Mascara 101

Mascara is one of the first products girls try when they start wearing makeup for the first time. It gives a subtle yet important definition to eyes and a good mascara should be in every woman’s makeup bag! This article is for those who are new to mascara and also for those who want a few tips on the proper application of the magic black wand.

Number One: Curl your lashes. You can find a good eyelash curler at any drugstore or high-end retailer. Make sure you get the lashes at the far corners of your eyes as well. Curl starting close to the root and then again in the middle of the lash to get that natural curled look.

Number Two: With your mascara wand, start from the root of your lash and wiggle your way up to the end of the lash. Repeat until you get your desired effect. To get a slightly winged look, add a few more coats to the lashes in the corner of your eyes.

For a thicker look, use two mascaras: one as a base and one as a finishing coat (like you would for painting your nails). For the base mascara, use a lighter one such as LightExact mascara from CoverGirl. The second time around, use a thicker mascara like Benefit’s BADGal Lash Mascara. Because the second mascara will have thicker and longer eyelashes to work from, you’ll get double the effect.

There are many different types of mascaras in the market; some focus on volume, some focus on length and some focus on curling. Other mascaras have all of these in one!

Some mascaras I personally recommend are Benefit’s BADGal Lash as I’ve mentioned above, Maybelline’s Volum’ Express The Colossal, Too Faced’s Lash Injection and L’oreal Paris’ Extra-Volume Collagen.

If you know you’re going to get wet, make sure to use waterproof mascara! You can check out the best ones here!