I find these applicator things to be pretty useless. Most people have trouble putting on false eyelashes because they are too long and they have not trimmed the lashes down to fit.

Use a pair of toenail clippers (clean ones!) to trim the plastic band at the top of the eyelashes. Trim from the inside edge for the longest lashes, trim from the outside edge for more discrete ones. Your band of eyelashes should go from the outer edge of the eye to just a little past center. Especially as your learn to put them on. If you have really long lashes, they will turn into two pair when you clip them.

After you clip them, wrap them around your little and ring fingers right at the base of the nail bed. The glue on them should stick, if not add a little more. Hold them here while you do your eye makeup (about 5-10 minutes). Pay attention and press them back down whenever they pop up.

Now take them off your fingers and hold each end. Bend the plastic strip around in the line and of the curve and work it back and forth like a little caterpillar. Do this on both. Put some eyelash glue on one, just run the strip through a drop of glue on the tip of the glue tube. Set the eyelashe down and wait about a minute for the glue to get tacky. You can not put on eyelashes with wet glue.

When the glue is tacky on the first, put glue on the second, and pick up the first to apply. Look down at your mirror and place the eyelashes on the eyelid. You have some wiggle room. And the glue won't show, so if you make a mess, no worries. I like to start at the outside edge and lay them down towards the inside. Some people like to go the other way. Use the non-brush end of a piant brush to slide them into place and to hold down the inner edge. This needs to be held in place for a few moments to make sure it doesn't pop up when you move your eyelid.

Now the other eyelash should be tacky and ready to put on. Search eyelashes on this tribe, there is a thread somewhere about putting these things on, with lots of advice and tips.

Is your glue old? Or just not a good glue?

I personally can't get them to stick to my lashes, only to my lids. But it works great for other people. This really is a try it till you find what works best for you type of thing. Have you clipped them? If it is just the ends popping up they may be either too long for your eye or not rounded enough for your eye shape. You can train the lash band around your fingers, or paintbrush ends, or quarters. You can also work the lash band into a bend and make it more curvy.

Often the cheaper lashes have cheaper bands that don't want to shape and bend. Sad but true, they may just have to be clipped to fit the less curvy part of your eye.