eyelash growth

John,I recently bought a little pot of glitter to wear on my eyes, but my goodness does it make a mess! how do you keep it on your eyes and not all over your cheeks…and clothes…and house…and well…everywhere but where it is supposed to be? Could you maybe do one of your handbag videos on what can be done with them and how to use them?Zoë

Zoë,great idea, actually! I will show this to the lovely Katie – beauty editor and princess – and see if we could film something next time we do a batch. In the meantime, I will give you a few application techniques that I use to get them on and keep them on (usually!). once you have applied all of your other eye make-up, apply something slightly sticky, (I usually use a clear lip gloss myself…), by tapping it where you want the glitter. then dab the glitter onto the gloss and presto. each time you dab the next bit on, change fingertips so the glitter will stick to your lid and not your finger. This will work if you want dazzling eyelids or just a line over the lashes. Some make-up artists use a little eye cream, but if that sinks in I find the glitter can start to drop. But you really need to know that you will have some drop regardless. the only way you can get around it – and the way I would do it if it were for a shooting – is to glue it on. Again, apply your eye make-up however you want. then take a tube of eyelash glue and apply a blob on the back of your hand. Tap it onto the area you want the glitter and then touch the glitter onto the glue with fresh fingertips. Lash adhesive is rubbery and will not damage the eyelids or the lashes (just make sure you don’t buy the glue for semi-permanent individual lashes! at the end of the evening, dampen a cotton pad with eye make-up remover and hold it to the lid. Carefully wipe the make-up and glitter away so it doesn’t fall into your eyes. then gently "roll" the remaining glue off like you would art glue or cow gum glue. the glue will dry transparent and you can dance and sweat with confidence that it will stay put. all the best,JohnWatch John’s latest video on applying a glittery eye make-up look here.

John,I am a regular Q&a junkie and wrote to you a while back about mascara dropping under my eyes no matter what product I use. you suggested it might be down to the way I removed my eye make-up or that I might be applying too much eye cream or too near the eye. I followed your advice and the difference was huge. But with how volumising mascaras are now, I still find that some of them will go at bitty by the end of the day. I can live with it for evening out, but is there any mascara that is thin enough that it can’t flake? I am not interested in extra length or volume: just shiny darker lashes. Lash tinting works but never lasts. can I be cheeky enough to enlist your help a second time?Fingers crossed,Shirley

Shirley,If you don’t ask: you don’t get! There is one that should be exactly what you are looking for. it is Clinique’s Naturally Glossy Mascara. Normal mascaras have a wax content of 65% or more to give them the build that most women are looking for. Naturally Glossy has about 3%! it has a wonderful brush that is so fine it is impossible to clump them, and the formula never stiffens, even when the mascara is completely dry. But don’t expect anything other than darker, glossier lashes. it comes in Jet Black and Jet Brown and looks like you have just come from having them tinted. and doesn’t it make you laugh that they say a lash tint will last 6-8 weeks? which alternate reality are they living in? 6-8 minutes is more like it! If that doesn’t sort you out you can smack my bottom and call me Charlie! LOLNow uncross your fingers or you will make a mess,John

Guru John,My friend and I are hoping you can settle a debate between us. are the models we see in magazines really that beautiful or is it all down to lighting and make-up? We watch most of the top Model shows and I think some of those girls are right mingers! I always thought models were supposed to be the epitome of what we are all striving to look like, yet some of those girls wouldn’t make me look twice. and while I have you, who have you made up that you think is the most beautiful? Models and celebrities. Dish some gossip!the Gossip Girls

GG’s,I don’t know which side I am supporting here, but the best photographic models tend to be fairly plain. Some you would walk past on the street and it would never occur to you that they even WERE a model. But having that adaptable blank canvas means you can create almost anything you want with hair, make-up, lighting, etc. That is why you hear things on those shows like she is commercial (appeals to the masses, great for catalogues, non-threatening), editorial (edgy, a little quirky, perhaps even slightly strange looking), or good for beauty shots (these are the girls that have symmetry and the camera loves them). I have done jobs where I thought the lump on the floor was a dresser or stylist and she ended up being the model! and once you started applying her face – you could see a transformation that was shocking. the scrubber turned into a princess. I will agree with you on the comment that some of the ones they put through on the modelling shows are…unlikely looking. But then, the really gorgeous ones don’t necessarily take good pictures and vice versa. as for my favourite? I never kiss and tell. I have done pretty nearly everyone in my 25 years, but I have a strict policy about not talking about them. Especially celebrity clients. it must be pretty awful to have so little privacy that a make-up artist is telling what you wear and what you are like. I get a great deal of the work I do because I keep my mouth shut. what I WILL say is that often the bigger models and stars are the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, and the ones that are just starting out or think they are bigger than they are, are the hardest to work with. Un-earned egos. sorry I have not satisfied your thirst for gossip but if you won the bet: you should still buy me a present!Johnny G

Got a beauty question? then email John at johngustafson@ukhandbag.com.Please note, John’s answers will be published on the site weekly as he cannot reply to emails personally. 

Beauty Q & A with John Gustafson