St Louis Makeup Artist | Traditional Makeup | Air Brush Makeup | Wedding Makeup

The first eyelash curler hit stores in the early twenties and sold for about $5. Since then, the handheld crimper has been reinvented many times over—in precious metals, with built-in heaters, in designer hues, and for much more than a five-spot. But ask any makeup artist and most will crown Shu Uemura’s Eyelash Curler the reigning champ. Beloved for its ability to lift and curl hairs without causing any pinching, the sleek tool hasn’t had much competition to contend with. Until now, that is. Enter Chanel’s new Precision Eyelash Curler, designed by the house’s visionary creative director of makeup Peter Philips. This chic contraption gets a few bonus points right off the bat, seeing as how it is stamped with the house’s iconic logo, but to see if it could truly unseat Shu’s gold standard, we put both to the test:

The Peak Performance: We can safely say that both tools worked extremely well during our mirror analysis, giving our lashes a nice whorl that lasted all day with a few coats of mascara. We found the looped handles super comfortable and experienced zero skin pinching between the two.

The Physical Form: Upon further inspection, we did notice that the Shu curler is heavier and has a rounder head, while the Chanel version is lighter with a broader and wider head. Why this matters: We found it easier to work with less bulk, and the extra inches in width helped capture those stumpy lashes at the outer and inner eye corners. Also, Chanel’s silicone pads seemed to be cushier than Shu’s, which allowed us to apply more pressure to squeeze and bend our lashes.