I’m partial to a bit of brown mascara for daytime makeup looks; often jet-black look a little bold and stark, especially if I’m trying to keep things low-key. There’s no problem with bold, of course, and when you want your lashes to correctly stand out then black is unbeatable, but if you’re fair in skin or hair-tone or you’re going for au naturel then a brown mascara will give your lashes a bit of volume and definition without making them the main attraction.
(Again, I’m all for “striking” however when did eyelashes become such monstrous affairs? I saw some a few days ago that covered – at a quick reckoning – about 40% of the person’s face! Sorry to bang on as an old fogey, but some look almost grotesque nowadays – like those giant millipedes that you see on wildlife documentaries. I love what false lashes can perform – instant glamour and, on my small semi-droopy lids, a brilliant eye-opening effect – but come on people! Lashes that reach higher than your eyebrows? So heavy that you can only see if you tilt your face back? That’s not makeup, that’s just “gluing objects for your face”. You may as well get out the foil stars and also the dried pasta pieces, make a full primary school art piece.)
Anyway, brown mascara. Quite a lot of them available are weak and wishy-washy and completely pointless – if I’m likely to take the time to apply mascara then it must do something. The best ones I’ve present in all of my travels are the Chanel Le Volume de Chanel* and Guerlain Maxi Lash* however i think that Clarins Supra Volume* may now have to take first prize. It’s makes my lashes look brilliant – fatter, longer and darker – and stays in place all day.
Excuse weird crop on the photo – it’s so hard to take pictures of your own lashes! – however, you can see how wonderfully volumising the Supra mascara is. It’s a pleasant waxy formula that gives instant oomph and it’s super easy to build up the layers – no clumping or blobbing. I even return in for a final coat once I’ve done our makeup and clean-up and it gives a good little boost without flaking off what’s already underneath. Beautiful definition, but – as I said – a softer effect, since the brown shade just takes the edge off and makes it all a little less punchy.
I’m on tube number three of the Clarins Supra Volume Mascara, which is something of a record – I try so many mascaras that I rarely come back to the same once and time again. This seems to have become my makeup bag staple. You'll find it at FeelUnique here* – it’s lb21.50.
