Best mascaras to cry in

Waterproof mascara – a necessity to every girl’s make up bag, usually buried at the bottom only re-surfacing for emotional occasions in our lives. We’ve all had an unfortunate case of panda-eye at some point, so with wedding season and results days approaching, I decided to try out these self-proclaimed smudge-less brands to see if they lived up to expectations.

Mascaras at the ready and The Notebook DVD in hand, I was prepped for the teary trials… I then immediately realised that there are limited hours in the day and that I’d definitely crumble under the emotional strain of watching that film six times on repeat. So, I opted to chop onions instead.

Here’s the results.

Yves Saint Laurent, Volume Effet, £25.00

YSL was tear proof

I’ve always been a fan of their mascara, so decided to begin my journey here. This felt just like a normal mascara when I applied it, and created a pretty good volume. Onion to the eye, the tears made no difference to the mascara whatsoever, in fact if anything they made my lashes look thicker. Thumbs up to this one.

Maybelline, Big Eyes, £8.99

So tear proof I couldn’t get it off

Admittedly I began with low expectations, but ended up surprisingly impressed with this mascara. It was pretty easy to apply and didn’t feel as gloopy as the others. It’s also definitely the most waterproof of the bunch, but I later found out that it’s virtually impossible to take off with your average makeup wipe.

For the price, it’s great value and if it wasn’t so difficult to remove, I’d even consider using it as a daily mascara

Maybelline, Great Lash, £4.99

It did the job

After hearing a couple of friends rave about the non-waterproof version, I decided to give it a go. It did its job with minimal smudging, but that’s probably due to the fact that it didn’t seem to do much in the first place. I had to layer on about 5 coats for it to even make a slight difference to my eyelashes.

Seventeen, £4.69

Don’t even bother

Well, it’s pretty safe to say, the effectiveness of this one is reflected in the price. Granted, I did seem to have a bit of a crying fit at this point, thanks to some stray onion juice in the eye. But when the mascara ran it stung my eye even more, which then lead to more and more tears. After the emotional ordeal eventually ended, I was left with virtually no mascara on my lashes (as most of it was running down my cheek) and a slightly sore eye.

Dior, Diorshow, £24.50

My tears made it even clumpier

After some rummaging, I found this one hidden at the back of my mum’s makeup drawer. It does it’s duty as a waterproof mascara, but personally I thought it was too thick and clumpy and when I cried it got even clumpier. I’d maybe wear it on a night out, but seeing as I’m not that much of an emotional drunk, I don’t think it’s waterproof qualities would be of any benefit to me.

Maxfactor, Masterpiece HD, £9.99

At least it wasn’t flakey

Average. This one wasn’t the most waterproof and wasn’t a particularly great mascara either. It smudged a bit, but only after I aggressively rubbed my eye. It did, however, have a nice brush and went on smoothly, separating the lashes unlike some others which were more flakey.

So, unless you want to fork out £25.00 for something that you’ll probably never use again, Maybelline Big-Eyes gets my vote. It’s a decent mascara and it actually works as a waterproof. The fact that it’s so difficult to get off means you could probably wear it for a week straight and no one would know – great if you’re lazy in the mornings.