Will a Shiseido cult favorite curl up — or die?

For those not willing to pay the steep price for eyelash extensions (or wanting to put up with the tedious upkeep), the key to achieving beautiful eyelashes comes in two parts. The first is finding a good mascara. The second is finding a good eyelash curler.

Fortunately, a good mascara (no matter your budget) is easy to come by. Finding a good eyelash curler? Now that can be a little bit harder.

Thanks to good genetics, my thick, long eyelashes don’t usually need much help with lengthening or volumizing. They do, however, need help achieving curl. Like many Hispanic women, I have eyelashes that are as straight as a board and won’t hold curl no matter what I do or what I use.

With a graveyard of failed eyelash curlers (mostly drugstore brands) sitting in a drawer at home, I decided to take the plunge and try out a highly-rated eyelash curler that has been on my radar for awhile.

With a cult reputation for delivering glamorous curls, the famous Shiseido eyelash curler ($20, Sephora) is a favorite among celebrity makeup artists, beauty writers and everyday individuals who swear by the product’s powers.

The tool, which features an edge-free design to prevent pinching, has the ability to curl eyelashes from the inner to the outer corner in just one squeeze.

First impression

Based on appearance, the Shiseido eyelash curler looks similar to most of the eyelash curlers I’ve tried in the past. The only noticeable difference about the product, which uses replaceable silicon rubber pads, is that the mouth of the curler appears to be slightly wider. To me this was a pretty big deal, since most eyelash curlers are usually not wide enough to capture all of my eyelashes at once.

Using the Shiseido Eyelash Curler is relatively the same as using any other eyelash curler. Looking down, you grip the base of your eyelashes with the curler and slowly squeeze the eyelashes three times as you move from the base toward the tip.

For best results, it is suggested that you follow up with your favorite mascara.

Fab or flub?

Flub. Despite all of the glowing reviews I had read beforehand, I was, sadly, left disappointed with the results of the Shiseido eyelash curler.

While the product did add a slight bend to my stick-straight lashes, I found there really was not much difference in the way that my eyelashes looked compared to when I use the cheaper Tweezerman Classic eyelash curler.

Overall, the only selling point I found with the Shiseido eyelash curler is that its mouth was wide enough to capture all of my lashes at once. If you’re in the market for a new eyelash curler, I recommend you save your money and skip this one.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Will a Shiseido cult favorite curl up — or die?."