Beauty Trend - Long Exaggerated Eyelashes

Beauty Trend - Long Exaggerated Eyelashes by watereverysunday

 

Well, trends are as fickle as the spring showers. I remember writing about the strong brow trend last year then, we started seeing twiggy like and lash focused beauty looks all over the runways in recent fashion weeks. That said, it is safe to say great lashes are new strong brows?.!

This new lash trend had first appeared in Spring 2016 at Marni show with spidery and fake hair piece like extra long lashes. Then for last two seasons, we've seen more and more lash focused runway beauty looks such as feather lashes at the Valentino and lower eyelash paints at the Dior's and others.

Image: Marni Spring 2016 - livingly.com

As we all know, when it comes to eyelashes we just love them long, full and beautifully curved up and clumpy and spider legs like lashes are no no. 

Well, think again. This new lash trend is not about your traditional great show stopping eyelashes. It actually tells you that sometimes, overdressing them is not a bad idea. Clumpy lashes, winged shadow lashes and mod 60s twiggy inspired lashes.

In order to create this lash emphasized look, we apparently have to say bye bye to those strong brows in order not to compete for the look. Brows were rather left bare or kept at minimal, or even muted by foundation or shadows over. 

If you pause to think about it, this lash trend seems created in accordance with the current romantic chiffons, fringes and satin trends while strong brows pair well with something military, structural and oversized, sporty or strong pattern trends back then. 

However, you don't want to blindly follow trends and copycat. What you need to do is acknowledge the trend, be inspired and try for yourself. If you feel it has a too show-like look, try it for halloween or holiday parties, instead. Choice is yours.

As a bonus, read until the end to read about my lash growing story. I was not born or blessed with long or full lashes to begin with, but I did grow substantial amount of lashes over the course of my numerous effort and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I've never had long lashes in my life until then and it lasts. So I would like to share. 

 

Now, let's see what exaggerated lash trends we've seen so far.

 

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C L U M P Y    L A S H E S

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Clumpy lashes were seen at S/S19 Brandon Maxwell. While the rest of the face kept pretty clean and natural, lashes have several coats of black mascara to give that extra clumpy and smudged look with the same applied to the lower lashes.  Typically, many mascara tutorials say not to overcoat you lashes like just full 2 coats would be sufficient. In this case, feel free to add more coats until you get THAT clumpy lashes. 

Image: Brandon Maxwell Spring 2019 - livingly.com

Image: Brandon Maxwell Spring 2019 - livingly.com

Image: Brandon Maxwell Spring 2019 - livingly.com

 

 

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S H A D O W    W I N G E D   T W I G G Y   L A S H E S

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At the Prada Spring 2019 show, in addition to the twiggy like thick and clumpy lashes, pale brown wing/star burst lashes are drawn over the eyelids to give that fake long lash look, using 3D shadow effect. 

Image: Prada S/S 2019 - theinpression.com

Image: Prada S/S 2019 - theinpression.com

Image: Prada S/S 2019 - theinpression.com

 

 

U P S I D E   D O W N   L A S H E S

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These were more stage drawing events than traditional mascara makeup. At Dior Fall 2019 show, makeup artists created upside down doe-eye beauty looks using liquid eyeliners to match the collection's modern gothic theme with new veiled bucket hats. 

Image: Dior F/W 2019 - cbs.ca

Image: Dior F/W 2019 - elle.com

Image: Dior F/W 2019 - livingly

 

 

F E A T H E R   T R I M M E D  L A S H E S

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This beauty look easily belongs to opera and swan lake ballet stage customs, yet certainly appropriate for a couture collection at Valentino. Although this look is beautifully dramatic we are unable to wear this in daily setting. However, give it a try for Halloween and masquerade parties. In fact, there are many beautiful feather eyelashes out there for you to try.

Image: Valentino F/W 2019 - vogue.com

Image: Valentino F/W 2019 - allure.com

 

Image: Valentino F/W 2019 - vogue.com 

  

 

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L O N G  & D E F I N E D  L A S H E S

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This is probably the easiest look and classic beauty look for us to try. Chanel Spring 2019 collection took placed at beach side stage, titled as Chanel by seaside. Chanel's signature summer tweeds, matching fringe straw hats with models walking on sands with bare feet. The collection literally talks about glamorous city girls going to beach, their shoes off and walk on sands to enjoy the ocean view. The beauty look shows classical beauty with well defined long eyelashes by applying enough coat of mascara and pairing with bright pink coral lips. Brows are kept natural yet well groomed in light brown color kohl and using brow gels.  See below tutorial video to see how they achieved the look.

 

 

Image: Chanel S/S 2019 -  beautyalmanac.com

Image: Chanel S/S 2019 - fashionela.net

Image: Chanel S/S 2019 - fashionela.net 

 

 

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Now my lash growing Story...

Everyone wants naturally long and beautifully full eyelashes for sure. Who doesn't? Sadly though, I was not blessed with long nor full lashes. In order to maximize what I have and in the hope of having longer looking natural eyelashes, I started to perm my lashes at an eyelash perm place. I did not want eyelash extension since they don't look natural to me and I heard many horror stories of natural lashes being suffocated underneath and falling off. 

Eyelash perm did make my eyelashes look longer, lifting them from the roots and curled up. And I was happy with how my lashes/eyes look in overall. With permed and curled lashes my eyes looked bigger and awaken even without mascaras. Yet since eyelash perm is a chemical process, it made my eyelashes brittle and fried right after the session and without the clear lash gel I have to live with overly processed lashes for a week for them settle down to look natural. 

