Beauty on a Budget: Mascara
Kim Kardashian. Eva Longoria. Drew Barrymore. Vanessa Hudgens. These Hollywood divas have something many of us want: eyelashes to die for. Since I was 10 years old, sneaking my mom’s makeup, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on mascara. It has always been my go-to product. Desert island savior? Chap Stick is for the birds. I need mascara.
My first mascara love was, of course, the infamous pink and green tube (Great Lash, anyone?), and as I grew, so did my adoration. Thankfully my taste has matured from an early 90s, teenage desire for all things sparkly, into a simple desire for longer, fuller, more voluminous eyelashes. Women have a never ceasing desire for the perfect mascara, so I thought my dreams had come true with the new lines that contain fiber polymers, which attach to eyelashes to give them a longer, fuller appearance.
HOW TO: To wear these mascaras, you first apply the fiber polymer, which looks like white mascara, to eyelashes. As a mascara junkie, I apply more than one coat of it, from root to end, to build out my lashes. After the fiber coating has completely dried, taking special care to make sure it has not clumped, apply the mascara to the bottom and top of your lashes, covering the fiber polymer, or the white, completely.
The three most popular “extending mascaras:” Maybelline XXL Pro,
Revlon Lash Fantasy: Total Definition and L’Oreal Double Extend: Beauty Tubes Mascara are comparable in appearance, but not in wear, tear and removal.
Maybelline XXL Pro: Extension is similar to regular mascara, in the way it smears, flakes, and leaves pretty raccoon circles under your eyes. The brush is efficient at clumping the fiber polymer to your lashes so you do a brilliant job of honoring the late, great Tammy Faye Baker. The mascara itself, when applied without the polymer, leaves a lot to be desired. My opinion? No go.
Revlon Lash Fantasy: Total Definition has the newly designed rubber brush, so your lashes are separated and coated efficiently. To remove the product, you simply wash with soap and water.
L’Oreal Double Extend: Beauty Tubes Mascara surprised me most. The first time I tried to wash off the product, what came off in my hands looked like mini spider legs. (Gross, I know.) After some research, I learned that the fiber polymer in this mascara is mixed with a wax, which softens in warm water. Because the fiber polymer has a more complex bonding system, the bonds stay quite strong, and thus when washing your face, the wax softens and the mascara “slips” off your eyelashes in literal miniature tubes. No soap or eye makeup remover needed.
These mascaras definitely go in my top 10 for amazing makeup finds. In my quest to achieve Kim Kardashian-type lashes, L’Oreal Double Extend is my new everyday mascara. Eyelash extensions cost $200-$250 per application, so the less than $10.00 price tag on these mascaras makes them well worth the purchase.
My lashes have never looked better, but I still bow to the queen of PERFECT lashes (Ms. Kardashian), and let her have her throne. As for me, I am now happy with what I have…with a little fiber polymer help.
