Lash tinting. Scary at the best of times, horrific at the worst. While we wait for beauty salons everywhere to work through their waitlists, we'd like to turn your attention towards an at-home solution. We know what you're thinking: this sounds like the absolute worst idea which will definitely result in blindness. Wrong! My name is Ella Jane, and I am a successful at-home tinting advocate who has not yet lost her sight.

My journey with lash tinting began when I discovered I was allergic to most mascara, but also that I could wake up looking at least 50% less like a dutch cream potato if I just spent 15 minutes once a month blackening my lashes. As a redhead, this was an extremely important thing to discover. My journey with at-home lash tinting began when I had zero money, not even enough to justify a monthly trip to the beauty salon. On a lunch break one day, I high tailed it to Discount chemist, picked up a packet of 1000 Hour Lash & Brow Dye in 'blue black' (please, please do not use 'blue black' on your eyebrows) and have never looked back. Tips on how to achieve horsey black lashes sans temporary blindness, below.

Cover your Bases

You don't realise how important vaseline-ing up all surrounding surfaces of your dye project is until you have flecks and smudges of 'blue black' surrounding your lids and people are asking if you've been out all night. Do not be like me and throw caution to the wind on this step. 1000 Hour Lash & Brow Dye Kit comes with thin paper masks that you're supposed to wet and place under the eye. I would recommend taking a step further and slathering underneath the eye with your preferred eye cream, then, wet your paper mask and apply on top. This will act as a nourishing eye mask while also protecting you from a panda scenario. Apply a simple balm or salve to your upper lid to protect the northern area.

Go Easy

While it's easy for beauty therapists to get into every nook and cranny of every lash because you're lying down with your eyes firmly shut, this is not your at-home reality, which means a different approach is necessary to avoid feeling as though you've poured vodka into your corneas. Mix your dye according to instructions and look directly into the mirror. Your kit will come with a thin, white mixing stick which is my preferred tool (it also comes with a spoolie, which IMO is sabotage) pick up your dye mix on the thin white applicator and draw closely along your upper lash line. This will cover the roots of your upper lashes. From there, adding a little extra product if necessary, comb from the root of the lash to the tip until each last is coated. Do not try and coat lashed by swiping from underneath like mascara, it will get into your eye and things will be over before they started. For the bottom lashes, lightly brush a small amount along the length of the lashes, steering clear of the root.

Remove with Care

Once your dye is on and you've gone about your low-risk business for 7 minutes, this is the part to take pointers from your beauty therapist. Wet a handful of cotton pads with lukewarm water and start by closing one eye and wiping downwards multiple times with the eye closed. Once you are confident no more dye is coming off, you can open your eye and continue swiping any residue away. Literally, rinse and repeat with your other eye and voila! Dutch cream no more.

Image credit: @90sfashion.ir