Image: topratedmascaras.com

 

Then I noticed my beautician has unnaturally long eyelashes like the photo above. I asked if hers were extension. She said natural the she suggested a product called Careprost which is generic version of Latisse. Latisse was first developed to treat glaucoma then patients found their lash growing as side effect and then relaunched as lash growth product. Careprost and Latisse both have exact same active ingredient and concentration, 0.03% bimatoprost. Since one of my friends used Latisse and gushed about it with her dramatic lash growth when it first came out, I was immediately sold.

Careprost (Bimatoprost) 0.03% 3ml 

Latisse (Bimatoprost) 0.03% 3ml 

 

I'd previously tried other lash growing conditioner/serum on the market however the results weren't so dramatic and I experienced some lash shedding cycles which wasn't so pleasant.

So I was intrigued and excited to try careprost. You can get careprost thru prescription or somewhere online. Though, she did warn me about some side effects and I need to apply very very little amount and monitor my reaction to the product first.

Side effects reported are eye pressure, sunken eyes or darker or red skin around the eyes until my eyes build some tolerance to the product. I didn't take that advice seriously, then yikes! After applying two full coats of the solution along my eye lines, I experienced heavy pressure over my eyes (eye balls felt squeezed hard) also bad headaches. Also skin around my eyes were getting red! by the next day my eyes looked quite sunken. Geez. I looked sick! and I was scared.

Here was my mistake. I applied the solution using Q-tip as my beautician suggested but I felt there wasn't enough application. But most of all, since I was having these commonly reported side effects, I stopped using it. 

At the time of use, I was also using another product called Revitalash Advanced, which I bought on an online hype. The price has since gone up a lot a lot compared to when I bought it in the past was at $30 range for 3ml tube!

 

RevitaLash Advanced 1ml, 2ml & 3ml $55-$150 

 

This actually worked a bit for me but my growth was slow and hard to notice. But most of all, I had this weird cycle of falling lashes every month and a half or so, then they would grow longer by new cycles after. So overall, it did grew my lashes but slowly with lash falling cycles. The eyelashes do have about 30-45 days growth phase so it makes sense but, I did not like the falling lashes part. 

There were a couple of other products I have tried recommended by others or found online however, the results were similar to or less than revitalash advanced with the similar lash falling experience without dramatic growth.

Since I was scared by side effects of careprost, I stopped using it. After a week, my sunken eyes and red skin around eyes went back to normal. Then I finished Revitalash bottle. 

There, what I did was I washed off the empty revitalash bottle and add 3 drops of careprost in it. I just felt that the thin brush of revitalash was great for application with a right amount of product. 3 drops actually filled the tube! I used just one coat of the careprost using the revitalash tube and brush applicator. No side effects experienced this time - no red or sunken eyes at the time of use or on the next day. I skipped a day and applied every other day - just one thin coat using the thin brush from tube. 

In a week or two of time, I saw my eyelashes growing noticeably, I could see from side view of face and the growth was definitely there. And by the next visit to my eyelash perm, my beautician mentioned of dramatic growth of my lashes and she needed to use bigger lash perm rolls and the eyelash perm results really confirmed the growth! Wow! I never had long eyelashes this long in my life! I was so happy and I continue using the careprost every other day. Since I have not experience any side effects.

The whole bottle lasted really long time almost a year by using this way. I stored the careprost in the refrigerator and only opened to refill the empty revitalash bottle. In my opinion the dosage and application needs to be administered to avoid the unwanted side effects and increase the efficacy. I personally have no idea why the manufacturers do not conduct dosage studies for efficacy and to find ways to minimize side effects, It is clear that the side effect is caused by incorrect dosage and use/application. They can come out with better applicator packaging to minimize the side effects. I see that currently brushes come with the products but they aren't so great. Plastic Q-tip even works better than that. 

Careprost contained about 0.03% ingredient, same as Latisse yet Lumigan has about 0.01% of active ingredient so if you are using Lumigan you might see slower growth but less side effects experienced by the higher concentration versions.

Anyways, I was happy with my lash growth and they really grew longer and when curled it was hitting almost my skin right under my brows! But most of all, I did not experience any lash falling with careprost, different from other lash growth serums. My beautician also confirm this with her usage. How interesting!

However, I felt my lashes weren't so strong enough, only long. My lashes were indeed long but thinner than my normal lashes. Then, I started using castor oil which is also know as natural lash grower, with the carprost and castor oil, I started to notice my lashes getting thicker, fuller and darker. Before, when my long lashes were pulled they will fall but with castor oil, my lashes were stronger and do not fall by weak pulling. However, somehow this make my eyelash perms last shorter and I had to go to perm more frequently. My beautician told me castor oil would make the perm less effective since the lashes got thicker then by applying the oil the viscosity will weigh down the lashes to become straighter faster. 

All makes sense. So there was my story. My lashes do get shorter if I stop using careprost but it was able to maintain substantial length nonetheless. Castor oil alone does make them strong and help grow them but the major length growth came from using careprost/latisse. Therefore, if you really want long lashes, I recommend you try careprost/lastisee/lumigan in combination with castor oil. 

Though, I strongly recommend using them with caution and I also recommend buy an empty tube with 'liquid eyeliner brush' to apply it to avoid the unwanted side effects. We can find them on amazon or online. Castor oil you do not need applicator but finger tips. Some comes with mascara brush but the oil is thick and brush can collect dirt and get messy. I just use finger tips and apply over lashes. It is fairly safe as castor oil is also traditionally used for glaucoma condition. 

  

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE BLOG POST AND HAPPY GREAT LASHES EVERYONE!!