My flat is on the market. Which, as anyone who has sold property will know, involves trying to make a home (which you have probably grown out of, stuff-wise, hence the move) look as bare and uninhabited as possible.
This means our bike shed is currently stuffed with anything deemed 'clutter,' including my vast beauty stash, leaving only a bare-bones kit of essentials. This gave me an interesting professional insight into the products I truly can't live without.
So, what made the cut? A lot of skincare and not much makeup, which I whittled down to a daily routine of brow pencil, tinted moisturiser, cream blush, and what we're here to talk about today, my best tubing mascara.
Why this transfer-proof mascara is my beauty buy of the week
If you've never tried one, tubing mascaras work differently from 99% of the best mascaras out there.
For context, most formulas paint lashes in pigment, wax, and sometimes fibres for length. Tubing formulas encase lashes within a flexible polymer structure that you slip back off using a damp cotton round and some pressure before bed.
It sounds weird, little tubes sitting on your lashes all day, but I cannot stress enough how brilliant these formulas are for never, ever smudging. Once tubing mascara sets, it not only won't smear onto your eyelid, it physically can't. It's not built like that.
Which brings me to this - the tubing mascara that dodged bike shed relegation. Transfer-resistance aside, I hung onto this because it gives my lashes a bang-on amount of zhush for daily life. Meaning, they are a bit darker and longer with a nice curl, so my eyes look wide-awake and well, prettier, for lack of a more progressive word.
Many mascara brands push maximum 'drama' as the goal, but I disagree. Just a personal preference, but I don't want the fattest, blackest, most outrageously long lashes most days. Clean Lash gives an enhanced but still fairly natural look, which tracks with this brand's ethos (see also: every product in our Merit Beauty review)
(l) As you can see I have exactly the sort of eyelids that mascara loves to transfer onto, and yet (r) here is Merit Clean Lash, fully un-smudged, in 32 degree heat
It is worth saying that tubing formulas will never be the best volumising mascaras, so if you are a more is more volume-head, you might not want to trade fat lashes for smudge-resistant ones.
But, if that's not a bother, allow me to reiterate: This survives all day, on my hooded, oily eyelids on hot (read: sweaty) days and is the only one I'm taking to Provence this summer, in predicted 35°c+ heat. That's a clear 10°c above my perspiration-resistance limit.
It's a joy to go about your day with total faith that your mascara isn't leaving mucky smears on your eyelid. I also think, when smudges do happen, people should say. It's an act of public service, like telling someone they have food in their teeth. How about we agree, I will if you will. Sounds good? great! Let's chat next Sunday.
