Yo!
We’re back at #TFCBeautyTalk where I’ll pick a topic and elaborate on it. This series was born from several topics that I had wanted to discuss for a really long time, but never could find the right way to express it. By categorizing it in a specific section, there’s a channel for me to pour out my thoughts.
It’s not necessarily a review, but there’s a story behind every topic. There’s something that I can relate to. With the beauty world being so complex, diverse yet saturated at the same time, I feel that it’s important for me to stay true to myself and not falling into what is in trend all the time.
Well. Enough rambling. I hope I make some kind of sense.
The topic is False Lashes.
Screenshot from Google.com
HA! Who doesn’t know False Lashes? *silence* I think even if you’re not a beauty junkie, if you’re just a ‘commoner’, you might still know about this particular embellishment for the eyes.
Even though the trend never dies, in the past couple of years, false lashes (falsies) are making even bigger waves in the beauty community. I see a lot of new local Indonesian brands creating their own line of falsies. They have their own unique way of presenting and promoting the line, despite some of the actual falsies looking the same from one another *ahem*
Anyway, a few years ago, I was an avid user of falsies. I would wear them almost everyday. I bought them cheap in bulk so there’s no hard feelings when I had to throw them out. The main reason that I used them was because my own lashes are very thin and sparse, most mascaras didn’t work on me. There wasn’t any tangible results from trying out different mascaras. It’s a different story now, will explain later. So yeah, falsies were definitely undoubtedly a quick solution.
One night, when I tried to remove the falsies, something bad happened. Really bad.
As I pulled the falsies carefully, it was as if the skin on my lash line was being pulled out as well. I was left with a red, raw lash line. On both eyes. I couldn’t even describe the pain. It was extremely agonizing. That night, removing my eye makeup was probably one of the most torturous experiences I had to endure. And that continued for about a week or so. I couldn’t wear any eyeliner or eye makeup because that lash line was still raw and healing. My eyes looked slightly swollen and the pain continued whenever I have to wash my face.
To be honest, at that time, I thought it was my fault, might had pulled the falsies a little too fast or something, like yanking a strip of wax. So, to my silly-unknowing self, I did wear falsies again once my eyes were healed. Lo and behold, the same thing happened AGAIN. And the whole debacle repeated itself. AGAIN.
This time, I knew it’s not my fault, because I was being extra gentle, delicately removing the falsies. It had to be the falsies. My friends said that it could’ve been the eyelash glue that gave me the reaction. Funnily enough, I never used a different glue. And when I did change it, the reaction was still the same. AGAIN.
Three times and I learned exactly my lesson. No more falsies for me.
So what did I do? Relying on mascaras, the Japanese ones to be exact. After a few tries here and there, I found the ones that actually make a difference. With a help of my good friend, Jess, I found a combination that’s lengthening, volumizing and the curl actually hold up until I take it off. I was ecstatic to see that my lashes are not that hopeless.
The incidents happened long before these new local brands emerged to the market. Thanks to the traumatic experience and lesson I got from contact lenses, I didn’t get tempted. OK, I did a few times but every time I remember how bad my lash lines were, I flinched. The stinging, blistering pain was still seared in my brain.
Recently, I started to wear them again but only on special occasions, usually wedding receptions. The application’s not perfect yet, my hands are still shaky from years off of falsies. And I make sure I apply a thicker eyeliner as a barrier between my skin and the lash glue. Thank goodness, I didn’t suffer anything bad, so far. I will not deny that falsies make my eyes more open and all that. Oy, I sure feel more confident when I wear a pair. BUT, I’m still not going to wear them on a daily basis like I used to. Too risky.
So there you go, despite several urges wanting to try new falsies, I’m happy with how things are now. There’s nothing to be bragged about my natural lashes, but on several occasions I got compliments once in a while. Some people think I wore falsies, even my own mother. Well, the credits go to these mascaras, obviously!
My SO was very kind saying that I don’t need them because my own lashes are good enough. *insert aww moment here*.
At the end, the biggest lesson from this experience is to work with what I already have. It may not be much, but I sure can make the best of it ;)
