Tarte Best in Faux Lash Extending Fibers Review

Tarte Best In Faux Lash Extension System
New for Fall 2014
Price $19

CRUELTY FREE!!

Tarte Best in Faux Lash Extensions claim to give the same impact false lashes do. The small fiber extensions are intended to add dramatic length and volume to lashes when sandwiched between coats of mascara.

Reviews of Tarte Best in Faux Lash Extensions are more or less a mixed bag; however with a little bit of effort and when used correctly, the results are nothing short of mind-blowing!

Mascara & lash extensions as we know them were given a run for their money when a small London based brand named Santilea released the first "Magnetic Mascara." The idea behind this is that the small fibers will add more length and volume than mascara would by itself. (Wayne Goss gave it rave reviews and you can see his video here and get some visual pointers on how to apply these types of fibers).

Tarte did a fantastic job when they created Best in Faux Lash extensions, but the overall reviews would probably be a lot higher if Tarte had tweaked just a few things on their instructions and the way Best in Faux Lash Extending Fibers are packaged.

Because of my mascara & lash "quirks" I don't do alot of mascara reviews. (That and because I'm obviously awful at taking pictures of my eyes- this picture was the best out of 20.) That being said, Tarte Best in Faux yielded such impressive results I just had to share them to offset some of the negative opinions floating around.

How to Use Best in Faux Lash Extensions:

When you purchase Tarte Best in Faux, you get two mascara tubes. The first tube has the fibers in them and that is the tube you are actually purchasing for the $19 price point. As a bonus, Tarte included a deluxe sized sample of their Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara. Light's Camera Lashes Mascara IS a great mascara, but it's not a great mascara to use with the Best in Faux Lash Extensions and I'll get more into why.

The directions Tarte includes on the packaging are quite simple; 

1) apply Lights Camera Lashes Mascara, 

2) before mascara dries, pet on fiber extentions,

3) seal in extensions with another coat of mascara.

What Tarte should have included, was a 4th step in the process which stated 

"repeat until you achieve desired results". 

This is probably the most important tip you could possibly follow when using Best in Faux Lash Extensions, and why I included the link to Wayne Goss's video on how to use the Magnetic Mascara because you can actually see the difference an additional application (or 5) make, and 90% of the reviews that I've read or watched, fail to mention this very important point because it's not a well-known tip.

As far as using the Best in Faux Lash Extensions with Lights Camera Lashes Mascara; you certainly can, but it's not your best bet if you're looking for extreme volume and length. Lights Camera Lashed Mascara is (again) a great mascara, but it works well on its own and builds a moderate amount of thickness when used by itself which isn't necessarily what you want when using Best in Faux because by the time you apply a second coat, your lashes can't really get much thicker so repeating isn't likely to gain you a whole lot of length.

The BEST mascara to use Tarte Best in Faux Fiber Lash Extensions is ANY mascara you want as long as the mascara is thin and WET. You want a mascara that you could theoretically build with multiple coats.

Initially, I tried using Tarte Lash Extending Fibers with the Lights Camera Lashes Mascara that's included and the results were better than they were with the mascara by itself, but nothing compared to the volume that can be achieved by using a buildable mascara.

(You can also use a buildable mascara primer and alternate between primer and fibers before sealing fibers in with a mascara of your choice. This is a great option if you have a favorite mascara that doesn't do well when multiple coats are applied over already dry coats.)

My Best In Faux Lash Routine:

I don't claim to be a makeup artist by any means and I often comment on my lack of ability to apply makeup but mascara is the one exception. Even if I have a world renowned makeup artist doing my makeup I always do my own mascara. I'm not exceptionally gifted when it comes to applying mascara, but I spend an obscene about of time on my lashes and I know each one; where my lash-cow-licks are, where they're sparser, which lashes don't fit into the curler because of my eye shape, etc.

I usually will curl my lashes to the extreme, comb through them, apply mascara LIGHTLY, comb through them again, possibly curl them a second time, apply more mascara, comb them again, and seal them in with a tube mascara.

Tarte Best In Faux Lash Extending Fibers
(About 5-6 coats of Best in Faux with Blinc Amplified Tube Mascaras_

*No, I don't normally wear my lashes at this length,
but I wanted to see how far I could take
Tarte Best In Faux Lash Extensions and if the results
were comparable to lash inserts, extensions or false lashes.
I think  the results speak for themselves.

Something that's somewhat of an issue for me is that I can only wear tube mascaras. I can get away with some waterproof mascaras but they ALWAYS inevitably smudge because of my deep-set eyes and obsession with curling. While tube mascaras have been my life savers for the past decade or so, they do have their limitations so I often will use a dramatic mascara and a tube mascara over it to "seal it in."

Because I already spend about 10 minutes a day on my lashes (which is way more than I spend on my hair), making the switch from a base-mascara to lash extending fibers was an easy switch.

I got some of the best results with Tarte's Lash Extending Fibers when I applied Hard Candy's Lash Ink 4 Day Lash Stain as a base coat; quickly combed through my lashes and before it dried patting on the fibers.

I happened to have a tube of Blic Amplified Mascara which I had accidentally diluted too much (because again, I use Tube Mascaras to seal in my regular mascara.) I then applied the Blinc over the Fibers and alternated until I got the length you see in the picture.

I really do like the Blinc Amplified Mascara, it doesn't smudge, holds a curl well and it removes easily with water but is also water-resistant (and Cruelty Free.)

L'Oreal makes their Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara which is a two part mascara that also forms tubes. The primer end works halfway decently as a mortar for the lash extending bricks (fibers), but the mascara itself does not because it forms a latex-like seal that is hard to build upon once it's dry without peeling layers off.

In short, Tarte Best in Faux is an amazing Lash Extension system. It may take a little bit of effort to apply them and get your desired results, but you certainly can achieve noticeably longer lashes that will certainly get commented on and may lead to some accusations of wearing false-lashes or inserts!

Some Tips:

-Use ANY mascara you want as long as it's wet, thin & buildable

-If you only have thicker mascaras, you CAN add 1-2 drops of water to the tube as long as water is listed in the ingredients somewhere (including water requires a different preservative and base, so if a wax based mascara has no water in it whatsoever, you may not want to add any.)

-You can apply the first coat of mascara with any type of brush your heart desires; but for best results, avoid a wire bristle brush when applying mascara OVER the fibers. (The velcro-like texture may remove fibers unless you're careful to "pat" instead of "swipe" the mascara.)

-You can build up certain areas of your lashes and achieve length, volume, definition, a fanned out effect; or all of the above by using Tarte Best in Faux Lash Extending Fibers. You just add more fibers to where you need more oomph; (in my case my other lashes.)