I have tried and tried and now find that I can apply strip lashes first time with no excess glue and they stay beautifully. I used your ideas but have now applied the glue with a orangewood stick to my eyeline, let it sit a moment and using tweezers, apply the strip lash by touching the inner most area to the eye, releasing the lash and gently pressing the remainder of the strip down with my finger or the stick. A gentle pressure for a moment or two, then I take tweezers and press the strip lash down to meet with the natural lash,(tweezers are above the strip lash and below the natural lash, squeezing them together) takes maybe three locations, corner, middle and edge to get the strip lash to meet the natural lash line. the look incredible and last all day.
Thank you for pointing out the different methods.