How Do False Bottom Lashes Work, Exactly?

I'd say I'm reasonably blessed in the eyelash-length department: my eyelashes are just long enough to warrant casually racist comments like "You have really long eyelashes for an Asian girl." Since it works in my favor, that's one of the slightly un-racially sensitive things I generally let slide (yeah, I'm kind of vain). That said, what I have in upper lashes, I completely lack in lower lashes — I have almost none whatsoever. There are seriously about five on each side, and they're practically invisible. Mascara's no help to the situation; it just looks like I missed a few swipes, or blinked some transfer onto my lower lashline. Recently, however, I was introduced to the idea of false under eye lashes.

I've just kind of accepted it as a fact of life at this point — sure, I feel a twinge of sadness whenever I see the ever-popular, Twiggy-level lower lashes, but them's the breaks. In a twist of fate, however, I discovered false eyelashes for the lower lashline challenged: I was browsing the ever-growing makeup section at Mitsuwa (a chain of Japanese supermarkets in my area), when I was immediately entranced by the false eyelashes section. I couldn't help but be intrigued when my rudimentary Japanese skills helped me to recognize the character for "under" or "lower" (下）on this pair of Dolly Wink falsies, and as soon as I deciphered what it meant, I knew I had to give them a try!

Here's me + the product in question. I've historically had bad luck with falsies, so I was a bit apprehensive.

Then, I contemplated my tools (wispy lashes and tiny adorable glue) and made weird faces:

Next, I applied said tiny adorable glue:

It was relatively easy to apply, but it took a super long time to dry, so I added glue to the second set of lashes while I waited (and got kind of bored):

Finally, it was time to stick 'em on — except the glue still wasn't completely dry, so I looked kind of cray-cray:

After about 10 minutes, the glue dried completely, and this is what I got:

It certainly wasn't perfect — I glued them on a little (okay, a lot) crooked, which gave me a slight serial killer look, but I have to admit, it was nice to have lower lashes for once: I finally felt like I was living up to the doll-like doe-eyed standard that Zooey Deschanel has set. It's not a look I'd rock everyday, but it sure makes for a fun change of pace! Here they are, a little closer:

They're a touch saccharine but not overly so, and they're not too in your face either. In other words, I'd say these lashes are good to go for any and all occasions (just be patient with the glue and be less haphazard than me!).

Images: Rosie Narasaki