Absolute genius. Curl your lashes without a curler.

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There are a few people among us who’ve had bad experiences with eyelash curlers. And it’s true, curlers can be responsible for bending, breaking and even ripping out your eyelashes if used incorrectly.

Perhaps maybe you’re a curl addict and forget to pack your beloved equipment with you on holidays. Well rest easy, you can still achieve impressive curl for your lashes. Read on to find six ways to curl your eyelashes (none of which involve an eyelash curler).

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1. A spoon

Yep, a regular old teaspoon is what you’ll need here. That, and either a mug of hot water or a hairdryer. Stand the spoon in the mug for a few seconds or blast with the  hairdryer to heat up the business end.

Remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly (you may not want broken lashes but you also don’t want burnt eyelids). Then, place the back of the spoon against your eyelid up against the lash line. Using your fingers, push the lashes up against the edge of the metal spoon. For a more dramatic curl, rotate the spoon upwards as you go along.

2. Emery Board

Ah emery boards you little multi tasters, you. Not only do you keep out fingers looking pretty but you’re also good for a lash minute eyelash curl. You can also do this trick with or without mascara on.

Place the emery board along the top lash line and bend the lashes up, much in the same way you would do with a spoon. Rotate for a bigger curl.

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In case you need some mascara suggestion for your peepers, here’s our pics of the best tubing mascaras out there. More tips after the jump.

3. Fingers

Yep, even your fingers can be used as a make shift eyelash curler in emergencies.

Warm them up by either rubbing your hands together or popping them under running warm water for a few seconds. Then use your thumb and forefinger to pitch and shape the lashes into your desired curl. You can shape the curl around your pinky finger which gives natural volume.

Before you apply your mascara,  place your finger underneath the lashes and push upward to encourage curl from the base.

4. cotton swab

Cotton swab/Q-tip/Cotton bud, whatever you want to call it, a cotton bud can be your best friend when it comes to lash curling. Again, this can be done with or without mascara on although I tend to prefer waiting to apply my mascara until I'm happy with the amount of curl I've got.

Hold it horizontally along the lash line and push lashes up against it. You can even wrap the tips around the tube if you're blessed with long lashes. Hold for 30 seconds and coat with mascara.

5. Aloe vera gel

Using a small blob of aloe vera gel on your fingers, manually curl them to your liking. The gel will help the curl to hold and also acts as a nice little eyelash treatment (bonus!) You can repeat with a little more gel if necessary. When you're happy, coat with mascara and be on your merry way.

6. fire and a stick

Approach with caution.

If you happen to have a pointy stick and a match on hand, then you my friend have yourself an eyelash curler.

Technically it's called the Korean Fire Technique and it involves heating the stick using the match, letting it cool slightly and then wiggling the hot stick from the roots to tips of the lashes. Makeup artists in Korea swear by it but given some people are a little nervous when it comes to eye safety and eyelash curlers, I'd recommend against hot, sharp things next to your eyes unless you're extremely confident in your abilities.

Do you have a secret way of creating epic curls?