Dewy Gooey Eyelids: Revlon's Lash Jewels

Brownlee has admitted to me a fascination with the secret potions, unguents, and powders found within the makeup cases of the cosmetically-minded femme. To his trogolodytic, heterosexual brain, their purposes are arcane and their origins are obscure. I have promised him a guided tour of my overstuffed traincase one of these days, but until then, I dedicate my forthcoming cosmetics posts to his closeted glitterlust.

This first installment is about an item I found tonight, "Lash Jewels" from ancient cosmetics standby, Revlon. It is described perfectly in this article on cutting edge cosmetics packaging:

Lash Jewels is a gel formula packaged in a flow-through pen supplied by Mitsubishi Pencil Co. (Taiwan). The pen has a nozzle tip, and the product is dispensed when the pen is clicked. The gel comes up through the pen, forming a little bead on the pen’s nozzle-shaped tip. The user touches the tip of each eyelash with the pen. “It leaves a clear droplet on each lash,” says Sharon Garment, vice president of product development at Revlon.

The effect is futuristic, subtle, and alien. The surface tension of the viscous gel forms it into a perfect spheroid, which clings to the eyelash. One is reminded of macro images of ants struggling gamely with enormous water globules, and of the teardrop photography of Man Ray. Extraordinary.

The only problem I've encountered is that the droplets cannot maintain their perch on the tip of a lash, and tend to slide down towards the center. I'm not sure what the solution to this is. Application with the eyes closed, perhaps.