Image: Unsplash
As much as we love the length, intensity, and drama-for-days that our beloved false eyelashes give us on a night out, we don't love throwing a set away after a single use - especially when we shell out up to R400 a pair.
Good news for false lash lovers, then, because you can in fact clean and reuse your lashes to take advantage of their full lifespan.
Facebook Group, 5-Minute Crafts, have shared a super simple hack for giving your lashes a clean that takes less than half an hour, using a makeup staple most of us have on our bathroom shelves - micellar water.
By filling a small bowl with micellar water and leaving your lashes to soak for 15 minutes, you can wash away all traces of mascara, glue and grime from a day's wear.
All you have to do afterwards is leave the lashes to dry on a piece of kitchen roll to soak up excess water, before combing them through with an old mascara wand.
If you've a little more time on your hands, celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg, who's worked with the likes of Rashida Jones, Kaley Cuoco and Busy Phillips, shared her failsafe way of cleaning your high street false eyelashes that should give us around a dozen wears per duo.
The secret, according to the makeup pro, is to "treat them like the dishes", and get in the habit of washing them after every use.
In the first instance, soak a cotton-bud in a water-based eye makeup remover, and carefully wipe any excess glue on the strip. "An oil-based remover will warp the lash,” she explained to Refinery29. “It can also leave a residue on the lash that might interfere with the tackiness of the glue or cause your makeup to run when you wear them next."
Next up, it's time to thoroughly clean the lashes themselves. Greenberg advises sandwiching them in between two tightly wound, makeup remover-soaked cotton buds and combing through to the tips with an old mascara wand. Once the lashes are completely dry, mist them with 96% or 99% alcohol to kill any bacteria, and place them back in their casesLastly, go easy on the mascara application when it comes to reusing your false lashes, as thick coats of product can be incredibly difficult to remove, and can even distort the shape of the lashes when cleaning. Cleaning falsies — and keeping their shape — becomes incredibly hard when trying to cut through coats upon coats of mascara," she notes.
Here's to a long and happy lash life.
[Via GLAMOUR UK]
