Christmas and New Years is nearly upon us and I decided to up-the-anti on the lash stakes. Being blonde (even dirty blonde like me) means a couple of sure-fire things in life, and one of those is the fact that (for the main part) your lashes will probably be light, if not completely blonde, then very fair. I actually have quite long lashes, but they are so light you can only see the bottom third, so mascara for me is the one thing I rarely leave the house without.

Last winter I decided to start playing about with wearing false lashes when I went out with friends and now I feel happy wearing a pair for those days when I want a little more ooomph! on the eyes. So, when I saw a load of people recommending Ardell Lashes and specifically alot of American blogs suggesting that certain websites sell them for about $3 a pair I decided to splurge a little, and from two websites I got 8 different types of Ardell lashes, with a few duplicate pairs thrown in (as packaging costs are a tad pricey to Switzerland I might as well get them in bulk). I finally got my final bundle last week (typically while I was away) and that was over a month since I ordered them – so buyer beware, the shipping times from the US can take an age sometimes!

Before this I had been picking up Eyelure lashes as and when I needed them, which will set you back about £5 a pair (about $8), so even including the shipping costs (I think that was about $12) I have saved myself alot of cash, due to the good exchange rates at the moment. I got five pairs of full lashes and three pairs of Accents (half lashes). The full lashes are a variety of Glamour, Fashion and Invisiband effects.

The full lashes are:
110 (Black) – with duplicates

Demi Pixie (Black) – with duplicates

Luckies (Black)

137 (Black)

118 (Black)

The Accent lashes (half lashes) are:
301 (Black) – with duplicates

311 (Black)

305 (Black)

Basically I would say that the 301 accents are a half lash of the 110, and both of these are great for an everyday look, where you don’t really want anyone to notice you are wearing falsies – you could probably even get away with using them without a liner if you are using a nice dark mascara and set them as close to your lashline as possible.

The 305 accents give you an amazing va-va-voom flick at the end of your lashes, great when you really want winged eyeliner to stand out – but they are probably steering on the side of evening due to the long length and curl.

The 311 accents are a half version of the Demi Pixies basically (I think the demi pixies are a meant to be a close match to the MAC #7 lashes). Both the 311 and Demi Pixies are bold and thick, not too long, but are really curled and flick up – great for evening with a smokey eye or thick liner. I probably would get more use out of the full size lashes though, as on my wispy blonde lashes the thick half lashes look a little out-of-place.

The 137 full lashes are beautiful, thick and not too curled, they look quite natural but sexy for an evening out – great for Christmas. The only downfall is the thick black band at the lashline – you do need to have liner to pull these off.

The Luckies are also a nice looking nearly natural lash – scary in the box (due to the length), when I have these on they are surprisingly natural and really don’t curl very much at all, so much so that when looking straight into a mirror I couldn’t tell they were on the top of my lashes, showing more towards the edges (does that make sense?).

The 118’s are wooo mamma longgggg and curled, you can really feel these babies both in weight and brushing the brow bone, lol, I feel all flirty when blinking. They are probably a bit too OTT for me (I have not worn them in public yet!) and remind me of lashes probably more suited to the stage in a production of Chicago!

Overall, the Ardell lashes are good quality and if used carefully and taken off before bed can be used over and over again with no problems. There are alot of methods for applying lashes and for me the best is to apply by hand then use a pocky thing (I use my tweezers) to gently push them right onto the lash line. The Ardells don’t come with a glue, so if you are thinking of getting some I would suggest investing in glue first, I use Eyelures Lashfix, which is good and the same as the miniatures you receive in all the Eyelure lash sets.

Overall I’m extremely pleased to have bolstered my lash collection just in time for the festive season, just a bit narked that shipping took so long – but at least they all got here in time! Anyways, hope your all having happy holidays. Catch you later.

Sarah xx