I understand that they look like something from a 13th century period piece that could be used to maim, or at least blind, someone. I remember thinking as a young teenager, “you actually put this next to your eye?” “How long does it take to heal?”

It took me almost a decade after their discovery to actually realize the benefits of an eyelash curler.

For some background, I sometimes love mascara on my lashes; but more often, I feel like it’s a bit over the top on my particular face. I am amazed at how appealing mascara can look on other people, but it doesn’t always look, well, sane, on me. It always seems to me that I appear as though I am trying to mimic some sort of anime character (badly), or that I had a strangely gloppy set of false eyelashes put on. (Can fake eyelashes even be gloppy?)

Anyway, aside from the fact that mascara just usually doesn’t suit me, I also am hard-pressed to justify its use given the extra step(s) required to remove it at night. I can be very lazy with my makeup removal; when my son was born I discovered that a baby wipe was quite efficient at getting most makeup off in between the feeding, burping, spitting, diaper changing, napping-oh, he’s up again routine. But, it doesn’t really work for mascara.

Although my son is way beyond the diaper stage, I find that there are still nights, usually after toiling away at work, that I can’t bring myself to do anything more than scrub my face with a wipe, apply some lotion, and brush my teeth. Applying eye makeup remover feels as though it may be leagues beyond my abilities and energies on evenings like these.

Enter an eyelash curler! My first one, and the one that I have used for almost a decade, is from Revlon. It still works like a charm and gives my lashes enough curl to make my eyes look a bit more feminine. It can be tricky in the beginning to learn how to use and not pinch yourself, though it doesn’t take long to master. I find the curl (on my particular lashes) to last most, if not all of the day. I love best of all not having to worry about smudging, flaking, or anything that would add to my (already prominent) dark circles.

Using an eyelash curler also saves me time in the morning, as it only takes me about 30 seconds to curl my lashes. This is juxtaposed against the 30 minutes it would take for me to apply mascara, fix my mistakes, apply more mascara, get frustrated, take mascara off and reapply…well, you get the idea…

Do you use mascara or an eyelash curler? Both? What are your favorites?

(For more on my quick and easy makeup routine see My Guide to The Five Minute Face.)

Stay cozy!