Review: Sephora Flirt-It Lash Duo

What They Say: "Add a little flirt to your wink naturally with these finely graduated, strip lashes that softly enhance your natural lash line, without looking overdone. Use the half strips for day to give a cat-like lift to the outer corners of the eyes, and the full-length strips for evening for a fabulously-flirty flutter.

Set includes one half strip and one full strip of lashes, plus a tube of lash adhesive.
To use: Remove one strip of lashes (either half or full) from the case at a time. Pierce the top of the adhesive tube with a small pin and apply a fine, oblong bead of glue along the entire length of the lash strip. Allow adhesive to set for 30-60 seconds until tacky, then apply the lash strip to the base of your natural lashes in the center first (to be sure it's centered properly), working from the center outward to the outer corners. Apply mascara if desired. "

Jen's Experience: A few weeks ago we had a roundtable discussion where I revealed my deep-seated fear of gluing anything onto my eyes, and several of you piped up and assured me that I would not, in fact, glue my eyes shut. So, I thought, "What the heck? I'll try out some falsies to enhance my Halloween costume."

I picked out this lash duo from Sephora because of the fairly decent price tag, but I have little to compare it to on the way of effectiveness. The lash duo comes with a small strip of lashes to use on the corners as well as a full strip. I will be wearing the full strip to all the Halloween parties starting this evening, but I've actually worn the half strips to work, and I really like the way it turned out, but I have to say, gluing my eyes shut seemed like a distinct possibility when I first tried to put them on.

Right out of the package, they have a bit of adhesiveness, but I also took out the glue and used that. I read the ingredients of the glue (ammonia, etc) and nearly decided not to try this out, but since this would not be a regular item in my routine (or will it?), I decided it was okay for now. I put on a small bead of glue as it recommended and waited the recommended time before applying to my eye, but I still found it too liquid to work with. More time (like a minute or so) would be a better recommendation. Putting the lash strip on the right side was easy since I'm right handed, but the left side was quite an adventure. I've been able to line them up right with practice.

I've also been able to reduce the amount of extra glue after a while as well (extra glue gets caught in the fake and natural lashes and is very noticable and not at all attractive), but that sometimes results in them coming off midday. There's certainly a balance there, and I haven't yet mastered it.

Once on, they're very obvious until I put on my eye makeup. In addition to my regular eyeshadow, I use black gel eyeliner to blend in the base of the strip, lash primer on my natural lashes, and DiorShow mascara on the remainder of my lashes.

Even with minimal make-up, the look is more natural than I expected and very pretty, so I can see why people would regularly wear falsies or get lash extensions. I was only occasionally bothered by the half-strips, but I can see how full strips would be too heavy for everyday use. Overall, I think that I would like to try some of the Shu Uemura or MAC lashes for comparison, but for those who are looking for some fake lashes to play with, this was a great little starter kit.

Retail Price: $8.00 (Sephora)

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