The Crazy-Genius Hack Korean Women Use for Curling Their Lashes

Get ready to play with fire.

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 ByrdieInsider 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
Beauty Editor

Lauren is the former beauty editor at Marie Claire. She love to while away the hours at coffee shops, hunt for vintage clothes, and bask in the rough-and-tumble beauty of NYC. She firmly believes that solitude can be a luxury if you’ve got the right soundtrack—that being the Rolling Stones, of course.