As of late, I’ve been obsessed with having full lush lashes.
No matter how bomb my eye makeup looks or how fleeky my eyebrows are, if my lashes aren’t fluttering and full, my makeup just feels less fabulous. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had thin, short lashes that are barely noticeable on my small almond shaped eyes.
Over the years as a beauty consultant, one of the most common things that I’ve been asked about mascaras is:
“Do mascara formulas really differ or is it the wand that really makes the difference?”
The simple answer is both. The extended answer is, although mascara formulas can promote whatever look you're going for with your lashes (different mascara formulas do in fact bond differently to your lashes), the wand is the real money maker. No matter what formula of a mascara that you purchase, the wand is what coats your lashes and pull them in the direction that you desire.
To achieve the lashes of your dreams, here is what you should look for in a mascara wand:
If You Want Length
If you have short lashes and you’re not concerned so much with volume, a lengthening mascara is ideal for you. The best wand to add length to your lashes will have short bristles that aren’t tightly packed in order to extend the lashes without coating them.
Recommendation:Maybelline Lash Stiletto
If You Want Volume
If you already have length covered, then you probably just want to add some volume to get some va-va-voom from your lashes. The perfect mascara wand to really coat your lashes while adding volume would be one that has slightly longer bristles (compared to a lengthening mascara) and is more densely packed. The combination of the two helps to give the lashes a coating to create the look of volume.
Recommendation:Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme
If You Want Separation
Depending on your lashes and the mascara you use, you can run into issues with clumping. To avoid clumps and still get the coating that you desire, use a wand that is a comb instead of a brush to separate and define the lashes individually.
Recommendation:Clinique High Lengths
*Although it is a lengthening mascara, the comb helps to separate the lashes while extending them.
If You Want Curl
Some women’s lashes grow straight and don’t curl up at all, leaving them long yet barely visible. A simple solution to this is opting for a mascara with a curved wand that will pull your lashes upward.
Recommendation:Maybelline Cat Eye Express
If You Want An All-In-One
Sometimes you want it all or just don't know for sure what you want, so a mascara that basically does it all will get the job done. Achieving lashes that are a mix of everything will essentially come down to formula and technique. Opting for a formula that promotes curling, length, and volume is the first step. You also want to make sure you're layering the mascara and pulling the lashes in which ever way you decide in order to get your desired lash.
Recommendation:M.A.C. Upward Lash
What do you look for out of your go-to mascara? Have any recommendations? Share them below.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak