Thanks to BR for sending me this product for review! I've had heated eyelash curlers before, and they've been a bit hit-and-miss, but I'm really impressed with this one!
On first appearance, this is a little light-weight and plasticky, but it quickly makes up for first appearances!
It turns on really easily, and heats up really quickly. The colour-changing pads are great because you know for sure when you're good to go.
Sandwiching your lashes feels much more comfortable and less frightening than the old-school torture contraptions that are regular curlers, and the double pads are an excellent invention- think normal curler pad plus and additional pad to get a fuller curl.
I found that I had to use them for longer than the suggested 15 seconds, but the curl also lasted much longer than from normal eyelash curlers.
It cools really quickly on switching off, which is a really good safety thing, especially if you have small people with questing, curious hands around your place!
It does recommend not using on lashes that already have mascara on, and I'd be quite concerned about melting my mascara to the tool, so I didn't give that a go.
My only con for these is that you can, if getting too enthusiastic, accidentally dislodge the battery cover while operating the curler, but this is only mildly annoying, and not a deal breaker.
They're a really good curler, and honestly something I think I'll replace if/when they give up the ghost. Would recommend, especially if you have lashes that are sometimes curl-resistant!
I was very excited to try this product after I was selected to review it by beauty review. My lashes are long but straight and the classic eyelash curlers did nothing for them, I was hoping this would be exactly what they needed! Unfortunately I was disappointed. Each time I tried, I used it just on one eye to compare the difference it made, and the effect of the curler was little or none.
The tool itself takes some getting used to. My main tip after some trial and error is to make sure you push the slider up all the way so that it brings the heated part right up to your lashes. The shape and nature of the tool makes it impossible (at least from all of my attempts) to get a curl right at the base of the lashes. This means you can't get the dramatic curl that I was hoping for, the one that makes your eyes look bigger and wider. So if you want a dramatic curl, look elsewhere. This curler is only going to achieve a very subtle, natural curl. It also crimped my lashes somewhat. I'm not sure if this is something I was doing wrong, but I used it as directed and the box says it doesn't cause crimping so that was a surprise. It didn't matter much though as the crimping straightened out when I applied mascara, as did most of the subtle curl, which was a disappointment.
If a subtle curl is what your after then this might be worth a try for you, however the next disappointment for me was that the curl didn't hold. This might vary depending on your individual lashes, but for me the subtle curl lasted a few hours max. I tried without mascara and with different mascaras, each time using it only on one eye. One thing to note is that when I used a mascara with a wet formula (bareminerals strength and length) I lost the curl as soon as I applied the mascara. With Too Faced's BTS the curl dropped a bit but then stayed like it was for a few hours. Without mascara the curl also dropped over a few hours.
The real deal breaker was that it made little to no difference. After applying mascara the difference that the curler made on my lashes was very small, basically the same as what I get from just using mascara and blinking. I asked my family to pick which eye had more curled lashes and even on the day it worked the best they only got a 50% success rate.
To summarise, this is my experience:
1. Straight after curling: A subtle, natural looking curl. It would be a nice natural look if it stayed.
2. Straight after adding mascara to it: Curl dropped considerably, even with Too Faced's BTS. Looks very similar to eye that wasn't curled, or exactly the same.
3. After a few hours, regardless of whether mascara is applied or not: Looks the same as the eye that didn't use the curler.
Since the difference was little or nothing, I probably won't use this much, or ever. I tested it thoroughly for review purposes, but for my lashes the curler is not at all worth the bother.
Tips: Push the slider all the way up so it heats your lashes properly.