose from.

Here are some tips for easy application -

• Before you start squeeze a small amount of glue onto the back of your hand.
• Apply some eyeliner along the lashline - just in case you don't get the strip as close as you would like, you won't have any skin showing!
  
• Check the length of the strip against your lashline and trim if needed.
• Bend the the strip around a pencil to make it more pliable, then using tweezers, dip it into the glue making sure you have it all the way along the strip, especially at the ends, by now the glue should be tacky which makes it much easier to control.
• Place lash as close to your lash line as possible, check the position and gently hold in place until glue dries.

If you find strip lashes a bit too much or that the ends always come unstuck, try cutting one lash in half so you get two mini ones, you'll find these much easier to manage, stick to the outer edges for a sexy flick up. If you want to go for all out glamour, try customising your own by doubling sets up for a look that will get you noticed!

If you love the idea of lashes but are worried about applying them yourself, get someone else to do it! Shu Uemura have opened eight pop up lash bars across the UK to help get you party ready, so no excuses!!