If you’re a big blinker, a serial eye scrubber, an emotional type prone to tearful outbursts, or just someone who appreciates an elegant, elevated lash game, then pay attention please.
What is tubing mascara?
Tubing mascaras — those especially clever formulas that wrap each and every lash in a flexible polymer cocoon that grips on all day — are stepping out of the niche beauty corner and into the mainstream.
I, for one, never understood why they were niche in the first place, but the story goes that they were a breed once beloved mainly by makeup artists and beauty insiders. These were the types who understood and appreciated the discrete but highly intentional way that they could stretch, lengthen and fan lashes, delivering a finish that is quietly polished, elegant and elevated. The kind of lashes that make you look at them twice to see whether that’s mascara, or just excellent genes.
Then of course, there’s their impressive staying power, the fact that tubing mascara doesn't smudge, lift, flake or crumble. Qualities that hold serious appeal not just for professional makeup artists and celebrities on long shoot days, rigorous press junkets and humid LA red carpets, but also for anyone who has caught sight of themselves in a mirror after a hot date or important meeting with their mascara half way down their face.
How do I remove it?
Best of all, when you’re exhausted, and desperately in need of bed with barely enough energy to brush your teeth, and certainly none to remove your makeup - these mascaras come off with no more than warm water and a soothing sweep (or wiggle) of your flannel.
Now — praise be — it seems that we’re all cottoning onto this highly technically proficient, elegant, fuss free hero of a product, a fact that likely has much to do with the viral Clean Girl moment which is going nowhere fast. Thank goodness we all got there in the end…
File your own tubing mascara — alongside a crisp white shirt, burgundy loafer, cream blush and lip balm — under “fast, effective and reliable routes to feeling more pulled together than you actually are.”
The best tubing mascaras to buy
Hourglass Unlocked Instant Extensions Mascara - An icon that delivers instant wow in a single pass of its wand. (£32, hourglasscometics.co.uk)
Merit Clean Lash Lengthening Mascara - An excellent everyday mascara that won’t clump or smudge and lasts the longhaul. (£23, meritbeauty.com)
Sweed Cloud Mascara - With a wand that resembles a wide tooth comb, this mascara quickly and easily lifts and fans. (£24.00, cultbeauty.co.uk)
Kevyn Aucoin The Volume Mascara - Makeup artist Val Garland told me about this mighty, pitch black tubing mascara while we were on a shoot in the South of France and I’ve been hooked ever since. (£27, sephora.co.uk)
Beauty Pie Wrap Star Tubing Mascara - I love the glossy, inky finish of this clever wand from the clever types at Beauty Pie. (£17 for members, beautypie.com)
Blink Brow Bar London Lash Lift Mascara - This just-launched wand from the brow and lash experts at Blink is beautifully buildable, so that you can go for subtle lift or something more maximalist without clumps or flakes. (£26, bbb-london.com)
Charlotte Tilbury Exagger-eyes Mascara - This elegant glass bottle delivers remarkable volume for a tubing mascara, plus Charlotte’s famous curl, courtesy of its clever, curved brush. (£28, charlottetilbury.com)
