Once upon a time I promised to discuss my experience with Japanese mascaras. I am finally doing it. This post will most likely only interest those of you with short, straight, sparse eyelashes, or perhaps it will not interest anyone. Ha!
Anyway, I have never been a mascara wearer. It always irritated my eyes, and I never felt like it did much to enhance my eyes or anything. When the tube mascaras such as Fiberwig and Blinc Kiss Me came out, though, I became curious. The tube mascaras are waterproof yet easy to remove. You just wet your lashes, rub them between your fingertips, and SLIDE off the little “tubes” of mascara that have formed around your lashes.
SO, last year when I went to Japan, I picked up a couple mascaras to try. The red tube is Opera MyLash and the cute floral tube is a limited edition of Fiberwig. My preference, hands down, is the Opera MyLash. As you can see in the photo above, the Opera MyLash has the smaller brush, which is much better when you barely have any lashes at all. The fat Fiberwig brush was essentially too large for my lashes, and I couldn’t maneuver it to get much coverage on my sad stubby lashes. I also tend to be somewhat uncoordinated and prone to stabbing myself in the eye or elsewhere with the mascara wand. It is much easier to control the Opera MyLash wand if you have similar issues.
Okay, so the third and very critical piece is the tube on the very top in the first photo. It is a battery operated, heated eyelash curler! NO JOKE! And it is like magic! Again, if you have short, straight lashes, it is really difficult to use one of those manual eyelash curlers. I tend to clamp my eyelid into it, and that is rather painful. Also, those curlers don’t really work that well for the stubborn Asian lashes. I have found that if I apply mascara then use the heated curler, my eyelashes actually curl! I don’t know if it is that noticeable to anyone, and really, who is getting that close to my face to notice, but it is really fun. Panasonic Heated Eyelash Curler
is like the one I have.I have a couple other mascaras “in reserve” that I am going to try, but so far my favorite is Opera MyLash. I have been pretty lazy about putting on mascara lately, but maybe it’s time to start up again. If you have any suggestions or questions, please let me know!
Thanks for the tips! I definitely have the same problem and my eyelid is so fat that it always gets in the way with every aspect of mascara and eye makeup! I’ll definitely try out the “tube” mascara- that is Fascinating!
I’m going to have to try out that tube mascara!! And definitely need a heated eyelash curler!!
Ok, this has nothing to do with mascara but I can’t post a comment under your last post about pens. I just ran out & bought 30 Pentel RSVPs at Staples. I had to tell somebody that and who would understand but you? I just can’t get them in the immediate vicinity, hence the stock up.
Btw, your brother is very cute. And the cake looks crushing.
I love Fiberwig! When my friends and family go back to Asia I ask them to bring me multiple tubes since it’s about $10 cheaper there. I’m gonna have to try the eyelash curler now! I have moderate success with the Shu Uemura clamping kind but the heated one looks so fun!
Thanks for this post. Very helpful.
Do you look down when you’re putting the mascara on or straight ahead? You should look down, it lengthens your lashes and helps get the mascara on the whole lash.
Oh my goodness, I have always had perfectly straight eyelashes and have always had a big fail with the eyelash curlers. I have never heard of the heated ones though! I may have to try…
I don’t have a problem with sparse lashes, but I find that my eyelashes are pale enough at the base that I use mascara just to make sure that people can see my eyes.
Of course, I only do that when I’m wearing contacts, those infrequent times of the year. I feel that if I am wearing glasses that the mascara just can’t do enough to make my eyes more of a focus.
U r so funny!
But I have to tell you that I was reading this and wondering, “Has Eggplant been living under a rock? Does she not know that mascara ALWAYS comes in tubes? Does she think this is some newfangled invention, putting mascara in a tube?”
Anyway I have no eyelashes to speak of (this is also a trait of the Pale Nordic Folk, I think) but a lady who did my makeup for a Recent Grand Event Requiring An Effort On My Part, used one of those heat-up curlers on me and it was a very good thing, very pleasant compared to the Eyelid Vise, and my eyes looked almost LASHY that day.
That’s all I have to say about THAT.
Thank you for posting about the heatset curler… I recally you had mentioned it in a previous post and I had inquired which one… My last manual curler just broke and the metal one I have hurts! (darn these short lashes!) I’ll be putting this on my ‘wishlist’… 🙂
I have the opposite problem. My eylashes are SO curly, they actually touch my eyelid…I have been thinking about using the “eyelid vise” (hehehe) to straighten my lashes…wonder if that would work, or rip out my eyelashes…
Hmm, I tried Blinc Kiss Me a few years ago, but gave up on it because it just kind of peeled off of my eyelashes as the day wore on, so I’d have these really unsightly things hanging off my eyelashes. It was like I was molting or something. Mascara doesn’t seem to do well with me, anyhow, and it often crumbles off throughout the day so I look like Ozzy Osborn by day’s end. Is this too much information? Must be that late night glass of port I’m drinking right now…