The Most-Feared Beauty Tool

What's so scary about an eyelash curler? A lot, say many girls I've worked with. You may have a foreign object coming at your eye, but I say this makes everything ok. To me, this is a miracle beauty tool and I can't live without it. Even if I don't have time for mascara, I'll still be sure to curl my lashes with my eyelash curler (my eyelash curler of choice happens to be the cult-favorite shu uemura).

Recently I was doing makeup for one of my best friends before a night out on the town. LRS wanted her eyes to be simple and subtle so a simple golden brown palette was definitely in order. When I finished there, I moved on to the lashes. At first, she was nervous (she always gets nervous when I even pull out the eyelash curler). But once I prepped her lashes for mascara with the eyelash curler, we were good to go. I put on her mascara and her lashes were looking great. The final step was to curl the lashes again for extra length.

Tip: Let your lashes dry for a few minutes before you use your eyelash curler again so that your lashes don't stick to the eyelash curler and you don't need to yank it from your eyes.

As I went to curl her lashes, I pinched her a little and her reaction was to jump back because she got very nervous. As soon as I felt her move I let my grip go. I didn't want to hurt her. In the end, all was well. A few lashes were lost, but it was all good. This just goes to show you that you always need to talk to your client and understand them, their needs, and even their fears. Next time, I'll definitely have LRS use the eyelash curler on herself!

See below for some of my Twitter followers and what they had to say about eyelash curlers (I think those scared of it were too intimidated to answer.. only kidding)! And don't forget to follow me on Twitter!!

@CoverFX: I love my eyelash curler b/c my lashes do not have a natural curl and are short!

@ChicRen: LOVE them! With 2 minutes (60 seconds each eye) I'm able to go from "blah" to "cute"...

@amyaubrey: Dont really have feelings either way but we've been together a while and aside from an occasional pinch to my lid it's always been good 2 me

@GinaLaGuardia: I actually used to NOT mind eyelash curlers. I'd even heat it up with the hairdryer first. No wonder I have extensions now. LOL.

@CaitPLUSlin: Survey says: I cannot live without them. Literally. I have about 3 or 4 of them because I never want to be without one.

-A

Ultimate Disappointment

I have been on the hunt for another mascara. Now, I know what you must be thinking - you already use so many! But as I have said many times I am a firm believer that when using mascara, more is MORE!! Daily, I use about four different mascaras and, no, it doesn't take long at all!! My makeup is done in five minutes flat.

I ALWAYS use Mac Prep and Prime and Mac Zoom, without substitutions. To add to this daily combination, I decided to try shu uemura's Ultimate Expression mascara and I was totally disappointed. I mean it literally felt like there was no improvement in my lashes at all. The formula, itself, was kind of dull as well so overall it was just a bad purchase. THANK GOD Sephora will exchange almost anything for you because $23 was a lot to spend on a bad product.

It's back to the drawing board for me, but I'm sure I'll be able to get a good review up for all you Makeup Lovers soon!! Until then, keep searching and let us know what your cant-live-without mascara is!

-S

shu uemura IS Fantastic

I feel like I need to counter, or add to, our very first post. At that time, I was still using my Revlon curler because it was something I had been stuck on for years and I thought, why change a good thing? Well, after much speculation and talking to some of my girls, I realized I needed to get myself the shu uemura stat.

AMB and SEV were adamant about the fantastic job this curler could do. They told me that they didn't even need to use mascara at times because their lashes would just look so so full after using the shu uemura. In our first post we led you to believe that there was really no difference between shu uemura and MAC, giving MAC a slight edge because of a price that was five dollars cheaper. But now I really believe in the power of shu uemura.

Although I felt strange using it at first, as it is very different than the Revlon, I quickly became accustomed to the shu uemura. I have yet to see the grand effects that AMB and SEV have told me about because I still feel the need to put on primer plus three different mascaras. However, I think that my lashes look longer and fuller. And I think with time I may be able to wean myself down to just one mascara!

One thing is for sure, I'll definitely use my shu uemura every single day. Heck, I may even need to get the travel size and throw it in my bag!

-A

Photo: shuuemura-usa.com