Time to put some bling on your bonnet
AS a woman, fluttering your eyelashes to try to get your own way is a prerogative in life.
And now girls here can attempt to use the same flirting technique behind the wheel, too. No need to call in MTV, Car Lashes — literally eyelashes for your car — are the newest way for motorists to pimp their ride.
Already a hit Stateside, now the stick-on lashes for headlights are about to make an appearance on roads around the country. Retailing at €37.49, the camp car accessory has just gone on sale at Halfords nationwide — and you can even complete your car’s look with matching Crystal Eyeliner for €24.99. And despite rising petrol, motor tax and insurance costs, it seems girls here are happy to splash out on glamming up their jalopy.
“Car Lashes and Crystal Eyeliner have become surprise bestsellers,” says Shane Kirwan, manager of Halfords in Blanchardstown.
“Traditionally, doing up your car has been a male preserve — so it’s nice to see female motorists taking in their wheels by adding a little character to their car.”
As if driving a 10 year-old Micra isn’t embarrassing enough, I added a little bling to my bonnet — and was met with mixed reactions around the roads of Meath.
“The lashes look really cute on your car,” says filmmaker Elaine Gallagher from Moynalty. “I think it depends on the car though — a Mini Cooper would look even more adorable with lashes, a boy racer Mitsubishi, not so much.
“Personally, I don’t even have a pair of fluffy dice in my car — so this look wouldn’t be for me,” adds Elaine.
“It’s a unique idea,” reckons makeup artist Keara Kelly from Kells. “But while it’s funny at first, I’d never put them on my own car. Apart from anything else, I’d be afraid they’d be nicked.”
“False eyelashes on humans is one thing, but on cars?” adds pal Dearbhail McDonnell, who works in A-Wear in Navan. “It’s a definite no-no in my eyes. Alloy wheels would be more like it!”
But car lashes are just the latest accessory on the market to encourage women to makeover their motor. In for a penny, in for a pound, I also pimped the inside of my Nissan with a Hello Kitty Car Travel Set (€18.49 from Argos), pink car seat covers, steering wheel cover, seat belt pads and floor mat (€50.95 from Argos), Chix Mini Nodding Poodle (€14.99 from Halfords) and Funky Feet Cloggz air freshener (€4.99 from Halfords) — before topping it off with a Powered by Fairy Dust aerial topper (€3.99 from Halfords).
Sigh... If only my car were, indeed, powered by fairy dust....
“Argos offers a range of car accessories including tyre inflators, cleaning equipment, and in-car DVD players,” says Fae Burns, car accessories buyer for the store. “But the Hello Kitty Travel Set you have in your car is one of our most popular car products.”
But, between eyelashes for headlamps and nodding dogs, do girly car adornments just give lady drivers a bad name?
“Although I love pink, I’d be embarrassed to drive a car with so much girly stuff,” says 28 year-old Mary Duff from Kells. “I don’t think people would take you seriously on the road or assume you’re a bad driver.
“The only accessory in my car is a Meath GAA wristband hanging from my rear-view mirror — and I even take that down when I’m going to Dublin to avoid drawing attention to the car!”
“I imagine some people will love the car lashes, but I think they make the driver look very ditzy,” agrees medical student Alice Cummins from Drumconrath.
“My fiancé would be mortified even driving a car with pink seat covers, let alone eyelashes — and I’d also be concerned about our dog getting jiggy with that nodding poodle. Personally, I like to keep our car clutter-free and dog-proofed.”
Cruising around in my maxed-out Micra, it’s clear my lashes are eye-catching alright. Just make sure you don’t ‘wink’ at the cops, clampers or speed cameras.
“Although car accessories such as car lashes are not illegal, they could be deemed a distraction,” says AA Roadwatch spokesperson Miriam O’Neill. “Under the Road Traffic Act, motorists must drive with “due care and attention” so if you have something on or in your car that causes rubbernecking, technically you could be done for it. However, there’s no evidence that car accessories such as these are actually a distraction to drivers.”
“It’s not uncommon for young male drivers to pimp their cars, but it’s interesting that girls are getting in on the act too,” adds Ms O’Neill. “Would I put them on my own car? Probably not — it reminds me a bit of the dog grooming van from Dumb & Dumber.”
THEY promise it will make my car look more like Tom Selleck. Or Hulk Hogan. So I order a Legendary Blond Carstache for €60 including postage from the US.
The idea of a car wearing a giant furry moustache tickles my funnybone. It’s a bit of post-modern silliness, like car reindeer antlers and cars wearing giant thongs. I ‘stache up my 11-year-old banger, bring it to the farmer’s market, and people point, laugh and do double-takes.
On a second jaunt around the block in a friend’s sleek black sports car, the reaction is more subdued. Nobody likes a show-off. I doubt the Carstache is going to change the face of the entire automotive industry, as promised by the inventors, but if it’s good enough for Khloe Kardashian (who has a specially designed Kar-stach-ian) then it’s good enough for me. The next day I drive to work sans stache. My car looks forlorn.
* www.carstache.com
— Claire Droney
Fluffy dice, or ‘fuzzy’ dice as they are known in the US, are the original and best-known wacky car accessory. But who started the craze? It’s thought they hark back to US WWII pilots who had them in their cockpits for good luck, and hung them in their cars when they made it back home safely. A big hit in the 70s and 80s with boy and girl ‘racers’, the dice have made a comeback, thanks to the huge interest in ‘souping up’ cars and the popularity of shows like MTV’s ‘Pimp My Ride’.
But it’s not all good. A few years ago, a British taxi driver involved in a car crash in which a man died was fined £45 for having two furry dice hanging from his rear view mirror. It was believed that they impaired his vision.
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