How to Apply Strip Lashes: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

If your first attempt at strip lashes ended with glue on your eyelid and a lash band lifting at the corner, you didn't do anything wrong. Strip lashes are genuinely easy once you know the sequence, and almost every problem beginners hit, comes down to two things: skipping the trim, or rushing the glue. Here's the whole process.

What you'll need

A pair of strip lashes, lash adhesive, a mirror you can get close to, and ideally an applicator tool. You can apply lashes with your fingers, but a tool with soft silicone tips gives you far more control over placement and keeps you from crushing the band.

Step 1: Measure and trim the band

This is the step people skip, and it's the one that causes lifting at the outer corner. Lash strips are made longer than most eyes. Hold the strip against your lash line, starting from the inner corner, and see where it ends. If it extends past your natural lash line, trim the excess from the outer edge, never the inner, a little at a time.

Step 2: Check the curve against your eye

Our lashes are handmade and hold their shape in the tray, so you won't need to force them into a curve the way you might with a stiffer mass-produced strip. Lift the lash out gently by the band, never by the hairs, and hold it up against your lash line to see how it sits. If it already follows the curve of your eye, you're ready to go. If you want a slightly closer fit, cradle the band between your fingertips for a moment, light pressure only. These bands are delicate by design, which is what makes them comfortable, so handle them accordingly rather than bending or flexing them.

Step 3: Apply glue and wait

Run a thin line of adhesive along the band, slightly heavier at the two ends since those take the most stress. Then wait. This is the timing that matters most: give it about 30 seconds until the glue turns tacky rather than wet. Applied wet, the lash slides around and won't grip.

If you're using a white adhesive that dries clear, this waiting period is also when it starts turning transparent. A black adhesive stays dark and blends into a liner line instead, which is worth knowing when you pick which to use.

Step 4: Place from the middle

Look slightly down into a mirror rather than straight ahead so you can see your lash line. Set the middle of the band down first, as close to your natural lashes as you can get without touching the lid skin. Then press the inner corner, then the outer. Working middle-out keeps the strip from ending up crooked.

Step 5: Press and settle

Run the pointed silicone tip of your applicator gently along the band, pressing it down into your lash line, paying extra attention to the inner and outer corners. Then lightly squeeze your natural lashes and the strip together so the two read as one line. Give it a minute before you do anything else.

Removing them properly

Don't pull. Soften the glue first with a little micellar water or oil-free remover on a cotton pad along the band, wait a few seconds, then peel gently from the outer corner inward. Peel off the dried glue from the band afterwards and store the lashes back in their tray so they hold their shape. Treated this way, a quality pair is reusable.

Common problems, quickly

Corner lifting is nearly always an untrimmed band or not enough glue at the ends. Visible glue means you used too much, or applied it while still wet. A gap between your lashes and the strip means you placed the band too high, aim closer next time. Discomfort usually means the band is too long for your eye.

Getting set up

If you're starting from nothing, the Lash N Go Kit has the pieces this guide assumes: a Day & Night Duo in either Doll Eye or Cat Eye, a 3 ml adhesive in black or white, the applicator tool, a mirrored compact storage for both pairs and a travel case, at $79.99. If you already have lashes and just need the parts that make application easier, the applicator tool is $17.99 and adhesive is $14.99.

Not sure which lash style suits your eye shape? Our Find Your Lash quiz takes about a minute, and new customers who sign up get 25% off their first order.