Ever since I could remember, my mom always took old rituals and practices from her culture. She was born and raised in Ecuador, a country in South America, so since her family was very holistic and natural remedies were always the first option, she always had something up her sleeve the second I had a problem. If I had a sore throat, it was either honey and lemon or red onions soaked in honey water. If my stomach hurt, it was ginger tea. The list goes on. When I was younger, like any other daughter, I watched my mom get ready for the day. Fascinated by every step, I always noticed a spoon in her makeup bag. Her first step was to take the spoon and use it to curl her eyelashes. She has pin straight, thick eyelashes that refuse to curl, just like mine. I know this sounds bizarre reading it, but once she lifted the spoon, the result spoke for itself. I would sit at the edge of her bed like:
As I grew older and ignored my mom’s advice, I would switch my eyelash curlers every month from Revlon to Maybelline to Tweezerman, you name it. I even spent good money for an expensive one that made no difference! This past summer, I visited Ecuador with my aunt and cousin to see family and spend a month traveling around the Motherland. When we would all get ready for the day, both my aunt and cousin would use the spoon trick. I giggled at them for weeks. Then, at the end of the month, they watched me struggle while keeping a curler to one of my eyes for a minute straight, just for it to look crimped and last for 10 minutes, tops. They finally made me try the spoon trick and voilà!
Once I got home from the trip, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a spoon for $1 that would go right into my makeup bag. The thing is, the spoon needs to be thick and round-headed. If it’s a sharper spoon, it will have a better chance at damaging your eyelashes. The trick is to take the side curve of the spoon, clamp your eyelashes between the spoon and your thumb, and use your other fingers to guide the spoon backward. Don’t pull the eyelashes, just keep the spoon in place and use your spoon to push against the edge and your hand to guide your wrist to sort of scrape the spoon. Don’t spend your money on expensive and high-maintenance eyelash extensions if you don’t need to. Just curl yours to their full potential!
After doing this trick for the first time and mastering it, I almost teared up. I finally saw my eyelashes at their full length and curl! I was confident because I felt like I had completed my look. This trick will stick with me forever and I hope it helped you too. Putting on mascara has never been so satisfying. Now, I’m all up in the mirror in the morning feeling my lashes.
All gifs courtesy of Giphy