how to make any (almost) mascara look great!

If ya'll hadn't noticed yet, I am obsessed (this is underlined to stress its importance) with mascara. I have at least 5 open ones right now and a whole tray of ones waiting to be tried out. I've been trying to control myself and not open any new ones before the other ones get used/dry out...but I'd be lying if I said I'm not itching to open them all and give them a try! (not to mention that most of them are high end- came with the Sephora Lash Sampler)

The whole reason I have so many open ones is because I like to layer them on top of each other, coat after coat, to get full, dark lashes. Over the years- yes, years- I have tried to perfect this routine, adding ones in and taking others out, and I think I have finally found the one thing that really determines what will make my lashes look exactly how I want them to. So, drumroll please...

the answer is so simple- PRIMER. We use facial primer to make foundation/concealer hold and give it a flawless look, lip primer to blank out our lips to give the perfect base and eyelid primer to make shadows bolder and hold longer. So why does lash primer seem so weird? Many companies have come out with their dual-ended mascara (primer one side, mascara on the other), but it has never really picked up. For my lashes, primer makes all the difference. It allows a mascara that would, on its own, make my lashes look boring and too clumped, or thin, or short, etc. and makes and helps to make them look great. I have tried this on several mascaras that I particularly don't enjoy on their own and it just seems to be the perfect thing to make each mascara look good. For example, I mentioned the Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash Mascara in an earlier post, saying that I did not particularly enjoy the way it made my eyelashes look. However, with the primer I felt like it performed substantially better!

Although, I would probably layer another mascara on top of this there is a big improvement from Buxom lash on its own to this picture (right).

In this picture (left) I am wearing the Rimmel London Glam'Eyes Mascara with primer. I would not even attempt using this mascara on its own without a primer because the formulation is too wet and the brush does not separate your lashes enough. 

Now to the primer...I actually think any white eyelash primer would work- drugstore to high end- as long as it is white. I am currently finishing up the L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Lash Extension Mascara (Step 1). I first apply one coat of the white mascara and let it dry for about 10 seconds. I then apply a second layer, get my black mascara and do my bottom lashes, to give the second coat a few seconds to dry. Once I have done my bottom lashes, I move on to the top lashes! Viola! Be amazed at how well this usually "crappy" mascara performs better than it has ever before!

The key to this is that you let the coats dry enough to be tacky, but not enough to completely dry out. If you layer mascara when it is too dry, it causes flaking. As you can see in both pictures, I have pretty long lower lashes so I don't do this for the bottom, however, if you are unsatisfied with yours give it a try! I hope you get to give this a method a try, and let me know if it works for you! What mascaras have you layered with a primer? Leave a comment below!


Always stay happy and healthy :)

Tschüss, Katharina

other posts mentioned in this review:

• http://madaboutmascara.blogspot.com/2012/07/buxom-buxom-lash-mascara.html