Ardell Duralash

I have been really wanting lash extensions but just don't want to pay almost $100 for lashes. Also I hate putting on the false strips. So I looked up some alternatives and came across these.
The application: I showered and make sure my lashes were dried. I curled my lashes just a bit to fit the curl on the individuals. Then I put some adhesive on the lash and put it onto my lash. It took me about an hour to put 7 lashes on each eye. I found that putting the lash under your lashes looks way more natural. Not necessarily under but between your natural lashes.
I wore these for about a day and I got tired of them. I don't think I would be able to use these for a week straight. When I showered I couldn't rub my eye. I could lay on my face. Just those aspects bother me so I took them off after a day. Although they looked amazing and so natural!!! I would recommend to everyone looking for eyelash extensions without the price!

Ardell individual lashes are cheap and an awesome value for the money.
Come in brown/black or black in short, medium or long - I get medium in black.

Love.

My review is for the lashes themselves. Not the adhesive. The packets of lashes I have purchased from Ardell have been the knotted kind, in the short & medium lengths. I have used a variety of adhesives, which definitely yield a variety of results. Like other reviewers, I used to get lash extensions. All different kinds and they were all very expensive. One salon used these lashes and the LashTite dark colored adhesive, so I decided to give it a try myself. I have paid anywhere from $70-$200 getting my lashes done, and when you start, it's hard to stop, so I was paying this about twice a month for several years. These lashes cost me under $5 as do the various adhesives. They are definitely tricky to learn to apply; it just takes patience and a steady hand. There's no getting around it, and other reviewers have already supplied plenty of good tips. I personally do attach them to the lash, not the lid. I use a bit of cardboard or a corner of the lash container plastic tray to pour/squeeze out a bit of glue for dipping into. I have found that TACKY glue is best if you are using Duo products. I use a slant-end tweezer. I have found that the "medium" lashes are plenty long enough, mixed with the "short" on the inner corners, so that I can wear them anywhere, 24/7 and they look beautiful, not over-the-top. IF you use LashTite, YES, if you do it right and do not rub at your eyes, you CAN get them to stay for 4 weeks. You're probably looking at a week tops with Duo glue. I have a review on here for the LashTite, if you are interested: my main point in that review is, that product is FOR REAL. It holds ON and ON, but in the end, you will have damaged your lashes, no question. Anyway, these lashes are great, look beautiful, are tricky to apply until you get used to it - but are huge time & money savers. Choosing these lashes are a no-brainer, they are great. The real decision is in choosing your adhesive.

8/15: I love this product! I just bought it today, and will update within a few days on how the lashes are doing.
It took me a full 30 minutes to do one eye. It's hard to get used to put these lashed on. What I learned from my first time was that you need quite a bit of glue on the tip to attach it to the base of the lashes. Don't attach it to your skin!
I only used a few on the ends of each of my eyes and, after some trimming, they look marvelous. Practice makes perfect and I will be getting plenty of it in the future.

Each package is about $5 CAD and comes with 64 individual falsies. I love the flared ones because they really open up your eyes.
I use 3-4 medium flared black and 1-2 short ones in the centre (never go past the iris of your eye). The knots are barely visible once applied so a thin line of black/dark brown liner is all you need to hide them. Much more versatile than full strips and for me, easier to use!

These are not easy to apply and you need a lot of patience for applying all of them. Plus, you have to be very careful not to break them when removing them from the box. I guess I prefer regular fake lashes.

This product is pretty darn amazing. I have thin, straight Asian eyelashes and usually had to put coat after coat of mascara every morning. Application is awkward, but you need patience and a steady hand. If you aren't confident enough, or have had a bad experience applying it, have a friend do it. I put on the short ones first, but they werent dramatic enough. I needed more volume, so I placed the mediums on top/in between and I ended up with a very full, but natural effect. A week later and they're all still there, except for a few that fell off cause I had applied them improperly. My boyfriend doesn't seem to notice and he's one to point out things. The glue that comes with the starter kit does flake after awhile, but you can cover it with mascara. I will DEFINITELY be buying them again. LOVE this product.

The first time applying can take forever and be a little awkward, but you quickly get used to it. These individual lashes go on looking a lot more natural than strip lashes, and it's awesome you can apply them wherever you want--as many or little as you want. I'm sad that these don't last more than a day, though. And the glue can pull at your skin and hurt a bit, and pull out your natural lashes if you're not careful. There's that stuff to remove the glue, but it's kind of a pain in the booty. Applying these lashes is more time consuming than strip lashes, but they look amazing. They make you feel super girly and cute. If you're the type who uses black liquid eyeliner, I recommend using darker eyelash glue. The clear eyelash glue can look a bit shiny and obvious. Using these lashes can get very addictive! :)

Pros:
-They were fairly easy to apply. They weren't super time consuming and it took me all of 30 minutes the first time.
-They weren't extremely expensive
-It came with everything you need

Cons:
- At least 1 cluster fell off every day, and I followed the directions exactly.
- The medium length ones were too long for me and looked fake
- It's really hard to take mascara off of them, and you kind of have to put mascara on, so you can't see them at the base of your lashes
- It's hard to put on eyeliner
- The LashFree burns your eyes
- At least 1 actual lash comes off with each cluster when you try to take them off, which defeats the purpose.


All in all, they lasted fairly well, but started to look funny after a little while. It really is much easier to put on and deal with strip lashes. I'm not going to buy these again. I was using them to help fill in where my lashes have been thinned, due to LashBlast, and it really wasn't effective.

This review is for the Ardell Duralash Starter kit that comes with LashTite glue and LashFree remover, and multiple sizes of knotted fan lashes. I have never used lash extensions before but after reading the favorable reviews on MUA, I had to try them. I naturally have longish, thinner lashes but with a few coats of mascara they look almost fake, but I was really intruiged by the promise of not needing to use mascara.

When completely clean, my eyelashes are blonde and slippery and it was hard for me to see them well enough to properly apply these lashes. I'm still not sure I did it 100% right but they have lasted overnight, so we'll see. I'm not sure I'm the best person to give advice on them, but here are my observations:

1. The instructions say to grab them close to the knot. I found that they were easier to apply if I grabbed them mid-lash with the cluster all held together in the tweezers. It also seemed to make applying the glue easier.

2. Glue wouldn't come out of the bottle willingly, used a toothpick to get some out.

3. The lashes don't immediately stick. I didn't realize this at first. So the instructions say to lay the lashes on top of your own with the know close to your lid but not touching your lid. This was hard for me to get used to - they don't stick when you lay them on your lash so you really need to resist touching them until they have dried completely, and then you can see if they "worked" and touch up ones that didn't adhere.

4. The instructions say to start at the end for a full set. I disagree - start in the middle, go to ends, and then go back to the inside of your eye. Then fill in gaps.

5. My lashes are too light colored - I couldn't really identify one lash that I was adhering the clusters to, so I just sort of guessed... I dipped them in the glue and literally just layed them down hoping there was a lash it would stick to.. it's been one night and they are all still there, I'll update after they start coming off. It will be interesting to see how they hold up after a shower.

6. I have big-ish eyes. I used 11 clusters per eye for a full set. I found the long ones were REALLY long. I used 2 long ones on the outsides of each eye, 7 mediums per eye, and 2 shorts on the insides of each eye. The picture of the just the eyeball is my eye, so you can see approx. how long they are. I was suprised.

7. I wear contacts. So far, I haven't noticed any interferance.

All in all, I like them a lot! It took awhile getting into the groove of applying them so I'm glad the pack comes with so many. They feel kind of funny and it is hard to avoid touching my eyes or sleeping on my face, but I think it is actually good for me.

UPDATE: I left these bad boys on for a week and let me tell ya - you have no worries about them falling off. It took me over an hour and a loss of about 10% of my lashes to get these things off. Like some others have said, the ones on the end came off more easily (not easy though) than the ones in middle. I think this is because lashes are more concentrated in the middle so the glue will grab 5-6 lashes instead of 2-3 like on the end.

Tips: Seriously, you don't need more than a tiny dot of glue on the knot when applying. I know it doens't feel like it is adhering, but trust me, it does. I DO NOT recommend the "drag along the lash" technique - they will sit fine without doing that and you might actually have a chance of removing them when you want them off. Also the drag along the lash technique yields glue crusing up along your lash. Trust me when I say the least amount of glue will still hold and is much much better... if you are afraid of a fan falling off, bring your glue and tweezer with you in your purse. It is much better to have to re-apply 1-2 a week then not be able to get 1-2 fans off. Although to be honest, I don't think they even stand a chance of falling off... this glue is like industrial grade, lol. I'm not sure to be impressed or terrified of it. Honestly I'm sort of surprised that this is a consumer-grade product.

All of that being said - YES! I would def. use these again. I have a better understanding of them now and I think next time would yield perfect results. I loved how they looked. For daytime I would probably do all mediums and short fans and do a fell 15 on each eye. The long ones on the ends look a bit fakier but the mediums looked awesome. I will only use a tiny bit of glue on the knots next time and if they get a little wonky, I'll use some mascara to get them in place. For now, I need to let me eyelashes rest and re-grow for a few weeks before I give these another go. :)