In Character and On-Point: Cosplay Lash Magic
Whether you dress up just for the spooky season or your love of costumes is a year-round hobby, Lashify has the lash magic to help you perfect your next cosplay down to the finest detail!
What Is Cosplay?
The word cosplay is a portmanteau of the words costume and play; cosplay is basically dress-up for young and old alike. Cosplay typically entails dressing up as characters (or other entities) from works of fiction.
Cosplaying is practically expected at conventions and fan events, and it’s extremely common at theme parks and film premieres. Even casual costumes, like Disney Bounding, count as cosplay. Disney bounding is the creative solution of Cosplaying Disney fans to wear not-costumes to Disney parks to skirt the rule against adults wearing full-on costumes.
Fans build costumes from everyday clothes in your closet to custom 3D-printed body armor. Cosplay doesn’t need to be an expensive hobby, though some people choose to purchase premium materials for their cosplays, like wigs, props, or specific garments.
Tons of people enjoy building their own cosplays on tight budgets as an exercise in creative resourcefulness. Whatever you have on hand: cardboard, string, paint, PVC, or a plain T-shirt– if you can imagine it, you can create it, and you can cosplay it!
While it spent many decades firmly cemented in nerd subcultures, marginalized from pop culture, cosplay has become very popular in recent decades. Cosplay has seen a recent spike in popularity for several reasons. Nerdy media like comic books, superhero movies, video games, and anime have all become more mainstream in American culture.
Cosplay itself is a creative outlet that welcomes craftspeople of a wide variety of disciplines, from body paint to textile arts to robotics. It’s accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
There’s a tremendous social aspect to it, as cosplaying offers a widespread and collaborative hobbyist community. However, perhaps the biggest reason it’s grown in popularity is that it’s just plain fun!
Why Do Lashes Matter in Cosplay?
Consider the kinds of characters most commonly cosplayed: characters from comics, anime, film, and TV. All of these mediums emphasize the artistic presentation of characters' eyes, from extreme close-ups of a single tear rolling down a cheek in film and TV to the iconic style of anime characters’ big, shiny eyes.
Lashes can get you that same kind of emphasis in real life. Lashes matter in cosplay because they can help cosplayers of any character achieve the specific look they’re dressing for.
Different media properties utilize different art styles, and with so many different styles of lash extensions available, it’s easy to emulate your fandom’s art style with your eyes. Some lashes can create the illusion of different eye shapes, while others make your eyes appear more open and wide.
Some lashes may help you achieve specific and bold looks, while others may just help you enhance the volume of your natural lashes. Lashes provide another creative decision and creative effect when creating cosplay looks.
If you’ve met someone who cosplays frequently, you might describe them as “detail-oriented.” Many cosplayers are incredibly exacting and particular when it comes to the minutiae of their costumes.
Utilizing specific lashes can help you pull off specific looks that would satisfy even the most choosy costume designer. There’s a Gossamer lash for every specific eye makeup look a cosplayer could dream of.
Anime Lashes for Cosplay
Have you heard about Anime lashes? If you’re an anime and manga fan, or you’re just up on TikTok lash trends, you probably have! Thanks to the rise in popularity of anime in general, anime and manga lash styles recently grew in popularity on TikTok and Instagram.
However, TikTok girlies didn’t invent this trend; it actually began in Harajuku fashion circles in the early 2000s. Anime-style lashes (Manga Lashes, Webtoon Lashes, and Spider Lashes) use extensions to create an exaggerated eye look since anime and manga characters typically have distinct, exaggerated features.
Anime eyes are usually drawn disproportionately large to be more expressive and, by some online theories, more cat-like. To imitate this exaggerated style, anime-style lash extension maps feature longer, fuller, and more dramatic lashes than classic lash maps.
Still, they’re not as long or thick as Russian Volume lashes. Intense and well-separated lash spikes are the main thing that sets anime lashesapart from basic cat eye, doll eye, and squirrel eyelash maps.
Anime lash maps feature a base layer of short, full lashes (like Fluffy Gossamers) paired with extremely long, sporadic, highly stylized lash spikes (like Extreme Ice or Cherry Stax Gossamers).
