Lashings of Glitter

Hello everybody! I apologise for the lack of pictures with this post. I left my camera with all the pictures in Cardiff and now I'm back in Suffolk for the festive period. I will upload them as soon as possible on my return. 

It’s almost New Year’s Eve, the last big party before the long, exam-riddled month of January and it is obligatory to pull out all the stops for this event. In my opinion nothing short of full-on Christmas tree emulation is acceptable. In order to ratchet up the glam factor to these truly magnanimous proportions I strongly suggest investing in a pair of false eyelashes. Not any lashes at that! No, if there’s one night of the year we can let loose our secret desire for those sparkly creations, those ludicrously long ones, embellished with diamante and dunked in glitter then this is it. The only slight problem is that unfortunately eyelashes are a bit like pizzas and you do pay more for the extra toppings. Nevertheless, after much hunting around I found five seemingly fabulous pairs ripe for testing. 

Now I know false eyelashes are not the easiest of things and that many allow themselves to be perturbed by one bad experience. All I can say is- persevere. Numerous times have I stared at myself in the mirror, batting one perfect lash whilst the other perches crookedly, having somehow crawled half way up my eyelid. I’ve poked myself in the eye and almost driven myself to tears trying to stick down that stray corner but when I sit back on my heels, victorious after a successful application I remember how worthwhile all the effort it. Not only do they look great but also in my opinion (and I know this is a controversial one), they feel fantastic, luxuriously weighty, like your eyelashes are wearing a velvet ball gown. In short false eyelashes are makers and breakers, they may break you but they will make your outfit.

Eylure Paris Hilton Lashes Super Girly- £4.95, tested by Fi: Oh dear, I should have known better. Christmas tree emulation is one thing but would anyone really choose to look like Paris Hilton? These weren’t that bad really, just a bit disappointing. They added a bit of sparkle but had no real impact; a bit like Paris herself perhaps. The glue was also rather vicious, making the lashes hard to remove and when they finally were, most of the glitter remained attached to Fi’s eyes so that she was forcibly festive for the next few days. 2/5

Claire’s Accessories Party Lashes - £4.00, tested by me: Hmmm these were all right but not really special enough for my liking. Although you could see the sparkly bit when I blinked, with my eyes open I just looked as if I were wearing rather obvious false eyelashes. They were the kind of halfway house between festive and wag that makes everyone feel a bit embarrassed and question whether you are trying to make a fashion statement or have just slipped into fashion faux pas. 2/5

Cosmopolitan Indigo Lashes (available at New Look)- £4.99, tested by Grace: In my opinion these looked really good although they were lucky to be tested on Grace who has been blessed with great shaped eyes. They didn’t have as much impact on as they did in the packet as their deep indigo colour was rather diffused when added to black lashes but still gave a glam effect. Although the most expensive, they did look the best quality out of all of those tested and they came with good glue giving them staying power. 3/5

Accessorize Party Lash Style 1 - £4.00, tested by Nims: Grrr this is a hard one. The eyelashes were pretty as a picture and very reasonably priced. The only problem was that the box seemed to contain two left lashes and consequently they didn’t fit terribly well. Thankfully they were assigned to Nims, the only one of us with any real creative flare, who was able to rectify the problem with a few deft snips of her nail scissors. In conclusion they looked good but the necessity of adaptation meant they were marked down. We may have just been unlucky and therefore I’d be really interested to hear if anyone else has an opinion on them. 3/5 

Primark Party Lashes - £2.00, tested by Bekki: Bekki is one of those reticent folk when it comes to false eyelashes but I think even she enjoyed wearing these. Although they are a bit less obvious than some of the other pairs, they have a good chunk of sparkle in the middle making them unmistakably festive. Primark has also pulled out the stops with their Andy Warhol-esque packaging, which I appreciated. The only problem is that the glue isn’t terribly good, (Bekki had to borrow Grace’s) but at £2 who can really complain? 4/5