chelsea gilson

I was given the gift of beautiful full & long lashes. They’re blonde tipped and brunette based (yes, like balayage), but with a swipe of mascara I became pretty accustomed to getting asked, “are your lashes real?” and responding “oh stop it!” Regardless, somewhere along the way of pageants, then living in LA, then working on camera, I had found myself addicted to falsies.  In my latest of late twenties, I was still finding myself gluing the wispy strips onto my lashline at least 3 times a week, sometimes 5.  Which, as you well know, leads to the always lovely ripping them off at night.  And the even more spectacular clumps of glue stuck on what real lashes you have left the next morning.  As I inevitably damaged my lashes, I became even more dependent on my bulk order of the synthetics from China.  It’s was a vicious cycle.

Before I dive into my praise for the Rodan and Fields miracle wand that has taken my “I woke up like this” game up tenfold, lemme hit upon my prior experience with Latisse.

Yes, I’ve tried Latisse

You can imagine my excitement when Latisse hit the market and I saw everyone sprout long lashes basically overnight.  Despite my fear that my eye color would permanently change, I purchased a bottle and immediately began applying the liquid with these absurdly dysfunctional one-time use brush wands that come with it.  I would take this tinsy, tiny, little baby bottle of chemical liquid and drop some ever so carefully onto a few long brush hairs that never seem to actually hold any of it.  Before the liquid could run up the wand, I applied the moistened wand to the base of my eyelashes.  Then I’d get the treat of repeating the process for the other eye.

Does it work?  You bet.  You will begin sprouting these unmistakable Latisse spider leg eyelashes within a week of use.  Are they pretty? nope.  They’re unruly and thin and wiry and when you stop using Latisse they drop out like dead spider legs.  Graphic maybe, but I’ve seen it happen and it’s not pretty.  Luckily for me, I never got that far on my Latisse journey.  My $120 ‘investment’ lasted me 5 days before I had to call it quits due to a bright red, bumpy rash on my left eyelid.  Gross.  I discontinued immediately, but I did notice that a few days later my eyelashes looked a bit longer and I had sprouted a new oddly positioned hair on my eyelid.  Which I imagine was a result of my wand applicator frustration.    So I did what any good beauty bum would do and used the rest on my eyebrows for the next 6 months until the full size bottle and the tinsy free one I got through a promotion ran out.  And guess what? I sprouted 4 new hairs.  Literally just 4 on the inside on my left eyebrow.  Sigh.

So why would Lashboost be any different?

Bearing this in mind, I was a little apprehensive when Rodan & Field’s Lashboost hit the market a little later.  Sure my bff Ashly’s eyelash game was shaping up ridiculously well, but I had fallen back into my falsie habit and wasn’t about to throw another benjamin away for nothing.  But then Ashly’s eyelashes got even thicker and more beautiful, and all of a sudden she had these stunning bushy eyebrows too? I considered unfollowing her – my jealousy couldn’t take it any longer!

lashboost vs latisse

I didn’t unfollow @ashlyc25 but you can be sure not one of these offensive photos got my like. In one of these said posts, Ash commented about a Lashboost money back guarantee. To which I screamed, “WHAT?!”  Sure, let me repeat and bold that for you: All Rodan and Fields Products Are Backed by a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee. So naturally, I did what any reasonable beauty fanatic would do and ordered myself a tube.  And my eyelash game has never looked back.

A few short days and this adorable little box came from heaven:

lashboost is the best eyelash serum

When the lashboost package arrived, I was absolutely shocked by how big it seemed.  And also pleasantly relieved that it felt more like a cosmetic product and less like some harsh rash-enducing chemical mixture.  (What? I’m a sucker for packaging and still horribly scarred from my eyelid burning Latisse disaster).

…..Which brings us to my first ever makeup-less selfie.  I felt wildly uncomfortable about the whole thing – but especially that my excessive nose blowing from allergies have caused a bout of ‘puff nose’.  Anywho, here’s my ‘before mugshot’ without mascara:

no makeup selfie

Yikes.  And here’s the ‘before mugshot’ with a more flattering angle, better lighting and mascara:

Chelsea Gilson no makeup sefie

And just to give you a reference point, here’s me in my typical shit ton of makeup and fake eyelashes:

Moving on.  I quickly learned that Lashboost is incredibly easy to use.  You just put it on your lash line like liquid eyeliner.  Every night I washed off my mascara thoroughly with cleansing oil, patted them dry and applied to each eye. The first few nights I was so precise, but come night 4 I was splashing it on there in a jiffy (officially turned into my mom with this lingo). I found it worked best for me if I applied it with my contacts in and brushed my teeth while it settled and dried a bit. Then contacts out and right to bed.  That way my sensitive eyes wouldn’t water it all away after I applied it.  Although I did learn something new about myself on this quest for real life falsies: I often laugh until my eyes water right before bed in a state of delirium.

After 10 days I noticed the lashes on the outer corner of my eyes start to lengthen.  Within two weeks, a sparse middle spot in my right eye had filled in. By 4 weeks these puppies have nearly reached my eyebrows! I have to confess that there was a momentary 4 day gap in my usage whilst at Coachella.   I’m not proud, but I slept in falsies for three straight nights.  Day 4 was a dark day of peeling glue from my lashes.  How’s that for adulting. Sigh.

Lapse aside, these four weeks have shown beautiful natural looking non-spider-leg lashes!  What a win!  The claim is thicker, longer and darker and I can 100% attest to the first two.  I’ve yet to see my blonde tipped eyelashes fade to dark, but I am confident that another few weeks of habitual use will show even better results.  So here it is, my after 1 month of Rodan & Fields Lashboost mugshot – with one thin swipe of mascara:

chelsea gilson

basically why the field goal emoji was created, amiright? My eyes look bigger, brighter and more fabulous.  Goodbye Falsies.  Don’t take it personally, things were great for awhile there.  But it’s just you’re such a time-suck.  And the relationship was just damaging you know?  And how about all those times you popped off at night? It’s just all too much.

Taking my daily routine from 10 minutes of struggling with glue to 10 seconds of mascara is absolutely priceless.

Let’s Recap:

10 reasons why Latisse SUCKS

  1. Applicator wands – are you joking
  2. And you’re supposed to squeeze the appropriate amount out onto said wand?  I’m not a sorcerer?
  3. Gave me rash – can change eye color …what’s in this stuff?
  4. Bottle size is small, although it did last a surprisingly long time
  5. If you’re not careful you’ll sprout hairs in odd places
  6. didn’t work on eyebrows
  7. Can’t Purchase without prescription
  8. Spider Leg Lashes. Ew
  9. When the spider leg lashes fall out after discontinuing use.  Double Ew.
  10. No Money Back Guarantee

10 reasons Why Lashboost is the best investment ever

  1. EASY to use, just like putting on liquid eyeliner!
  2. One wand and no squirting of anything anywhere. Just a dainty swipe across the lashline.
  3. Didn’t experience any rashes
  4. Well bottle size is bigger/sleeker/cooler, but I actually think they both last about 4 months. (Can’t win em all)
  5. No sprouting of weird hairs anywhere outside of my lash line
  6. Haven’t tried it yet on my eyebrows – but CANNOT WAIT TO! Hello, did you see Ashlys?!
  7. Bought it from my homegirl Ashly.  No prescription needed.
  8. No spider lashes here – just long, luscious, natural looking, thick, gorgeous… (you get it)
  9. Never discontinuing so doesn’t apply to me.
  10. 60 day money back guarantee!

And there you have it “I woke up like this” hopefuls.  To purchase, head to https://acoen.myrandf.com/ and check out that annoying instagram  @ashlyc25 for more info.

14 Comments

  1. Just finished 5 months of Lash boost.. By month 3 I could really start seeing the nice growth. I was really excited.. I have pretty much had none most of my life. But just as fast as I got excited.. They stopped growing. It’s been 5 months and I they are now shorter and stringy. Maybe it works differently for everyone. I am going to try Latisse..

  2. I used lash boost for 3 months. I already had long lashes but decided to make them longer. After my lashes were the length I wanted. I stop using the product. I noticed my lashes were falling out. Now my lashes are shorter then before I started the product. My long lashes are gone.

    1. oh no! That’s horrible! Have they now returned to their original length?

  3. Add me to the list of women who is noticing her lashes falling out after stopping Lash Boost. My lashes were long and beautiful before i used it but I decided to try it anyway. Loved it while using it but now have so much regret as multiple lashes fall out every day and regrowth is slow and short. I just hope they eventually grow back to their pre-LashBoost length. I have these sections now where it’s just these short stubby lashes.

    1. Oh God, this is horrifying. Now I’m afraid to stop using it!! I notice that when I go without a week they look a lot more sparse and short, but I figured that’s what they just looked like before lashboost?

  4. Same here! Hope it’s just the cycle… but my lashes are falling off in chunks now

    1. oh god that’s frightening. I do notice when I don’t use it for over a week, my lashes return to their previous length pretty fast and thin out.

  5. Same here! Loved the results but if life gets busy and I stop using Lash Boost, my eyelashes get SUPER short and thin out. In fact I found this blog by googling “Why do my eyelashes get so short after stopping Lash Boost?” It’s a major bummer :-/

  6. Latisse is the same drug as a glaucoma drop- there’s a reason eye doctors call the lashes our glaucoma patients grow “pube lashes” ? I couldn’t believe it when latisse came out as a beauty product. ??‍♀️

    1. omg I’ve never heard of pube lashes hahaha, funny because it’s true

  7. Just a bit of FYI. Latisse or any other lash “thickener,” etc. works not by causing more growth, but by slowing down the shedding cycle significantly, for most, when used consistently. I’ve never seen thick and long results on regular individuals using Latisse as I did when I came across a patient in the ED whose medication history included glaucoma med. My guess is because a glaucoma patient is likely more consistently compliant, and whatever the “side effect” component in the glaucoma med is, it’s strength is maybe a little more than what’s in Latisse (which can be purchased without a RX). So, if any lash enhancer product is going to be used, it MUST to be every day at the same time.

    1. wow, good to know. Thanks for the info!

  8. I’ve tried this product. Had great results after about 2 1/2 months. I think it’s just about sticking to the program.

  9. I have naturally long lashes (and blonde)… I’ve had great success using Revitalash from the drug store. So I decided to switch and try LashBoost to get better results, and I’m sooo disappointed. My lashes are shorter now than when I started, and they’ve been falling out. I have a gap on my left lash line that I never had before. I’ve been using it faithfully every night for 2 months. I wish I just kept up with the Revitalash instead.

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