First things first: I received a free pair of lashes courtesy of Esqido for the purpose of a review and a before-and-after photo. Otherwise, I did not receive any compensation or incentive to write this content, and as always, all opinions are my own.
I’ve only worn false lashes once, ever. This time-ish last year, in fact. That’s right – I didn’t even bother for my wedding. I don’t have anything against lashes; they just don’t fit into my day-to-day, and my life isn’t rife with special occasions, either. As a result, I haven’t tried many – so when Esqido reached out, I figured, “What the hell, let’s do it!”
I had the opportunity to select my pair of lashes. I decided to go with a medium volume pair and ultimately landed on Lash Named Desire:
Esqido Lashes – Lash Named Desire, $29
Along with it, they sent a tube of their lash glue:
Esqido Companion Lash Glue, $10
First Impressions
Esqido Lashes come in a pretty damn nice magnetic-closure box. I popped that open and gingerly retrieved the lashes to see how they compare to my actual eye. Given my limited experience, I had never worked with mink lashes before and was surprised how soft they were. I’ve seen a thousand-and-one YouTubers gush about their luxurious, fluffy mink lashes (from Esqido and other brands), but I assumed they were just putting one on. So, no – they’re surprisingly plush.
Giving ‘Em a Go
“Whoa, this band is huge,” was my first thought upon removing them from their packaging. I’m not sure whose eyes these are made for, but they were drastically longer than my upper lashline. I started by trimming off the innermost section on each lash, then retested; nope. I then trimmed the outer-most section – viola, a passable length.
Aside from being very long, the band is also relatively thick compared to the drugstore lashes I was used to. I initially thought this would make them easier to apply, but I had a surprisingly hard time with them. Though the band’s thickness lent itself to a very easy application of their Companion lash glue, I had difficulty aligning them properly with my lash line. I’m not sure if this was operator error or if the band is harder to work with.
Eventually, after a couple false starts, I managed to get them in place. In spite of my then-frustration with the band, the thickness actually reduced my reliance on additional eyeliner. I didn’t count on this and was pleasantly surprised.
Feel
Simply put, I could notice these lashes. They felt heavy on my eyelids due to the density of the fibers. Likewise, they seem gigantic even post-trim; I could see them in my field of vision. They obstructed my ability to look up without physically moving my head. Beyond that, I felt as though they blocked overhead light AND they cast a shadow onto my cheekbones.
In spite of trimming the band to accommodate my eyes, I still felt the band poking my inner corner when I blinked. It wasn’t terribly comfortable, and I can’t see myself wearing these for an entire day beyond a test.
In person, I felt that the lashes looked a bit comical on me. In photos, though, they were pretty but definitely an Instagram glam look.
Wear
As far as duration, I had no issues with them trying to escape during a six hour wear test. That test was just through my normal life – so I did not test them against rain or tears, nor did I test their ability to hold up to a higher level of activity.
Removal was easy and discomfort-free. After oh-so-carefully removing the glue, I was able to easy return them to their nice box and rewear another time without any noticeable degradation in appearance or performance.
I had my fill I decided to tug at them a bit to see how much abuse they could hold up to in hopes of somewhat simulating their up-to-thirty-wears claim. I’m pretty impressed; they’re damn sturdy.
Before and After
See for yourself!
See what I mean about the band? It looked too thick in my hand before applying, but I’m not wearing ANY MORE eyeliner than I was in the before photo. The bands actually look pretty excellent; as a lazy person, I was extremely pleased.
Sustainability & Ethics
We’ll call a spade a spade. These lashes are not cruelty-free. These lash fibers are mink hair that is hand cut, curled, and dyed. The site does not explicitly speak to the hair harvesting process, so I can only assume it is not CF. That is a bummer. Ethical quandaries aside, they are at least reusable.
They do offer synthetic lashes in their Unisyn line ($22); if I were looking to start a lash collection with reusable lashes, that’s probably the direction I’d go.
The Bottom Line
In short, they’re really pretty lashes. They’re well-made, easy to apply, and are nice in that the thick band limits an additional step (extra eyeliner). If you’re already into lashes and want highly-reusable pairs, Esqido definitely makes nice ones. As for me, I don’t see myself adding more lashes to my collection (from any brand) at this time because it just isn’t where I’m at with cosmetics at this time. I’m hanging onto my Lash Named Desire for special occasions, though – just in case.
To be fair, maybe these are normal things to experience when wearing any voluminous, dense false eyelashes. I can’t say, I don’t have enough experience with false lashes to know if A Lash Named Desire is normal or not in this regard. For my lash-inexperienced self, though, they were a bit much.