It’s all in the eyes, the first point of contact, unless you have your boobs hanging out you naughty thing!
And the frame of your eyes is your eyelashes… I’m my view one of the most important features on your face.
To be perfectly honest I’m definitely not blessed in the eyelash department so I’ve always been looking for a way to boost my luck. After seventeen years of modelling there isn’t much I haven’t tried. So I’ll share my best tips here.

I’ve tried nearly every mascara out there. My favourite is Fiberwig designed for short Japanese lashes if you want to know. I apply three coats using a hair dryer to dry the lash between the coats to save time. I then use a heated curler to get a natural curl happening at the tips (You can also heat up regular eyelash curlers with a hairdryer, it works the same) This seemed to work well with my short lashes as there are thickening and lengthening fibres in the formula that gave me that lovely thick lash look, I used Fiberwig for three years and loved it but after a while I was looking to save some time in my beauty regiment. Plus the removal of all that product was a little cumbersome. Each week I had a bin of eye makeup remover pads to dispose of. Fiberwig cost around £18 per tube.

So I tried tinting, the most natural looking way to enhance. The positive is tinting takes about twenty minutes and does last for a long time up to six weeks, costing around £20 per treatment, and comes in a variety of colours like dark blue tint can enhance blue eyes in a stunning subtle way. The problem with tinting for me is you need a good base of lashes to start with, and I wanted fuller, thicker and longer lashes which tinting does not supply. I still ended up using mascara over the top to enhance.

You can of course use fake eyelash strips, which I always did on a special night out, but lets face it, everyone knows you’re using them, plus they look as faux as the name they possess, stiff in appearance, and you still need to use mascara to coat your own lashes to apply the strip on top. They are like basically like everyone seeing your wonder bra tag sticking out…. Everyone knows exactly what you’re “up” to, if you know what I mean. Plus they can be heavy, making your eyes weary after a long time of use.
The most natural looking fake eyelash strips you can use are Shu Uemura the best in my books. Top quality. Fake eyelash strips cost anything from £6-£20 depending.

Then you have eyelash clusters, a set of individual lashes clustered together you apply over your own lashes, I do like this effect, and most professional makeup artists use these on photo shoots to get more length and a thicker look to the lash but they are tricky to apply at home, most of mine end up dropped on the floor before I get them glued properly on my lash. I need about six of these on each eye to get a lush full effect, which again takes time, which I don’t have…. Plus again you need to use mascara on your own lash as a base.
My favourite brand is Eylure, they come in a combination pack of short medium and long and cost around £6 for a pack.

Then there’s eyelash growth formulas, gels you apply to the eyelash which claim to enhance eyelash growth. I tested these out for eight months. I applied twice a day, crossed my fingers and toes every night and hoped for growth, which some of these products actually provided. But they don’t work for everyone, and when you stop using them, within three weeks you’re back to ground zero again. I used Talika Lipocils, it did work, and I applied my mascara over the top as normal. Each tube cost under £20 and lasted over a month.

Which brings me to my favourite method of eyelash enhancement, semi permanent eyelash extensions. There are many varieties, you can even get mink ones which I did try once but they only lasted ten days and cost £150 so weren’t cost effective. My tried and trusted ones are synthetic, not too thick and I only get them applied to seventy-five percent of my lashes so they don’t look fake.
They are applied down the length of your own lashes, and takes about two hours for a full set of 60-100 lashes applied to each eye.
You are at the mercy of the technician here so it pays to research a good one. Mine cost me £80 and I top up after five weeks for £50.
So why do I love my extensions so much. After years of searching, I’ve finally found a way to add length, thickness and colour. My extensions are fully waterproof – fine to swim in and I don’t need to apply mascara EVER, most nights I don’t even apply eyeliner or even eye makeup anymore as the extension is all I need.
So I’m saving myself around 30 minutes each day and I can finally say goodbye to mascara.
I brush my lashes each day for maintenance and that’s all they need.
But they do come with a warning, GET A GOOD TECHNICIAN TO APPLY THEM, DONT TUG ON THEM OR PULL YOUR LASHES, to avoid damaging your own lashes underneath and don’t use them for more than six months in a row. Get them professionally removed then start using the eyelash growth formula to stimulate your own natural growth until they recover.