False lashes without a tiny tube of glue in sight. It might be a miracle.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that false lashes are a pain in the a** to apply.
Even if you’ve clocked beauty-vlogger status you’re still going to get that weird ‘eyes glued together’ feeling, and the classic ‘2 am edge-flicked-loose’ look that makes the night look far wilder than the sedate girls-drinks it actually is.
If you’re in the novice camp, you’ll still be trying to navigate that window of when the glue is ridiculously sticky and when it’s dried too much and gone rubbery, refusing to adhere to that finicky inner corner. Then you sigh, pull it off, taking most of your eye makeup with it and have to start all over again.
Which is why we were trés excited to learn about a little beauty innovation known as magnetic liner and lashes. They’ve been buzzed about overseas for a few months but they’re finally available here with the arrival of Glam Pro by Manicare’s magnetising eyeliner and lash system.
WIN WITH MISS FQ: We have two sets of Glam by Manicare magnetic lash systems to give away on Instagram – click here to enter, it’s super easy!
As you might have guessed, these aren’t the magnetic lashes that clip together, sandwiching your natural lashes in between.
Instead, you stick on a black eye liquid liner that contains minuscule magnetising particles just above your natural lash line.
Each strip of lashes has three tiny magnets on its base. Position the strip as you normally would bringing them close to the liner. The magnets will ‘grab’ or ‘click into place on top of the liner and the lash strip will stay there until you remove by gently lifting off.
The lashes are said to last for 20 wears and the liner for 50 applications.
It sounds like one of those ‘where have you been all my life?” inventions, but it also sounds too good to be true, so three of Miss FQ team put their hands up to them a trial run.
Megan says:
“I’ve worn lashes a lot in the past and I LOVE the way they look, but recently they’ve been saved for special occasions only as it still takes me a bit of maneuvering to get them on, so these seem like a clever idea.
I’m super fussy about eyeliner so the first thing I’m into is that the wand has a worthy-of-Bardot brush that delivers a nice fine, precise line that can be built up slowly. If you find liquid tricky you could always put some on the back of your hand and apply with an angle brush.
Once the liner dried I pinched the lash between my thumbs and index fingers and pressed them into place. The good thing is, if you don’t get them in the right position you can move the strip completely away and then try again without messing up your makeup. I needed to keep pushing each end into place until they found the liner and started to grip and I also found once on, I needed to inch the strip down closer to my natural lash line. The second time I wore them, I put more liner right into the base of my lashes, as well as making the line slightly thicker at the inner corners so there was enough grip there.
Once on they look great, didn’t irritate my eyes like lash glue can occasionally do, and I couldn’t feel them. After a couple of hours I did notice one of the magnets had detached in the middle and was starting to bulge outwards but it was easily pushed back into place with my finger. I used a mirror but I didn’t need to.
I liked that there’s a choice of two lash styles, the Willow, which is a natural look and the Khloe, which is super glam, so you’ve got options, and they came off in literally one second at the end of the night.”
Emma says:
“I’m a total novice when it comes to lashes, and whenever I’ve tried glue-on falsies in the past I’ve become frustrated and usually ended up abandoning the endeavour altogether. So naturally I was intrigued.
The hardest part for me was the eyeliner, as I never usually wear it, so I lack the deft hand to apply a perfect winged eye à la Alexa Chung or Lily Rose Depp. The magnetising eyeliner is on the runnier side, so requires some patience (at least for me) and I recommend allowing it to dry completely, as well as adding a second coat.
Once that was applied however, attaching the magnetic lashes was a breeze – they pretty much just fell into place, with a little bit of adjusting at each corner. I would recommend wear them with darker eye makeup, to minimise the visibility of the lash ends, but they’re a great option if you’re anything like me and short on skill (or time).”
Maxine says:
“The problem for me isn’t always getting the lashes on, it’s getting the lashes off and this product is my new favourite as it solves that very issue. After an evening out, when I come home I want a pain-free and quick move into bed, but I’ve found that taking my lashes off properly (so that I won’t do any damage to my natural lashes) can hold me back from this direct beeline to the covers.
The great thing about these lashes is that they’re so quick and simple to take off! I don’t have to spend time carefully picking and peeling and I know that my natural lashes won’t get tangled up in these ones.”
Glam Pro by Manicare Magnetising eyeliner, $49.99 and Glam Pro by Manicare Magnetic Willow and Khloe lashes, $15.99 each are available from Unichem and Life Pharmacies, Farmers and manicare.co.nz
