I used to be the friend who would have a line outside her room right before a sorority formal, with all my friends asking me to do their makeup before the big event. But lately I feel like it's harder to keep up with trends, and my special-event look hasn't changed much with the times. I'd like to feel more like I had a rotating repertoire of fancy night-out looks, but all I have is my tried and true gradient eyeshadow. I also had five wedding and/or wedding-adjacent events within two months, so I almost needed a way to step up my evening makeup.
So when I saw an ad for magnetic lashes pop up on Facebook recently, I saw a quick-fix solution to my problem. I love wearing false lashes, but it always seemed like a special treat for when I got my makeup done professionally. Putting them on myself seemed hard and risky (I've worn them only at my own wedding and when I have been a bridesmaid). But as a regular, run-of-the-mill wedding guest, I thought magnetic eyelashes might up the glam factor of my looks without any sticky, weird glue that falls out in the middle of the party.
I told the folks at One Two Lash, the brainchild behind the viral falsies, about my busy wedding season and they sent me a set to try out. There are nines kinds of magnetic lashes to choose from: the "classic," a few bold pairs, a natural-looking set, and some fillers if you have lash sparseness. I went with the classic, since I didn't want them to look too fake or not be noticeable. I actually was totally ready to buy them myself, but because these lashes have become so popular, there was a 10-week waiting period for a set, and my first wedding was less than two weeks away. These lashes are crazy sought-after.
The box (which is also magnetic—thank you, lash gods, for correctly anticipating I'd lose them immediately) comes with two sets of right-eye lashes and two sets of left-eye lashes. I found this handy (a) because, as I mentioned, I do often lose things and (b) because sometimes I'd get frustrated with one set of lashes and switch to the other set, and something about starting over with a new pair would make them magically work.
The lashes are, on paper, pretty easy to use: You take out the top strip, line it up with the outer edge of your natural lashes and set the strip down on top of your lash line. Keeping your eye kind of half-open, you pick up the bottom strip (the bottom lashes have a red dot on the magnetic part to indicate which is which) and bring it up to your bottom lash line. As soon as it's close enough to the top strip, the magnets click into place and voilà! Lashy goodness.
But it was not that easy in reality. There is definitely a learning curve. The hardest parts for me were keeping the top strip lined up with my outer lashes—mine would often drift too far out to one side, so I'd have crazy lash wings when I snapped the bottom strip into place—and keeping them along your lash line. Sometimes I thought I did it right, but when I closed my eyes I'd see the strips were actually a good millimeter from where they needed to be to look natural.
The company says once you figure it out, you don't have trouble anymore, but I'd say I still had two or three false starts every time I went to put them on. Restarting is easy enough—I grab onto the attached magnets and slide them forward off my lashes, then separate them (carefully, or they can peel off the fishing wire) once they're off my eye.
In terms of doing my makeup to go with the lashes, there were a couple of hacks I learned on the go. Speaking from personal preference, I could not, for whatever reason, make these lashes look good with cat-eye liner—at every attempt, it just kept making my lashes look really fake. Otherwise, they're pretty versatile in terms of how I'd do the rest of my makeup; I thought they worked equally well with a smoky eye and more basic liner. I would do my eyeshadow and liner before I put the lashes on.
Also, my friends loved them. Almost every good girlfriend noticed my extra lash volume when I arrived at the weddings, and everyone was blown away that they were magnetized. One question I got a lot from my new lash fans was "Did you use mascara with them?" Yes and no. The first time I wore them, I wore my favorite night-out mascara, Benefit They're Real on all my lashes before I put on the magnetic lashes. Mistake. It was way too much—the mascara overpowered the false lashes and ended up making everything look kind of clumpy and weird.
So at all the other weddings, I just used one thin coat of a light, everyday mascara before using the magnets (mostly to make sure my lashes were an even black and didn't have any shadow stuck to them before putting on the falsies). Then I went back into the inner corners with They're Real to make sure everything looked proportional and even.
At $69, I thought these lashes are definitely worth the investment if you go to a lot of fancy events, or hey, if you just want long, thick lashes on the reg. Even if you're not a pro at glam makeup (like me), they instantly elevate your look and make what you're wearing feel really special. Through hours of sweaty dancing and millions of photo booth pics, I didn't have a single problem during any night where I needed to adjust them, and I didn't lose them either.
In fact, I lost one only once. I was taking them out at the end of a night and dropped one somewhere in my bathroom and wasn't able to find it. It turned up a few days later—the magnet was stuck to the metal tie of my husband's basketball shorts. Moral of the story: They're a godsend. Just maybe keep some metal on hand if you're the rip-off-and-pass-out type at the end of the night.
