Thursday, July 8, 2010

Using Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber--Kat's Way

I was born with monolids, droopy monolids. In fact, I was told that I looked like Droopy Dog, who is actually a basset hound.


Fast forward 13 years or so and I started searching for a way to make my eyelids double. It was popular at that time to use scotch tape/magic tape to double your eyes. The look of this is similar to the Eye Charm Tape, where it is quite obvious that you are wearing tape. You need to cut the scotch tape/magic tape to shape and to fit your eyes. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work and I didn't like the feel of it on. I ended up discovering false eyelash glue and used that to double my eyelids. This was a very, very long time ago and I'm not sure if double eyelid tapes and glues were even being manufactured in Japan at that time. After using the false eyelash glue a couple of years day and night (yes, even when I slept), I discovered that my eyelids would stay doubled. A few years ago, my eyelids started falling and with age, even if they were still doubled, they were getting droopy again.  Out came the false eyelash glue again. I also discovered that there were now double eyelid glues available so I purchased one and tried it. It didn't work as well as the false eyelash glue for me though. Several months ago, I read on a blog about the Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber and decided to try it. I had read reviews and there were more people who didn't really like it than who liked it but I still decided to go for it. I'm so glad that I did because this has been wonderful for me. I would like to share with you my way of using it. It differs a little from the instructions on how to use it but not by much.

Tools needed:

Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber
Application Stick (comes with stretch fiber)
Cotton pad
Small, sharp scissors
Tweezers


Close up of the stretch fiber

As stated in the instructions, use a cotton pad to gently cleanse your eyelid area to remove dirt and excess sebum.


There is an applicator stick included with your purchase and I think that you can use that stick to find and kind of mark where you want to make your crease.

Gently pull the stretch fiber apart. The instructions say to pull it to the length that best fits your eye shape. You are supposed to use one stretch fiber per eye but here's where I deviate from the instructions. I pull it as far apart as I can because I will use the one stretch fiber for both eyes.


Firmly place the stretch fiber on your eyelid where in the desired creaseline. I try to place one end of it closer to the outer end of my eyelid crease. Use the applicator to adjust the fiber if necessary. Again, you are supposed to use the stretch fiber on your whole eyelid but for me, I usually use it on the outer 3/4th of my eyelid.



Using a very sharp, small scissors, cut the stretch fiber at your inner eye. I initially used a really sharp craft scissors but it was much larger than a cuticle scissors. Since the blades were quite long, I accidently cut my eyelashes on the inner corner of my eye. I was very sad, so please be careful not to cut your eyelashes!

Please keep in mind that all the while you are doing the above, you are still holding in your other hand, which is not your dominant hand (if you are right handed, then your left hand and vice versa), the other half of the stretch fiber. Using a tweezers, grab the end of the cut end of the stretch fiber. Place that end first onto your other inner eyelid and keep it held down there while you firmly place the rest of the stretch fiber onto your eyelid in the desired creaseline. Use the applicator stick to adjust the fiber and to also press it into place.



Using the scissors, you can now cut off the two outer ends of the stretch fiber at the desired end point.


I usually apply the Mezaik on my eyes at night right after I finish showering and washing my face. At that time, it is clean and free of oils. I also find that when I sleep with it on, there is the added benefit of my not having to spend time in the morning to put it on. Sometimes I do have some trouble getting it on and I would feel quite rushed in the mornings if that happened. I also find that when I sleep with it on, it seems to blend into my skin. I do my nightly skincare routine at night after I apply the Mezaik but have to avoid applying any lotions or creams onto the area where the stretch fiber is. In the morning, I usually don't wash my face with facial cleanser since I feel that it is still clean and I would wash off all of the skin care benefits from the night before. I do rinse my face off well with water and go ahead and do my daily morning skincare routine, again avoiding the area with the stretch fiber.

You can then go ahead and apply your makeup as usual but do not use any cream eyeshadows or creamy/oily type of eyelid primers. I like to use MAC Paintpot in Painterly as a primer but I carefully apply it above and below the stretch fiber. I did try applying Painterly over my whole eyelid area once as a test and the stretch fiber ended up unsticking from my eyelids.



You can barely see the stretch fiber if at all.


