It looks like manga lashes (also known as anime lashes) are about to break the beauty internet. Google searches for “anime lash extensions” have seen a 5,000% surge in the past month and TikTok is fully invested in the manga lash filter that’s trending on the platform.
Here’s what you need to know…
What are manga lashes?
For those unfamiliar with the wonderful world of manga and anime, the hairs of these characters’ lashes tend to grow into pointy clusters that are spaced out along the top and bottom lash lines, creating a spiky look. Manga lashes recreate the look with an elevated take on doll eyes. Instead of adding a strip lash to your eye, you have to carefully space out clusters or individual lashes. Longer hairs stick out from the shorter pieces creating that separated lash look and a whole load of flirty, spidery volume. It’s delicate, wispy and dramatic in one go.
It’s not new exactly. Anime lashes have been gaining popularity for a few years, with TikTok users who want a different look. Toronto-based user Sarah Cheung (known to her over 200,000 fans and counting as @sacheu) first spotted the trend on a Chinese social media app called Xiaohongshu and decided to test it out in 2022. Initially, she posted a video (which has over a million likes), showing her version of the trend, plus a few inspiration photos before sharing an in-depth tutorial. But, the trend has picked up even more momentum recently.
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In the tutorial, applied mascara to her lashes before cutting a Newcally Wispy Fluffy Lash into tiny short and long pieces. With D-Up Eyelash Fixer glue, she adhered each section to the eye, using the longer pieces on the top and the shorter ones on the bottom for the separated look. At the end of the video, she’s left with wispy lashes that have smaller sections of long, pointy hairs.
Though she makes it look easy, she admits it took a little trial-and-error to figure out the easiest way to try out this lash trend. “I think it’s such a cute way to create a doll-like look, especially if you’ve always stuck to more natural looks before,” she revealed.
Sarah’s video inspired a few others to try the trend, like user Kamille Gregory (@kamgregory to TikTok fans) who thought it was fairly easy to recreate. Although, “it definitely might take a couple of tries to get the lash placement correct and as close to your natural lash line as possible,” she notes.
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She snipped a wispy lash from her collection and Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics Norvina A Moment lash into tiny clumps and adhered the shorter pieces of the A Moment falsie exclusively to the waterline, making it look like a subtler version of Twiggy’s iconic lash. She swiped Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara on her bottom lashes for more definition before revealing the final barbed look – a subtler version of Sarah’s.
TikToker Ness (known as @nesmates to fellow users) found that the manga lash trend requires some intermediate makeup skills to master attaching each tiny piece of hair. She tried the trend after noticing that anime has been influencing makeup trends in general with folks wanting the doll-like shape. “I tried the trend to add diversity in boring everyday makeup looks and show other ways of achieving ‘anime eyes’,” she revealed. With individual lashes and adhesive from Ardell, her spidery lash was complete.