1940s: Subtle lashes on Claudette Colbert

This is the seventh installment of my monthly classic actress beauty tips that I have tested. Sorry that this is a week late, finals have started at Winthrop and life has gotten busy!

Whether it be minimalistic eye make-up of the 1940s and 1950s or emphasized eyes of the 1960s, it is obvious actresses wore false eye lashes.  The lashes give their eyes an extra boost.  Prior to the 1950s it seemed like they weren’t wearing much make-up, but their lashes stood out looking full and beautiful. In the 1960s, the lashes only added more glamour too eyes already caked with eyeliner and eye shadow.

Actress Natalie Wood is one actress that wore false eye-lashes off screen.   Wood wore TWO layers of false eyelashes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to Suzanne Finstad’s book “Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood.”  Wood did this as her interest in fashion heightened and she was trying to have a darker look that she felt matched her Russian roots.

Natalie Wood in the 1960s wearing false eyelashes

Like Wood, I’ve worn false eye-lashes four or five times in the last seven years.  I love the way they make my lashes look, but I don’t find them very comfortable.  My eyes get dried out easily, especially because I wear contacts.  I’m always too afraid to blink, because I don’t want my lashes to fall off so for the rest of the day my eyes feel kind of dry and scratchy.

I also use the type that you apply the glue yourself, because I think it sticks better.  Self adhesive doesn’t stick very well and I usually end up applying more glue to it.  Though the glue sticks better, it also gets awfully messy and makes it hard to put mascara or eyeliner on your top lashes.

To review: False eyelashes make your lashes and eyes look great, but you pay a price of possible discomfort and sticky glue.

Stay tuned for some upcoming Christmas posts and January’s beauty tip!

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