mary graham crafts natural fake eyelashes with foliage, egg and snow

mary graham crafts ‘natural’ fake eyelashes with foliage, egg and snow
(above) pine needle lashes, with egg and snow adhesive
all images courtesy of mary graham

the term ‘natural’ has become over-used and abused, misleading consumers into thinking their purchase has been untouched by a human hand. in fact, an item only has to contain 1% natural elements to be labeled and packaged as a ‘natural product’.

‘the topical debate as to what constitutes as natural beauty caught my attention’, describes UK-based designer mary graham, in regards to her body art project, ‘natural’. ‘could cosmetics ever be made convincingly enough to be sold on the market as a truly natural product? my aim was to give myself tough restrictions in an attempt to craft a truly natural product.’ 

grass lashes protrude outwards from the surface of the skin

using ‘natural’ fake eyelashes as a starting point for the project, graham reinterprets the supposed purity of these cosmetics by using truly raw materials found in a local forest. she has crafted a set of lash extensions made from scavenged foliage like pine needles, grass and evergreen tree leaves. for the adhesive, graham has formed a paste from eggs and snow, that ‘glues’ the length of greenery to the outside of the eyelid. each eyelash has been meticulously constructed over hours, demonstrating how time-consuming it can be to create even completely natural products. following their application on a model, graham finally returned the cosmetic vegetation back to their original outdoor environment.

‘the next step for this project is to create a whole line of products,’ graham continues. ‘fake tan is my next venture and I have already worked out a few recipes to achieve it.’

evergreen tree leaves are attached to the skin using an egg and snow adhesive

a model wears the pine eyelashes

pine needle lashes are secured onto the outer part of the eyelid

the lashes returned to their original outdoor environment

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edited by: nina azzarello | designboom