The Couple Who Put Their Names on Ardell Lashes

False eyelashes go back further than most people think. One retailer's brand history traces the first pair to 1916, when director D. W. Griffith wanted his leading lady to look striking in the film Intolerance, and a wigmaker wove hair into mesh to do it. Ardell came along in 1971, when Arnold Miller and his wife Sydell combined their first names. Their stated mission was to give women a way to make their eyes beautiful and unforgettable, and the first product was a line of individual lashes called Duralash. The company is now part of American International Industries. I love a brand that is literally a couple's names, and that still sells the strip I remember from drugstore walls. Ardell lashes are most associated with Wispies, the crisscrossed, feathered, curled style, and the grid below is four versions of it. Demi Wispies is the winged one, Baby Demi is its shorter little sister, the four-pair Wispies is rounded and longer in the center, and Balayage adds sun-kissed chestnut highlights to a black base.

This is the grid for choosing by how much you want to show. Naked 420 has the shortest length and a light crisscross style, and the brand says it feels barely there, with a duo pipette of adhesive in the set. Light As Air 521 uses whisper-soft hourglass-shaped fibers on a flexible Invisiband. Faux Mink 814 turns the length up, with long fibers, a flared silhouette and hand-crafted curl. 3D Faux Mink 852 layers crisscross fibers for full volume at a medium length, with shorter inner corners and longer outer ends. A tip that works for the first four strip lashes: hold the band against your lash line before you add glue, and check how the outer corner sits. If the band feels long, trim it from the outer edge.

Clusters are for people who have never felt comfortable with a full strip. Naked My Way gives you four takes on one style: a full strip, a three-quarter midi, a half lash and pre-cut clusters, which you can wear alone or stack. Winks come pre-glued in 10, 12 and 14 mm lengths with an applicator, and the kit is meant for up to four applications. Active is the underlash version, pre-glued with 3D curled fibers, with no glue needed. The Strong Hold glue is the clear, waterproof one made for strips, and it dries clear. What I would skip is sleeping in any of these, unless the box says it is fine, and tugging a strip off by the outer edge. Soak the band with a little warm water or remover and ease it away.

I keep coming back to how practical Ardell is for a brand that began with a couple and a salon problem. You can start with one pair of Wispies, learn where you like the length to sit and move on to clusters when you want something lighter. Take the lashes off gently each night. Keep the band clean for another wear. Let your own lashes rest between sets. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together The Best Tubing Mascara for Lashes That Stay Put From Coffee to Cocktails and Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink, From Mabel's Lashes to Your Lips.