A Crazy-Genius Eyelash-Curling Hack

Lighters and cotton buds — (Image credit: Design by Katja Cho)

Who among us, really, isn't constantly striving for Kardashian-level lashes? And to get there, we all have torture chambers' worth of eyelash-curling devices in our beauty bags. But none are as interesting as what Korean women—AKA our makeup messiahs—have dreamed up as a hack.

In an interview with Byrdie, Insider Beauty founder Angela Kim revealed that the latest K-beauty trick entails cutting off the two ends of a wood Q-tip, heating up the remaining stick with the flame from a lighter, and then using it to "lift" the lashes from below. Note: A regular Q-tip with a cardboard or plastic stick will be, um, a bit of a fire hazard, so make sure you use the wood kind.

When Byrdie's editor put it to the test, she found that when used in tandem with a traditional, stainless steel curler, as well as mascara, it was like a push-up bra for her lashes that lasted all day. Enticing, no?

It was like a push-up bra for her lashes that lasted all day.

And confession: Eyelash curlers, particularly electric ones, kind of freak me out. They make me feel like I'm one spastic movement away from losing every last lash. (Not unlike Miley's recent misfortune—yikes.) So even though this involves heat, its non-clampy nature is totally appealing. Not to mention, I can get even more mileage out of my Glossier lighter 😇.

To familiarize yourself with how it works, skip to the 5:10 mark of this K-beauty blogger's test drive:

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Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.