How To Choose the Right Length for Natural-Looking Lashes

Are you chasing natural-looking lashes with DIY Lash Extensions? Chase no more with Gossamers from Lashify. But it’s not just our high-quality Korean PBT silk fibers that give out lashes their lush, realistic look; it’s also how you style them! 

So here’s our guide to help you pick the right length and style of Gossamers to achieve a natural look! 

What Makes Lashes Look Natural? 

There’s a literal science to eyelashes looking natural. According to researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, there is an optimal length for natural lashes. So what’s the magic ratio? The length of the natural lashes should be one-third of the width of the eye. 

To get this ratio, they studied 22 different mammals with vastly different eyes from different habitats. They found that each animal’s eyelashes were consistently one-third the length of the distance from the inner eye corner to the outer eye corner. 

As the eyes got bigger, the lash length got longer. They studied eyes that were nearly half a centimeter in diameter up to eyes that were nearly 1.5 inches in diameter, not to mention the human eye, which is about ¾ of an inch in diameter (roughly 20mm). 

So what's one-third of 20mm? About 7mm. Your natural eyelashes are likely within 2mm of 7mm. But how did nature arrive at this ratio? What’s the benefit? 

The same Georgia Tech study found that this ratio is the perfect length to be a “speed bump” to the air around the eyeball; it’s long enough to keep out dirt, debris, bacteria, and vapor but not so long that it fans air back into the eye, which would allow entry for these irritants and cause dry eyes. Nature picked the perfect length lashes to keep your eyes lubricated and clean. 

What Makes Lash Extensions Look Natural? 

So, how can we apply this lesson from nature to our false lashes? Obviously, we’d like to go a little longer than what nature endowed us with, but how long can we go while maintaining that natural appearance? 

There is no one size fits all prescription for natural-looking lashes. The lash that looks the most natural on you will depend on many factors like eye shape, natural lash length, lash color, and lash thickness. 

If you have very short natural lashes, then you’ll need a shorter extension than a person with naturally long lashes. This advice is practical and aesthetic since longer extensions put slightly more pressure on your lashes, so you’ll have a harder time bonding extra-long extensions to extra short natural lashes and keeping them in place. 

When it comes to eye shapes, consider the natural curve of your eyes and whether your eyes are deep set, protruding, or neither. Your eyelids are going to play a major role in what looks ‘natural’ or not on you. 

Deeper-set eyes can get away with longer lashes since protruding eyes may cause the extra long lashes to brush your brows. Similarly, hooded eyes should err on the shorter side since longer lashes start much closer to the brow. With monolids, long length is your friend, but if the curl is too strong, they may catch on your eyelids. 

For more guidance on choosing your lashes based on your eye shape, check out our super handy guide. 

Choosing the Right Length

We’ve talked a lot about length so far, as if lashes are only one length per eye, but that’s not the case. Your natural lashes vary in size across the lash line because your individual lashes are all at different phases in their growth cycle. 

Additionally, your lashes are naturally shorter at the inner corners of your eye. Following this pattern of shorter lashes in the corners when designing your lash map can make the map look most natural. You need different lash lengths for different sections on your lash line. 

Look at the natural lash length and add 2 to 4mm to calculate the best length for your extensions to get a natural look. If you have naturally long lashes, lean toward 2. Shorter natural lashes? 4mm is likely a safe addition without pushing you beyond realistic. 

Choosing the Right Lash Style

Beyond the length, your chosen style will play a major role in how realistic your lashes appear. Generally, lash extensions come in three styles: classic, volume, or hybrid. When you’re aiming for a natural look, start with a classic style. 

If you want a little more enhancement, move up to hybrid. However, we will leave the volume extensions inside our Gossamer storage case for this style; they’re hot but not exactly natural. So, classic and hybrid — but why?

Classics

Classic extensions are the most natural-looking because they use fewer, thicker fibers. Classic lashes supply fake lash fibers in an approximate one-to-one ratio against your natural lashes. 

This is unlike volume lashes, which use a high volume of thin lash fibers. The thicker fibers are more similar to your natural lash fibers, providing the illusion of greater length without adding too much volume. 

If you’re new to lash extensions, always start with a classic lash to help you get used to the feeling of extensions. Despite the thicker fibers, classic lashes are the lightest. When perusing our Gossamer collections, classic lashes are found in our Core Collection: Amplify, Bold, and Curl Gossamers.

Hybrid

Hybrid lashes mix classic and volume lashes at a ratio of about 70% classic fibers to 30% volume fibers per lash fan. This combo of styles is super popular because why choose between two great styles when you can have a mix? Why choose red or white when rosé is right there! 

Because hybrid extensions have an inherent variation in length and fiber thickness, they do a great job mimicking natural lashes. You can build your own hybrid lashes by mixing classic and volume lash fans on your lash line. 

Thickness and Curl

No matter which style of lash you choose, make subtle choices in terms of curl strength and lash fiber thickness. Choose a lash with a curl that matches your natural curl. Choosing an extension with a different curl strength will make it very difficult to blend the extensions seamlessly into your natural lashes 

You can try curling your natural lashes before applying your Gossamers, but curling your lashes only lasts a few hours, and your Gossamers can last days. Never bring a manual curler down on your Gossamers. If you must adjust the curl of your Gossamer, use the Lashicurl tool: a heated silicone wand that curls natural and false lashes with gentle heat, not brute force. 

In terms of thickness, lash fibers that are about .07mm thick will look the most natural. Since you’re probably not going up to your lashes with a ruler and a magnifying glass, we measured for you. 

All the lashes in our Core and Intimate collections already come at this thickness. This thickness will ensure that your lashes feel lightweight and look naturally fluttery on your eyes. 

Choosing the Most Natural Lashes

If you glance at the extensions at the cosmetics shop or at the drugstore, you may be under the impression that black is the only option, but this couldn’t be less true! Extensions come in as many colors as natural hair, from ginger to blonde to chestnut. We know that a natural look looks its best when you can get a color match to your natural lashes; enter Lashify’s Intimates Collection! 

The Intimates collection was designed to blend seamlessly into your natural lashes by mimicking their color. They come in four shades in classic styles, plus a bonus color in volume styles. Each color is available in Amplify and Curl styles. 

Truffle Gossamers blend black and caramel browns into our most popular lash color. Truffle Gossamers are suitable for most brunettes. It’s such a popular color that we couldn’t hold it back to just the classics, so now you can get Truffle Fluffy and Fluffy FX Gossamers too!

Minx Gossamers imitate the highly sought-after look of natural mink, but no animal cruelty here; our fibers are vegan! Minx lashes are great for those with light brown or dark blonde natural lashes. 

Ash Gossamers are the lashes best for the strawberry blonde. Purplish-red tinges the brown Gossamer for unique variations in tone that mirror your natural hair color. Strawberry blonde is such a mesmerizing hair color, and we think your lashes should keep up!

Ginger Gossamers, as the name might suggest, are made for natural redheads. Having red hair is basically like winning the lottery since it’s so unlikely and so cool! Red hair is unmistakable, so you deserve a lash that can blend in with your stand-out color. 

Chocolate Gossamers are the bonus color. Though they’re not in the intimates collection, they still provide a natural hue for chestnut and chocolate-haired beauties. You can find them in the Volume Collection. Chocolate Gossamers highlight all brown's depth and glamor: warm, sweet, dark, soft, and shimmering. Chocolate comes in Stardust, Starburst, Plushy, Plushy Tame, Fluffy, and Fluffy FX Gossamer styles.

Natural All Along

To summarize, cut to the chase in finding the most natural lash look by finding your color match in the intimates collection since they supply a classic curl and thickness that’s sure to blend with your natural lashes. If you’re on the fence between two colors, the darker color will create a more dramatic look, so err on the side of slightly darker. 

Then just add 2mm to your natural lash length, find your new extension length in the drop-down menu, hit ‘add to cart,’ and that’s the end; natural-looking lash extensions are on their way to you! 

Sources: 

Your Eyelashes Should Be This Long, Science Says | Scientific American

How to Tell if You Have Deep-Set Eyes | NVision Center

What is my eye shape? The best tips for each, according to makeup artists | Today