One thing that I did find helpful in keeping the stretch fiber invisible after you apply your makeup is that if you apply it in the morning, rinse your eyelids off after application. The stretch fiber is sticky, which helps it to adhere to your skin. Rinsing your eyelids off after you finish the application helps to take away any remaining tackiness that is on the exposed stretch fiber. The stretch fiber is waterproof so it will stay on your eyelids.

As a side note, I think that using the Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber is probably easier for me because I already have a crease that was created from using the false eyelash glue a long time ago. I use the stretch fiber now because my double eyelids are "falling" or becoming un-creased (is that even a word?) and is starting to droop at the outer corners. I use the stretch fiber to deepen my current crease but also use it to lift up the droop at the outer corners. Shihoco from Pladge says that she uses the double eyelid glue at night and the Mezaik in the morning. It could be that if you are completely monolid with difficult-to-crease eyelids, you may not be as successful with the Mezaik, but I'm not sure.

Pros:
Creates a natural-looking crease
It works wonders for me

Cons:
Not available from a wide-range of sellers online
Can be pricey
Needs to be kept free from oil-based products

I purchase my Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber from iMomoko.

I hope that this was informative.

*Kat*

25 comments:

BV said...

Thank you for this detailed post! I will end up giving this another go but I think you are right. You need to have a monolid that has thin skin on the lids like you or it might not work. I am also so addicted to my cream eyeshadows + primers... it is so hard. The overall result is simply GORGEOUS on you.
BV

galpal.hi said...

Thank you and you're welcome BV! I hope that it will be helpful to you and whoever else wants to try it or who has tried it and had problems. I was lucky that I was able to get the hang of it pretty easily. I also realize that everyone has their way of doing things and that my way isn't the only way to do it. The best thing about beauty blogs is that you can pick up tips that work for different bloggers and are able to try it out to see what will work out for you.

Good luck when you try it again.

*Kat*

Unknown said...

wow, it works like magic!

galpal.hi said...

Thanks for your comment Stephenie. It really is one of my HG items.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

i think this a great tut even tho i dont use my tape myself.. very informative, a wonderful tut!

. said...

On my first glance on my blogger-reader I thought you were going to put the tape on that pup!

Obviously I was very tired and not really with it!

Thanks for the really detailed tutorial-post! I might give it a try sometime to try to make my eyes look a little bigger. At the moment because of my conjunctivitis my right eye is significantly smaller than the right!!!!

galpal.hi said...

LOL Jian! Well, perhaps the pup would like to have double eyelids too.

You poor thing! I hope that your conjuctivitis clears up soon.

*Kat*

Kathy said...

Great article, I'm going to give this stuff a try. Being a 40+ Asian woman also, I am infinitely relieved to find there are other gals out there who still make the effort to look their best. And who was the person who said your eyes looked like Droopy Dog??? Sounds like something an ex-boyfriend would say.

galpal.hi said...

From one Kat to another...LOL! Sorry, I couldn't resist using that saying...

Kat, thanks so much for visiting this humble blog. Thank you also for thinking that this article is interesting. I really wanted to share what worked for me and hope that it can help someone else.

LOL! Actually, it was my mom who said that I looked like Droopy Dog. My brother, he looked like Mr. Magoo. This was what we looked like when we were born.

I'm sure that my ex-boyfriend(s) said even less uncomplimentary things.

*Kat*

Steph said...

the puppy is so cute =D
this was a very informative post~
the prices i'm seeing for these double eye lid fibers are higher then glue & tape
so it's nice to know that one can be used for both eyes =D

galpal.hi said...

@Steph--Yes, the price is higher than glue and tape but the results are so much more natural looking that I think it's worth it. I'm glad that I decided to test out trying to see if I could use one stick on both eyes since it helps to cut down on costs.

*Kat*

Kelly said...

Hi Kat! I decided to read your tutorial on Mezaik application process after reading your response (thanks by the way for responding back... much appreciated). I will try your method of just using one fiber for both eyes. Commenting on your side note about the Mezaik holding better for those who have more of a semi permanent crease- I did notice from waking up this morning that while my right eye looked completely natural and the crease held on, my left eye did not hold as good (my left eye's always been the trouble eye with double eyelid creasing, refusing to hold up as well as my right lid). I may have to find alternate methods for the left eyelid.

