Does Castor Oil Work to Grow Your Eyelashes?? [REAL TEST!]

Being your typical Asian girl, long thick full luscious eyelashes are something I don't have. It's never been extremely bothersome though and I've never felt self-conscious or ashamed of my lashes. Heck, I'm pretty lucky because my lashes are actually a decent length for most Asians and I'm fortunate enough to not have short lashes that grow downward and into my eyeballs (yes that's a thing; it happened to my cousin and also a friend who actually had to get surgery to correct it because they were scratching/damaging her eyes!).

But that's besides the point. After watching numerous beauty gurus talking about RevitaLash or some other lash elongating or thickening product (many of which cost $60 and upward for a small mascara size bottle), I decided to give some DIY products a go. I started with just using my organic lipbalm to "coat" my lashes every night but then I did some research and found that Vaseline can be helpful (some controversy on it though) as well as castor oil. Castor oil seemed to be really highly recommended so I decided to get a bottle of castor oil from Now (pretty reputable brand, highly rated) on Amazon ($9.15 only for 16 oz!). The bottle is HUGE. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it although I have been able to use up more by mixing a squirt of castor oil with some cheap body lotion and using it on my body.

I've used the castor oil every night (for about 2 months now) and apply just a little (pea size amount) on the tip/edge of my index finger. I put any excess oil onto the back of my other hand and apply the oil to upper lashline (the root of the lashes!) of one eye. I usually swipe the side of my index finger back into the excess I've wiped onto my hand to get some more product and then move onto the other eye. Then I'll use what's left on my finger to coat the bottom lashes. People say you really just need to get the base/root of your eyelashes rather than the whole entire eyelash but I find the oil on my finger tends to hit/coat the whole lash while I'm focusing on putting product on the lash line so basically, I end up coating my lashes as well as the root. Don't think it hurts to nourish the lash tips although if it gets in your eye, it kind of itches but it's not a huge deal (I actually wear night time contacts and haven't had too much problem with the product getting in my eye or irritating my eyes but just a word of note I suppose). Probably the better method to apply the castor oil would be to use a Q-tip/cotton swab but I'm too lazy to buy them/my finger works just fine for me but to each their own.

Now I'm not an ophthalmologist or optometrist so I can't say if this is safe or bad for your eyes/lashes but I haven't noticed any negative side effects in the last 2 months that I've been doing this (ie redness, allergic reaction, etc). The only possibly one downside is that maybe the castor oil clogs my pores because about twice, I've gotten a pimple on my upper cheekbone/under my eye which is pretty rare for me but I'm not sure if that's due to the castor oil. I've also gotten about 2 pimples within my eyebrows which seem to be associated with when I put any leftover castor oil through my brows (thought I'd try to thicken up those too) so I've stopped doing that. I read on a website (here is one site and another site that talks about the comedogenic properties of castor and other oils) that castor oil can clog pores on some people so I'd definitely suggest trying it out for a day or two first before really going for it. Despite possibly getting pimples around my eyes because of the oil, I haven't gotten any pimples on my eyelids or lashline (no styes) and I actually had what I think might have been a milia (keratin filled bump) which you can see in the initial pictures below and it's now gone away possibly because of the castor oil (it gets on my eyelids when I'm applying it, sometimes I rub the leftover/excess around my eyes like eye cream). So as a final warning, just be aware of any skin changes and stop if you think the castor oil is causing negative effects.

Okay so here's some picture results from my last 2 months of using castor oil (what you've all been waiting for).

I apologize for the lighting difference and meh quality but these were taken off my phone with no product on. The top 2 photos were at the start (February 2017) and the bottom 2 photos are now (April 2017). I'm going to continue using the castor oil since 2 months isn't a whole lot of time, and update this as it goes but so far I haven't seen that much of a difference..can you guys? It's definitely a bit disappointing that there's not much change and I actually did some MORE research on castor oil and found that only some people have actually seen eyelash growth with it so maybe it's not as effective as I initially though.

There is an actual medical product that boosts eyelash growth but requires a prescription and is incredibly expensive. It's called bimatoprost (generic) or Latisse (brand name) and has been shown to be extremely effective in lengthening your lashes. I don't plan on getting that though because (1) price and (2) a friend tried it and said after stopping, her lashes seemed stunted in growth (this has been mentioned by others who've used it as well).

So hopefully this was somewhat helpful or interesting to read. I'm sorry castor oil isn't the miracle product (for me at least) but give it a shot if you want - maybe you'll be different? Anyways, what other DIY or actual real products have you guys tried to make your eyelashes grow?

The Best (and cheapest!) Way to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

I'm not going to babble too much and get straight into the post. It's pretty common knowledge that makeup brushes need to be washed - especially face makeup brushes. You don't want bacteria building up and if you're doing makeup on other people, you don't want their face oils and germs on the brush when you use it next right? Same goes with eye brushes although the concern is more that when you use different colors, you'll have residual from the old shade you used and well, that's no good if you've got black shadow mixing with your highlight. So yes it's clear that makeup brushes need to be washed. But using what?!

Store bought cleansing solutions are expensive aren't they? So most people have come to realize that well... olive oil is great at removing makeup from the face and doesn't clog pores. And dish washer soap is supposed to kill 99.999% of bacteria. SO.. if you take the two and mix them together, you should get the perfect makeup cleansing mixture right? CORRECT! I think that's also pretty common knowledge (I think all the Youtube makeup gurus I watch use this solution). It's cheap (well olive oil can be pricey but it's def worth it) and effective. I've used it since I started getting into makeup and have never had any issues. However..the only one problem is really getting out ALL the makeup from some of my denser brushes (ie. the Sigma F80 kabuki brush). Sometimes the foundation really gets stuck in and even after multiple scrubs on my hand, I find there is still residual foundation spots left on the brush. I know other people have had this problem because Sigma designed a tool to help with this: a brush cleaning glove! It has ridges and bumps that are supposed to help you "deep clean" all your brushes quickly and efficiently.

I think it's a cool idea especially if you have a ton of brushes.. However, for someone like me who only needs to wash a few (5-7) brushes every so often, $39 is a pretty steep price. So I discovered my own tool to help me deep clean and it's something I think most people will have! A ginger grater! Now I know what you're thinking (okay well I don't) but does it seem weird? Well a ginger grater also has little small raised bumps to help you grate a ginger into tiny shreds of pieces. It's not too sharp like a knife or a cheese grater, and it's on a flat surface (like the one shown below).

It's definitely improved the cleanliness of my brushes and speed of the whole process so I thought I'd share it with all of you. All you have to do is move your brush up and down or in circular motions and you'll see all the pigment and gunk from your makeup foaming up off your brush. I do this as many times until the soap bubbles are clear or when I rinse the brush under water and wring it out, the liquid drainage is clear.

To dry my brushes, I use a dry and clean dish towel or hair towel and lay it vertically. I roll up one edge so that it creates a raised roll that I can prop my brushes against so that they lay at a downward slant to promote the drainage of water as they dry. This is important to prevent the bristles in your brushes from falling out. In the below photo they're propped upward because I had just dipped them in my oil+detergent mixture. They're currently propped the opposite way since I just finished cleaning them. I like to use a hair towel because they're long enough to roll up and still have extra towel room to cover my brushes when they're drying to prevent dust or random stuff falling on them and dirtying them (if that makes sense)

I hope this post was somewhat useful for you and please give it a go! It might seem weird at first but it's quite effective! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them down below!