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The Deal Breaker: Clumps. 'Nough Said.
Why You'll Love It: When I see someone blinking at me with clumpy mascara, I want to whip out my eyelash comb and painstakingly separate each lash right then and there. But if everyone wore this mascara, I would never have to suppress this urge, because no one would have clumps ever again.
This mascara comes equipped with a dual-ended brush that allows you to first comb through your lashes and then add volume. One mascara-obsessed editor, who once ordered an entire case of her favorite mascara on eBay when it was discontinued, deemed this "the best mascara [she's] ever tried."
Runner up: CoverGirl Clump Crusher by LashBlast, $6.09 For everyday wear, this mascara takes the cake. Zero clumps, natural-looking lashes and a buildable formula.
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The Deal Breaker: It Won't Come Off -- Ever!
Why You'll Love It: Yes, this mascara is almost $30, and yes, it's only .18 ounces (most are around .28 ounces), but this mascara has garnered a cult following for a reason. It's a flake-free, smudge-proof, volumizing mascara that is a lash game-changer.
It's a tubing mascara, which means the product forms a literal tube around your eyelash that won't smudge or budge all day. And it comes off with practically a flick of your finger and some water. The tubes slide off lashes with water and light pressure.
The teeny-tiny brush coats lashes so evenly, you'd think a teeny-tiny man stood on your eyelid and individually painted them. Don't spend too much time coating your lashes, though -- tubing formulas set quickly, so any more than a couple coats and you get into clump territory.
Runner-up: Blinc Mascara Amplified, $26
Formulated with the same tubing technology, this mascara is a cinch to remove, and nary a flake fell under my eye area while wearing it. You do sacrifice some of the volume that comes with more buildable mascaras, but I'll take that over the stinging and redness that accompanies removing my non-tubing mascara.
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The Deal Breaker: It's Killing Your Lashes
Why You'll Love It: As a recovering eyelash extension addict, I love this mascara because it makes my puny, broken-off lashes look luscious without causing additional damage. Step one (the conditioning primer, sold separately) conditions and protects, and step two (the mascara) is so effective at defining and curling my lashes that I'm able to go without my beloved (but lash-murdering) eyelash curler.
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The Deal Breaker: It Makes Your Eyes Water and Sting
Why You'll Love It: If you've got sensitive eyes, you know that finding a mascara, any mascara, that doesn't make you want to dunk your head in a vat of Visine is near impossible. Forget adding volume and length, you just want to make your lashes visible without the burning sensation. Enter: Jane Iredale Longest Lash Mascara. This seaweed-kelp-infused formula is made without lacquers, shellac or petroleum-based ingredients, all of which sensitive eyes are better off without. You have to spend some time applying, because it's a drier formula that is filled with tiny cellulose fibers and algae extract, rather than water, but the result is longer, thicker lashes. The lack of liquid also ensures that the mascara stays on your lash rather than migrating down to your sensitive eyeball.
Because it is the most expensive mascara on this list, you might balk at the price tag. However, this tube is .42 fl oz, which is about 50 percent more product than a standard tube of mascara. Plus, the packaging ensures you can squeeze out every last drop.
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The Deal Breaker: It Smears Down Your Face
Why You'll Love It: If you've got oily eyelids, super long lashes or watery eyes, you're used to your freshly applied mascara looking like last night's makeup. But once you apply this lash-thickening, volumizing mascara, it's not going to budge. Besides staying where you put it, this mascara won't clump like some of the thicker M.A.C. products -- the brush only picks up a little bit of mascara, so you can apply it precisely how you like it.
Beauty editor confession: I hate mascara. I hate it so much that I frequently spend large stretches of time on a treatment table with my eyes taped shut, getting falsies glued to my lashes. Yep, even the torture of eyelash extensions was preferable to applying and removing eye makeup every day and night. I loved my extensions almost as much as I hated mascara -- until they made my lashes short, stubby and unhealthy.
Forced to abandon my extensions while my lashes could grow back, I decided it was time to find a mascara that I could love without reservation. Because even though I crave fluttery, long-as-sin lashes, I can't stand the clumps, smears and flakes that come with trying to achieve them.
I had a strict list of stellar qualities I was looking for in a mascara -- I wanted it to stay on all day, but also be easy to remove; it needed to be lengthening without being crusty or clumpy; and I wanted it to curl without the use of an eyelash curler (because those break off my already-delicate lashes). After testing out 30 different formulas with every type of wand, I've finally found them: the best clump-free, smudge-proof, long-lasting, easy-to-remove lengthening and volumizing mascaras that turned me into a believer -- and will do the same for you.
Forced to abandon my extensions while my lashes could grow back, I decided it was time to find a mascara that I could love without reservation. Because even though I crave fluttery, long-as-sin lashes, I can't stand the clumps, smears and flakes that come with trying to achieve them.
I had a strict list of stellar qualities I was looking for in a mascara -- I wanted it to stay on all day, but also be easy to remove; it needed to be lengthening without being crusty or clumpy; and I wanted it to curl without the use of an eyelash curler (because those break off my already-delicate lashes). After testing out 30 different formulas with every type of wand, I've finally found them: the best clump-free, smudge-proof, long-lasting, easy-to-remove lengthening and volumizing mascaras that turned me into a believer -- and will do the same for you.
