The Best Mascaras

A lot of mascaras claim to be the best, but as a life long blonde (though one that comes out of a bottle these days), I’ve tried my fair share of them with often disastrous results. For me, the best mascara is one that provides length and volume without winding up underneath my eyes like a big old pile of sludge. Personally, I don’t care for curling mascaras. I don’t think they work as well as a lash curler, and I can’t stand those thick plastic brush heads that are so in vogue as I’m convinced that they’re going to take out an eye. I tend to shop for my mascara in the drugstore as opposed to the department store since I like to replace my tube every 4-6 weeks. When I don’t, my eyes start to itch.  However, over Christmas, Sephora was running a deal on a package of 5 sample size bottles of their top selling mascaras and I thought: “What the hell? Let’s see if the department store brands are really better.”  Here’s my takeaway:

Lancôme Is the King of Mascaras for a Reason

Whenever I think of the quintessential department store mascara, I think of Lancôme. And with good reason. They have consistently been mascara innovators, designing the most cutting edge wands, and as any of us who rely on mascara daily to make us look alive know, it is the shape of the wand, not the formula, that delivers truly spectacular results. I think my first mascara was by Clinique, but I quickly switched to Lancôme and wore it for years. Well, until I decided to become a writer and had to make cost cuts. Of Sephora’s 5 best, Lancôme Hypnôse Drama was hands down my favorite. It covers every little lash top and bottom, even the hard to reach ones, with fabulous, rich black color. Every coat just builds more and more volume allowing you to control your look from “au natural” to “kewpie doll” with very little flaking. In short, it’s fabulous.

Mascaras that Tube Your Lashes

While the mascara wand seems to change shape almost daily, the formula, a combination of wax and oils, has pretty much stayed the same since it was first developed in 1913. Until now. A new breed of mascara is using a tubing formula made of a flexible polymer. They tend to go on a little wetter than traditional mascaras, but when they dry, they basically shrink wrap each individual lash in a kick ass tube of volume that lengthens even the tiniest hairs. Blinc Mascara Amplified is definitely one of the best of these new tubing mascaras. I loved the way that it made my lashes look long and luscious without being over the top. The only problem was that, by mid-day, the mascara would come off of my bottom lashes. It didn’t smudge, but it did look like giant black dots under my eyes. They were easy to brush off once I noticed them, but pretty unattractive until I did.

Spiky Eyelashes Are Definitely a Trend

I tried two mascaras, one high end and one low end, that delivered the same spiky, very “done” look. The department store version is Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume mascara and the drugstore version is Cover Girl’s Katy Kat Eye mascara by Katy Perry. If you like her eyelashes, you’ll love both of these mascaras. For me, they were definitely a nighttime only option. Personally, I didn’t find a lot of difference in how they each looked on my lashes. The only difference is price since the packaging is pretty fabulous for both.

Cover Girl Super Thick Lash Is My Go-To

I have tried most of the best drugstore mascaras on the market and my go-to favorite still remains Cover Girl Super Thick Lash. It can be kind of hard to find these days as it’s been replaced by the colossal brush mascaras, but it’s worth the hunt. The wand delivers classic big volume and length without the spikes. For daytime, I apply a couple of coats, but at night, I’ll ramp it up. It can leave a bit of a smudge by the end of the day, but only if I’m really active. Bottom line, for the price, I haven’t found anything that compares.