Unabashed LASH
SCAN the celebrity tabloids, flip on daytime TV or even the national news and you’ll see them. Amid the amazingly ample breasts, the unlined foreheads and the full lips are sets of long, dense, fluttery eyelashes.
You may cynically, and rightly, assume that implants, Botox and collagen have worked their magic on more than a few of these body parts. Guess what? The lashes are fake too.
Look closely at Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and a long list of cable news anchors and you’ll spot the telltale signs: thick eyeliner (to hide the false-lash strip edges); lashes that nearly touch the brows (only freaks of nature grow them so long); a spidery pattern of spikes that would make Liza Minnelli proud.
The old obsession over big lips has given way to a new fetish for big lashes. It started with the troupes of thick-lashed lasses walking the runways for lofty fashion houses. Fashion magazines and celebrity stylists picked up on the notion, and now the rest of us are buying record numbers of “fortified” mascaras and flocking to salons offering the latest beauty fad: eyelash extensions. False eyelashes have lost their tarty image and are stopping traffic at upscale cosmetic counters, such as at Barneys New York and Saks Fifth Avenue.
And at last, top makeup artists are coming clean about how they make the stars’ eyes shine so bright. “False eyelashes are the best-kept secret in makeup,” said Vincent Longo. “I’ve been doing lashes for 22 years, and I don’t think false lashes have ever left my kit.”
Lash extensions are creating the most buzz. In the painstaking, two-hour process, a technician glues about two dozen individual, artificial lashes onto each eyelid’s natural lashes, one by one by one. (If the technician is careless, the glue can catch a clump of lashes; see story, Page 24.) The service is becoming popular nationwide. Locally, it can cost $150 in a Pasadena nail parlor, $250 in a Beverly Hills hair salon or $45 in a Beverly Boulevard permanent makeup boutique. Some practitioners say the single lashes are an aesthetic improvement over the three-lash, semi-permanent lashes that have been around for 30 years or more and that cost less than $10 at a drugstore.
Unlike mascara or false eyelashes, the new extensions can remain in place for four to six weeks. The investment of time and money makes eyelash extensions an option for women who want round-the-clock, low-maintenance glamour.
Never mind the time and expense of upkeep, with refills at $35 to $100. Eyelash extensions are becoming so popular that an Orange County extensions-only salon called Luscious Lashes opened four months ago in Laguna Niguel.
“We live and breathe lash extensions,” said owner Sheri Mansur,who charges $175 for a full set; $35 for refills.
Still, mascara remains the top choice for enhancing lashes. There are more mascara varieties than ever -- thickening, lengthening, curling, volumizing, nourishing, stretching, push-up, padded, whatever. Mintel’s Global New Products Database counted 176 new eyelash enhancement products, mostly mascara, that were released last year, up from just 48 in 2002.
Though some mascaras may achieve a Tammy Faye-meets-Twiggy blackness, most women aim to look natural, said David Woolf, vice president of sales for American International Industries in Commerce, parent company to Ardell and Andrea brands and the country’s largest manufacturer of false eyelashes.
“I call them a prosthetic cosmetic,” said Woolf. “They don’t want to be seen without them.” As a result, once a woman adopts false eyelashes, she’s likely to stick like glue to one particular style. False eyelash strips, if carefully handled and kept clean and free of mascara, can last indefinitely, according to Woolf. Further, the latex-based glues for false eyelashes have a long safety record, according to the state Department of Health.
To make that first, crucial experience with false eyelashes easier, American International created $5.49 starter kits for their brands that include adhesive, a moderate style of lashes and an eyelid-wide applicator that looks like an overgrown tweezer.
October is a crucial time of year for the false eyelash industry. Among the many women who don a pair of purple glitter lashes for Halloween, one or two may convert to daily wear -- of something somewhat tamer. But unlike years past, when false eyelashes were sold mainly in drug or grocery stores, lash neophytes now are getting application help at upscale department stores.
As false eyelashes gradually shed their tarty image, cosmetics companies such as M.A.C, Shu Uemura and Vincent Longo have begun offering false eyelashes at Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York or their own tony boutiques, training the sales staff in application techniques.
Makeup artists at M.A.C counters and boutiques teach customers how to trim lashes to fit their eyelids and demonstrate how to blend eyeliner to conceal the lash band (use a very thin brush and apply fast-drying eyeliner or shadow).
Gregory Arlt, director of makeup artistry for M.A.C, prefers his foolproof method to apply false eyelashes: Apply mascara to curled, natural lashes, then run the trimmed-to-fit false lashes through a dot of lash adhesive and let it dry until it’s tacky, about 30 seconds. Apply the lash close to the base of your natural lashes, pinch the natural and false lashes to mesh them together, and -- presto! Sex appeal!
Professional makeup artists such as Arlt and Longo routinely apply the lashes on celebrity clients and models. Behind the scenes, cosmetics companies are pushing the idea. The Bobbi Brown company sent Soul Lee, the in-house lash and brow artist, to work with celebrities at the Oscars in February. Houston-based Novalash Inc., an eyelash extension manufacturer, set up a lash studio before the recent Emmy Awards. The fat-lash look gets momentum every time one of the new starlets bats her butterflies before the cameras. (Maybe they’re like built-in sunglasses and deflect the glare?)
When Longo included false eyelashes in his namesake makeup collection, it was as if he gave his and high fashion’s blessing to the art of enhanced lashes. Now his line features a popular $14 pair of demi lashes that are about a third of the eyelid’s length and a $16 demi lash curler to upturn just the outer lashes (to avoid that startled look).
With just a touch of false eyelashes at the outer edges, lashes look more convincingly natural. But if the fat lash trend gains more momentum, natural may not be the point much longer. Any minute now, it will be perfectly natural to wear lashes that look fake just for fake’s sake.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Run your eyes over the options
Mascara
Cost: $2.99 to $25 a tube
Ease of application: Just a wave of the wand; wipe brush on tissue to prevent clumps.
Durability: About eight hours, though water-soluble can flake off within hours and waterproof can feel stiff.
Best bets: Top mass-market sellers are Max Factor’s Stretch and Separate and Maybelline’s Sky High Curves, each about $6.99. M.A.C Zoomlash gets them good and dark, long and distinct, $10.
Sex appeal: Like the high-heeled shoe -- commonplace, but killer in the right context.
*
False eyelashes
Cost: $3.50 to $14 per set
Ease of application: Landing sticky strips gets easier with practice (it can take about 30 seconds once you’re good at it). Well-applied lashes give maximum drama and style choices. First-timer tips: Trim strips to fit your lid; apply liquid or dark powder eyeliner to obscure and blend the strip’s ends.
Durability: With proper positioning, they stay put until you peel them away; reusable.
Best bets: Andrea and Ardell are strong, pretty and handmade of human hair, for less than $4 a set.
Sex appeal: Like fancy lingerie for the eyes. Use when necessary.
*
Eyelash extensions
Cost: $45 to $250; refills $35 to $100
Best bets: Lavish Lashes and Novalash are two top manufacturers that stress training and safety. Look for licensed, experienced technicians equipped with comfortable, well-lighted stations.
Ease of application: Requires sitting perfectly still for up to two hours. Lashes will be stiff and require special care. The dried glue may irritate skin and cause swelling.
Durability: Extensions can last about six weeks -- even through water and heat.
Sex appeal: Like having breast implants. Done well, they’re your secret.
-- Valli Herman
