Today I’m going to be reviewing DHC’s Eyelash Tonic! I’ve always had short eyelashes throughout my life – they were never curly, long, or voluminous – they were just short and stuck straight out of my eyelids. Eek! I first heard about eyelash serums, like rapidlash and revitalash through r/MUA. One big issue…. they were all around ~$50, not something I’d drop easily for a potential repeat purchase. Come half a year ago, I discovered the DHC Eyelash Tonic on Testerkorea.

From DHC’s official website:

Conditioning DHC Eyelash Tonic nourishing gel treatment strengthens for lush, fuller-looking eyelashes. Fortifying botanicals coat each lash from root to tip to help prevent breakage for a more robust lash line. Wear under mascara during the day and all by itself at bedtime. Specially designed applicator helps distribute gel more evenly

Rich in botanicals, including ginseng, aloe and Swertia japonica extract

I first purchased the product for about 14,000KRW (~SGD$19-$20) on Testerkorea, but have since been able to purchase this in Taipei for about SGD$13.50 / ~300NT. I highly suggest against buying this directly from Watsons – this retails for SGD$27.50 in Singapore’s Watsons!

I have two tubes pictured above: 1 has been in use since September 2014 (~6 months of use), and the bottle below is brand new. I’d assume each tube lasts around 1 year, if used once a day – but I would not recommend using an eye product for a year. Mascara rules state that tubes should be thrown out once a month – so you can make your judgement from there. Also, one slight con you might be able to notice – the older bottle has gotten slightly murky from usage over time.

The applicator is extremely easy to use! It’s like any other mascara wand: sweep the tonic over your lashes, covering them in an even coat of tonic. According to DHC,

Use as a mascara base in the morning and as a conditioner in the evening. Gently and evenly, brush a small amount of tonic onto lash roots and sweep outward towards tips.

It’s recommended you use it twice a day, under your daily makeup, and at night to sleep, but I’ve preferred to leave this out under mascara. I like applying a thicker coat of tonic on my lashes, and I feel like the tonic doesn’t fare too well underneath mascara, especially in this humid weather – so I’ve only applied it once a day at night! This comes as the very last step of my routine, after applying eye cream (if at all).

Each bottle contains 6.5ml of product, and is made in Japan. I’ve always liked DHC products – when I was much younger, I loved their acne products (pew pew and my pimples were gone!), and a couple of years ago, I fell in love with their Deep Cleansing Oil. After I started using this for about a month, I discovered this was HG material. Why? Look at my lashes!!!

THEY HAVE GROWN SO MUCH :’) There’s a noticeable growth in the length of my lashes, such that they’ve even started to hold a natural curl. Not only so, there’s been an increase in the sheer growth of the lashes – there are new baby lashes growing out, and the original lashes have much thicker roots.

I’ve also applied this to my lower lashes, so there has been an increase in amount of my lower lashes – which is absolutely amazing, because previously I’d had like, no. lower. lashes. This stuff is absolutely amazing.

Here are the ingredients, in case you might be interested:

water/aqua/eau, butylene glycol, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, phenoxyethanol, carbomer, aminomethyl propanol, placental protein, xanthan gum, allantoin, swertia japonica extract, salix alba (willow) bark extract, symphytum officinale leaf extract, nasturtium officinale flower/leaf extract, olea europaea (olive) leaf extract, panax ginseng root extract

The formulation is gentle on my eyes, and doesn’t leave any stinging sensation or whatnot (of course, if you don’t get it into your eyes.) I’ve used this without issue for the past half a year or so, and am extremely satisfied with the results! However, I think it should also be noted that YMMV. I’ve read a couple of articles in HerWorld about how some other lash serums were better, but I’ve already found my HG – so I probably won’t be trying anything else for now.

Effectiveness: ★★★★★ (for now)

Pricing: ★★★★★ (this is really the most affordable out there.)

Packaging: ★★★★☆

Overall: