Mascara.  The one item almost every woman posses from the beauty counter. Take a moment to grab your mascara from your make up case and hold it in front of you.  Open it.  Does it get stuck?  Does a death like smell emerge from it?  Can’t remember the last time you bought this?  Is it so goopey on the top that you have trouble opening it?  THROW IT AWAY.  This week I would like to go over the proper etiquette for mascara.

Once upon a time, people were a heck of a lot more hairy than they are now.  Hair served purposes for survival…and allure.  Over the years, our hair has decreased in certain areas, but one that remains is on our eyelids.  Lashes are the guardians of our eye balls.  They hold the safety of our eyes in their hairs.  We need them to keep fuz, debris, and anything harmful from entering our eye balls.  Luckily for us, we have mascara to help us add volume, length, curvature, and effectiveness to our socketed friends.

Mascara has come a long way since its inception.  Nowadays we have the options for a mascara that lengthens, volumizes,  curls, performs as waterproof, and the list goes on.  The importance of keeping your mascara up to date and sanitary is so important and thus the subject for this week.

Our eyes are very sensitive.  (Remember this the next time you remove your eye make up).  In fact, the skin around the eye area is the thinnest part of skin on your whole body.  A shelf life for mascara should never pass three months.  The reason is because the product will over time break down and can create discomfort for the eye area.  You must be diligent about throwing away old mascara and replacing it (I’ll repeat) every three months.  They say that you will understand what someone is saying to you if you repeat it three times: throw away your mascara after three months.  I cringe when women come to me with mascara that is four, six, eight months to years (plural) old.  Here are the cold hard facts.  There are microscopic bugs that love mascara.  They feast on it.  The older it is, the more attracted to the mascara they become.  They love to live on your eye lashes and have a mascara party.  Ok, do I have your attention?  The better armored you are to these little creatures, the less red and irritated your eyes will be.  Throw it away after three months.  Kick those critters out of your lashes.  I don’t mean to scare you but this is seriously an epidemic.  Mascara is not a product you should stretch out for the sake of saving money. Save your money by enjoying the whole tube of your favorite lip stick before buying a new one, finish your whole bottle of foundation before trying another brand because your best friend recommends you do so!  Throw it out…every three months.

Here are some other tips for mascara health and common sense…if it becomes dry, please do not spit on it or wet it with water.  This is a sure way to encourage styes and infection.  Get a new one if your mascara becomes too dry for you.  Do not share your mascara with your friends…(mascara is a one person product).  If it starts to smell weird, look weird, or feel weird, toss it!

Favorite mascaras on the more affordable end are, Loreal’s, “Voluminous,” “Full ‘N’ Soft” by Cover Girl and “Great Lash” by Mabelline.  My favorite choices from the department store from lowest cost to highest are… Clinique’s “High Definition.”  If you don’t mind fragrance, “Diorshow” by Dior and “Faux Cils” by Yves St Laurent are excellent.  If you are more sensitive and do not want fragrance or wear contact lenses, Giorgio Armani’s “Eyes to Kill,” is exceptional.  For those of you who may have lost your eyelashes over the years, Trish McEvoy makes an amazing lash grower that retails for $125.  For those of you who have darker colored eyes, visit your dermatologist or plastic surgeon and receive a prescription for “Latisse” (the Brooke Shields one) which is clinically proven to grow lashes thicker and longer (just be aware that it is only effective for as long as you use it and some people do have a reaction which darkens the color of their eyes).  This sells for $100.  A mascara primer is another way to add volume to your lashes which is a product you apply before mascara.  It is usually white, and adds great width to the lashes.

When you apply your mascara, make sure to coat the top of the top lash as well as the bottom of the top lash, then apply the mascara to your bottom lashes.  Apply from root to tip and for length, concentrate a good amount of mascara on the top of your eye lashes.  And I always believe in an extra coat.

Really, there are so many options out there.  It completely depends for which effect you are searching.  Please ask me my opinions on which would suit you best in accordance to your preferred price point! !  Remember…three months and when in doubt, throw it out!

Love and Beauty,

-E-

This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 8:00 am and is filed under Beauty, Health & Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.