Thanks!
Kelly

galpal.hi said...

Hi Kelly! Thank you again for reading and commenting. Good luck with using my method of one fiber for both eyes. It will take a bit of getting used to but it is a really economical way of using it.

As for your troublesome left eye, I think that you might want to try using either double-eyelid glue or false eyelash glue at night. The double-eyelid glue doesn't work for me but false eyelash glue does since I can get really good sticking power with it. The only negative thing about it is that I remember my mom telling me that she used to get creeped out if she happened to see me sleeping because my eyes wouldn't be shut properly. I don't know if when you were a child if other children used to make a "monster" face by flipping their eyelids inside out. I guess that's kind of the effect of it when you're sleeping. I used to really apply it thickly to make sure it didn't come apart while sleeping. Doing that every night and applying lightly every morning for around 1 1/2 years actually made my eyelids double naturally to the point where I was able to use it only at night and then after another year or so, only on occasion when they would start undoubling. This was way before stretch fiber became available.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

Mai-Kat,
I have double eye lids but am looking to use the stretch fiber to lift the outer edges of my eyelids. I know you said you use this to lift your droopy outer eye lids and I guess I just want to know further details on how you lift the ouuter corners of your eyes with stretch fiber?

Thank you,
Olivia

galpal.hi said...

@Olivia--What I do is basically increase the crease size of the outer eyelids. My eyelids droop because the crease has gotten thinner there. To do this, I apply the stretch fiber along the crease line but towards the outer 1/3 - 1/4 of outer crease, I go just above the creaseline. How high you go just depends on how much bigger you want your crease there to be. However, you'll want to practice it because even though it seems like I'm barely over my regular creaseline, it gets quite a bit bigger. I've really overdone it before.

I hope that this helps! If you have any further questions, you can comment here or email me at galpal.hi@gmail.com

Thanks,

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much! I can't wait to try!

jo said...

where can i buy it from? iMomoko only sells to certain countries but not to singapore right?

galpal.hi said...

@jo--According to iMomoko's website (under FAQ) they ship to 4 different countries but if wanting to have shipping to another country, you should email them.

I also just checked sasa.com and it looks like they have it back in stock. They were out for awhile so you might want to try ordering from them as quickly as possible.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

How long does it last when you use it? Or do you have to use it everyday?

galpal.hi said...

@Anonymous--I'm not sure what you're asking so I'll answer several ways. If you're wondering how long the stretch fiber lasts, then it lasts until you either remove it with makeup remover or if you happen to get some kind of oil-based makeup on it. It's really best to remove it every night since it is on your eyelids, near to your eyes. I'm not exactly sure if and how it can harbor bacteria but it's best to be safe.

If you are asking if using it for XXX long will make your eyelids become permanently double, then there's really no answer for that. It just depends on how easily your eyelids can double and if it can hold it. For example, I used to use false eyelash glue to make my eyelids double. After using it every day for several years, I was fortunate enough to have it become permanently double. It's only been in recent years that my eyelids are starting to droop (probably from age) so I use the stretch fiber to bring the ends of my eyelids up to make them less droopy.

I hope that this answered your question. Please do not hesitate to ask again if you have any further questions. By no means am I an expert though.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

I bought 8 of this amazing ab mezical fibre cos i was so afraid it'd be sold out. It really works but now my eyelids fold naturally so i dun think i will be needing it anymore!!! Woohoo!!

I have 4 boxes left so anybody want them i can sell it to u for 20SGD (or 16USD) each...... Contact me jerek85@hotmail.com

hazel darwisya said...

I bought this last year but never really use it. Cos whenever I tried to, it never sticks there. Most of the time it became crumpled. Sigh... I don;t know what my mistake is.. :'(

galpal.hi said...

@hazel--I will email you.

*Kat*

HM said...

Hi! Have you heard of the Mezaik Fiter? it's a new product (like a glue but not as wet and comes in a "marker" like form) that will make the fiber stick better, supposedly. I'm still practicing with this fiber, it's hard to master!! I'm definitely going to try using one for both eyes, thanks for the tip!!

galpal.hi said...

@HM--I haven't heard about this. Thank you for the info.

*Kat*