Benefits: lengthening | Shades: Blackest Black, Very Black, Cosmic Black, Brownish Black, True Brown, Blue Mist | Waterproof: yes, shop here | Who it’s for: someone who wants fluttery long lashes without breaking the bank
Best Thickening: Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara
Why it’s worth it: Ilia’s Limitless Lash Mascara is a three-time Allure Readers’ Choice Award winner that treats your lashes to a volumizing, thickening, and blackest-black formula fortified with keratin, shea butter, and beeswax—rivaling many a “non-clean” formula. This flutter-inducing mascara has a unique, double-sided wand—one softer to curl and create volume, and the other longer to lengthen and separate and brush out clumps. “I’m so serious about my lashes, that I’ll even layer two to three different mascaras to get my desired look,” Allure tester Kat Suico previously said. “With Ilia’s brush, I don’t have to go through all those extra steps.”
Tester feedback: “This elite and long-lasting mascara can extend the length and volume of my lashes so well,” says senior director of audience development Lexi Herrick. “Application is a breeze, it doesn’t clump and it doesn’t bleed. One of my all-time favorites.”
Benefits: conditioning and lengthening | Shades: After Midnight (soft black) | Waterproof: no | Who it’s for: people who love a clean formula
Best Lengthening: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Sculpt Lengthening & Volumizing Mascara
Why it’s worth it: We can always count on Anastasia Beverly Hills for impeccable brow products, but if you haven’t ventured below your perfectly kempt arches, we encourage you to do so with the brand’s Lash Sculpt Lengthening & Volumizing Mascara. Boosted by biotin, peptides, and collagen, this lengthening, curling formula skips the clumpy crunchiness and instead opts for serious fullness. The black hue’s finish is soft matte, but still super pigmented.
Benefits: lengthening, volumizing | Shades: Black | Waterproof: no | Who it’s for: people who want nourished, long lashes
Best Separating: Benefit Fanfast Mascara
Why it’s worth it: Benefit’s Fan Fast Mascara is the kind of long-wearing, fluttery feeling, supremely separating brush/formula duo that made us fast fans of the product. The brand developed Fan Fast specifically with anti-clumping in mind. And for that reason, this isn’t meant to be the most dramatic mascara in your arsenal. “The more mascara you have on your lash, the more likely it is to clump,” Maggie Ford Danielson, director of brand outreach at Benefit Cosmetics explained. Kate Helfrich, senior vice president of global product and service innovation at Benefit added, “It’s not meant to give you mega-mega drama.” Frankly, we love a product that isn’t trying to be something it’s not.
Tester feedback: “My lashes are short and thin with a bit of curl to them, and I find that most mascaras don’t really give me the length and fullness I’m looking for, which is why I typically resort to wearing falsies,” associate beauty editor Annie Blay previously explained. “I tried Benefit Cosmetics’ Fan Fest Mascara for the first time at the office while getting ready to go to an event later that night. The rest of my makeup was simple, so I wanted my lashes to be subtle yet wispy—and long enough to be noticeable. Fan Fest successfully completed the mission.”