Everyone has a moment that changes her life. Normally it is a first love or a first loss. For me, it was the first day I was at home alone, at a very young age. The second my mom left, I dashed into her makeup drawer and gorged my lashes with her purple mascara. Since then I am a lash freak, and since my initial fix years ago, I have been always on the search of the best mascara to pump up my sparse blond hairs.

AKI, muj’ make-up teacher

Mascara techonology has certainly improved. Now, sticky formulas have been replaced with superior versions like my favorite: DiorShow, L’Oreal Paris Volume Shocking and Bourjois Maxi Frange in black. The fat Dior brush gives you abundant lashes while L’Oreal’s dual tube has a thickner and a mini comb so that you get fullness plus uber-separation . A dear friend, Nicolas, introduced me to Bourjois Maxi Frange and I felt in love with its clear base that you apply before applying the mascara located at the other end of the tube. Two functions in a single product, which makes it easy to carry even in a small evening bag. Step one for extension extreme, and step 2 for maximum volume. And voila!… Lashes look 10 times thicker and really long.

One day, a famous make-up artist backstage at a show, taught me to squish mascara at the lash base, by wiggling the brush, then to comb the tips with a clean wand. “This outlines the eye without clumps”, she said. “It’s flirtatious, but still looks natural”.

Speacking of flirtations, I’d been entertaining the notion of eyelash extensions and had it done myself a few times in Mexico, where it is a must, until I heard from another make-up artist (among clients supermodel Gisele), who told me about one of his client who had the synthetic hairs glued on several months in a row. “Her eyelashes began to fall out” she said. Lash loss? No thanks. I will stick to those transformative tubes I fell in love years ago. The brushes are called wands for a reason,
ines.