Top mascaras

One product is most important in my makeup routine – a mascara - and I spent years searching for the perfect one that would not be too wet or too dry, won’t smudge or leave clumps on my lashes, would give a excellent volume and length, etc. May be because I am so picky it was so hard to find the one that would be ideal in all respects.

It turns out I am not the only one searching. Recently I found the results of an interesting research done by Splendora.com in which they analyzed 50 different mascaras sold in drugstores and in department stores (the two groups were analyzed separately). The winners turned out to be:

It was a very thorough research judging by the description of the methodology and the depth of evaluation. There are only 2 things which I want to add to it on my behalf:

1. Beware of the Department Store category winners #3 YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils and #5 DiorShow. I tried the former one personally and it is AWFUL! It smudges after about 2 hours not matter what I do (and I don’t do much during the day except for sitting in the office). The latter one I researched on-line a lot and customer reviews are generally divided as follows: 70% love it, 30% hate it (and I mean really, really HATE it because of the clumps). This is an indication that it might not be as good after all.

2. I noticed that Splendora-reviewed mascaras fall into 2 categories: “under 10 USD” and “above 20 USD”. There are not many products reviews “in between” and that’s where my personal winner is - Clinique Naturally Glossy Mascara

Splendora did not review this mascara, in fact they did not review any product by Clinique (I wonder why…) This mascara turned out to be everything I was looking for (non-clumpy, don’t smudge for 8 hours+, looks great on my lashes), basically, it is department store quality but with close to a drugstore price tag. Isn’t THIS a perfect combination?

P.S. You can read the full story about the Splendora reaseach at http://www.splendora.com/best_mascaras/best_of_splendora_top_ten_mascaras