Overall, anime lashes are over-the-top and dramatic looks that usually incorporate spiky textures, extreme lengths, and sometimes bright colors. Try a Doll-Eye lash map if you’re new to anime lashes. Build your lash map out from the center with a Curl base layer brick stacked with Cherry Stax, spacing the lash spikes to taste.
How To Get The Anime Lash Look
Anime lash extension lash maps typically start with one of two base lash maps: The Doll Eye and the Squirrel Eye. The Doll Eye base is perhaps the most common since it creates a wide-eyed, doe-like appearance characteristic of wide-eyed, innocent heroines.
A Doll Eye map places the longest lash point at the center of the lash line. A squirrel eye places the longest lash halfway between a Doll Eye (center) and a Cat Eye (outer corner).
We recommend utilizing lashes that can get you clear, defined lash spikes you can place with precision, like our brand-new Cherry Stax Gossamers. Cherry Stax lash clusters are just spikes, no fan.
Each cluster comes to one strong lash spike, making them perfect for lash stacking to build a perfectly spiky anime lash look. Cherry Stax are measured from their longest point, so you may want to go slightly longer than you expect when ordering.
Other perfect Gossamers for the anime lash look include Gemini Gossamers, Tulip Gossamers, and Extreme Ice Gossamers. Gemini Gossamers provide a bold, piecey look with a killer curl thanks to their thicker-than-normal lash fibers.
Tulip Gossamers offer delicate lash spike pairs that achieve a softer version of the anime lash offered by Cherry Stacks. Finally, Extreme Ice Gossamers are the Gossamers to get a spiky lash look all the way across the lash cluster. They’re the spikiest lash fans that provide added volume and anime-esque lash spikes.
Apply these Volume Collection Gossamers solo or atop a lash base from our Core Collection utilizing one of our lash stacking techniques, like volume stacking or brick stacking. Arrange your lash map in a doll eye or squirrel eye if you’re unsure which pattern your anime character model is rocking.
Lash Magic for All Cosplayers
What about video game characters? Or Western cartoon characters? What about film characters played by real-life actors? Don’t worry, we got you!
Beyond our seasonal guide to lashes for common costumes, we suggest lash styling to elevate different types of cosplays. We have DC’s Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn as an example of two popular characters. Now, the exact eyelash style will depend on whether you’re aiming to emulate the comics or one of the live-action films.
For example, in the comics, Poison Ivy’s lashes are a dead ringer for our Starburst Gossamers: multi-layered, multi-dimensional, tons of varied lash length, and sexy texture to boot. Conversely, Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey is subtly piecey, with a haphazard mascara look with heavy eyeliner, perfect for a long Gemini lash paired with a Bold Gossamer base.
From video games, Overwatch’s D.Va is an extremely popular cosplay choice. Her lashes are a strong cat eye with anime-inspired elements. To get D.Va’s iconic lash look, start with the elements of a high-volume cat-eye. Drama Gossamers or Fluffy Gossamers would be great choices here.
Apply your selected Gossamers such that the length gradually increases from the center of the lash line to the outer corner. Just on the outer corner, sharply angled like a sexy cat eye, add two Cherry Stax Gossamers to achieve the anime-inspired lash spikes. Utilize eyeliner to get the bottom lash volume effect.
There’s always Zelda, classic, classy, feminine, and fun to wear. Zelda’s lashes actually do something very unique. Using her appearance in Breath of the Wild as a model, start with Curl Gossamers in a squirrel eye base: the longest lash should go halfway between the center of the lash line and the outer corner.
At this point, place two anime-inspired lash spikes and one Extreme Ice Gossamer should get the job done here. Then, and this is the really unique part, a third lash spikes just before the inner corner of the eye. This lash spike is best emulated with a Cherry Stax Gossamer.
No matter what medium you’re pulling your cosplay inspo from, there is no cosplay that can’t be enhanced with Gossamer lashes from Lashify and your limitless creativity!
Sources:
What is Cosplay? | Alachua County Library District
Everything you want to know about Disney Bounding | USA Today
The 20 Most Popular Female Anime Characters, Ranked | whatNerd
The lowdown on manga lashes and how to achieve the look | Vogue Singapore
Check Out The World's Most Instagrammed Cosplay Characters | LRM
