The 15 best volumising mascaras for gravity-defying and clump-free lashes
Our beauty team has tested dozens of formulas to find the best volumising mascaras that'll give you that false-lash effect
Want to achieve thicker and perfectly feathered lashes that mimic the effect of falsies? These best volumising mascaras, which have been vetted by our beauty team, offer just that - without the need for glue (or nerves of steel).
Many of the best mascaras focus on volume and claim to deliver a similar level of drama to rival that of the best false eyelashes. However as Dominic Skinner, Global Senior Artist for M·A·C Cosmetics, notes: "Volumising mascaras represent the holy trinity of mascara needs – thickening, lengthening, and curling lashes," adding that, "it’s this combination that gives the general appearance of 'volume' whereas other mascaras may only focus on one or two of these attributes."
Thus, in the pursuit of finding the perfect mascara that meets all three of these criteria, we've tested dozens of products from the top brands, to bring you a comprehensive list of the best lash-boosting formulas...
The 15 best volumising mascaras, tested by our beauty team
Why you can trust Woman & Home
Whether you're already a fan of our team's overall favourite - Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara - and are looking for your sign to repurchase, or perhaps you're just searching for a new affordable drugstore mascara, here's all the intel you need to buy with confidence...
Best overall
RRP: £28 for 8ml
This mascara sells every seven seconds and after road-testing it on multiple occasions, we can totally see why. The hourglass-shaped brush is bursting with bristles and grips onto every lash, pulling them upwards while adding volume and thickness at the base. While some volumising mascaras have a tendency to weigh lashes down, this one feels lightweight despite its impressive plumping powers.
Reasons to buy: Buildable, lifting and long-lasting
Reasons to avoid: A tad pricey and can smudge
Best luxe buy
RRP: £31 for 6g
If "French girl lashes" were a thing, then Chanel has bottled them to a T with this formula. Delivering plumped-up, voluminous lashes, this mascara creates a chic aesthetic that doesn’t look too "done" or polished. Instead, our lashes were left looking thick, fluttery and loaded with drama. It's one of our picks for the best brown mascaras. The only pitfall that we experienced was that it does tend to clump on the first application.
Reasons to buy: Has a great colour payoff, Ophthalmologist-tested and buildable
Reasons to avoid: Cheaper options available and can clump
Best affordable pick
RRP: £7.89 for 9.6ml
While lengthening your lashes is this TikTok-approved mascara's unique selling point, we found that it also gave our lashes a welcome volume boost when testing. More than that, it's also very long-wearing; we found that it lasted all day without smudging or flaking, which only adds to its affordable credentials. Read our Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara for the full rundown of this viral product.
Reasons to buy: Ophthalmologist tested, adds length and volume and is so affordable
Reasons to avoid: Can smudge
Best versatile pick
RRP: £19 for 13.5ml
We found that the formula is the perfect balance of not too wet, not too dry, and is very buildable, so lent itself well to both everyday wear and elevated evening looks. We also loved the design of the wand and how the multi-length brush catches lashes of all lengths, ensuring that they are separated, lengthened and defined. We'd say it's a strong contender for one of the best lengthening mascaras, too.
Reasons to buy: lengthening and volumising, features castor oil for nourished lashes
Reasons to avoid: Can get clumpy as the formula nears its end and (if we're being very fussy) the packaging is easily marked
Best lengthening mascara
RRP: £22.50 for 8.5g
Just one look at this brush and you can tell the sort of results it gives. A long-time favourite of many, we love how the super-fine bristles of this best-selling mascara capture every single lash (yes, even those pesky corner ones!). The result is a longer, fuller flutter that’s also extremely voluminous. The downsides to the Benefit They're Real! mascara? While it is long-wearing, we did find that this formula could be a little hard to remove. Our top tip is to use one of the best cleansing oils.
Reasons to buy: Last for hours, adds length and separates the lashes for a feathered look
Reasons to avoid: Can be hard to remove
A smokey eye staple
RRP: £31 for 6ml
The narrow, tapered brush is the perfect size to wiggle into the root of your lashes to extend length, as well as separate and add volume – which is great if you don't have lots and lots of natural lashes. Meanwhile, its formula's Kohl pigments gave our lashes a pitch-black look that makes it, as its name suggests, a perfect pairing for a classic smokey eye. One of our testers with an oily complexion though, found that it printed above the lids a little on occasion, but setting the area with translucent powder easily solved that problem.
Reasons to buy: Doesn't clump, long-wearing and adds just the right amount of drama
Reasons to avoid: May smudge on oily skin and quite pricey
Best for nourishing
RRP: £28 (£10 for members) for 7ml
We were so impressed by how buildable this formula is and how much product saturated the brush with just one dip into the tube. In fact, for some preferences, the amount that coats the brush is plenty for everyday wear. It was super easy to distribute it onto the lashes evenly and layer up without even a hint of clumping – the polar opposite of some of the volumising mascaras that didn't make the cut. We also love that it comes in both black AND brown options.
Reasons to buy: Has a nourishing formula, is buildable and separates lashes well
Reasons to avoid: Quite pricey without the membership
Best fluttery effect
RRP: £23 for 10ml
Touted as one of the best mascaras with fibers, this formula darkens lashes and gives wow-worthy length. What we particularly loved about this formula when testing is that it didn't leave lashes at all crispy, and was very lightweight. This mascara also contains hemp-derived cannabis oil to nourish your lashes while you wear it, but don't worry – it contains no THC and isn't psychoactive.
Reasons to buy: Nourishes the lashes and creates a fluttery effect, without clumping
Reasons to avoid: The brush is quite thick and might be messy to use
Best for curling & volumising
RRP: £33 for 10g
We found that its maxi-sized, chunky brush deposits just the right amount of pigment for a voluminous, fanned-out finish – without any clumps, naturally. As well as volumizing, it lengthens and curls lashes, too. So much so, we’d highly recommend this mascara to anyone with short, straight lashes. If we had to knock a mark off, it would be because the formula dries quickly which did lead to some flaking during the testing period.
Reasons to buy: Curls and lengthens, is buildable and offers great pigment and colour options
Reasons to avoid: Can dry out easily and is on the pricier side
Best for lash separation
RRP: £26 for 10ml
Featuring a chunky, hourglass-shaped brush, Lash Brag gave us full-bodied lashes that rivalled our favourite falsies. But instead of weighing lashes down (which false eyelashes tend to do), this formula felt ultra-light while we wore it, almost as though we weren't wearing any mascara at all. We did however find that the formula started to flake and transfer by the end of the day.
Reasons to buy: Buildable, doesn't clump and is both lightweight and Ophthalmologist tested
Reasons to avoid: Can transfer over time
Best everyday staple
RRP: £12.99 for 6.4ml
This is the overall best L'Oreal mascara and, within a few strokes, made our short eyelashes much fuller, longer, curlier, and more defined. This mascara applies smoothly, thanks to its buttery, silky formula and infused floral oil. Plus, it's considered a close rival to Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara but for a fraction of the price.
Reasons to buy: Adds mega volume and length to lashes, is non-clumping and is a great alternative to Too Faced's mascara
Reasons to avoid: Can get flaky by the end of the day
Best for drama
RRP: £32 for 6g
Prepare to fall head over heels for Guerlain’s super luxurious mascara offering: Noir G. A total game-changer – and we don't use that term lightly – this lash-lifting formula delivers a full fringe of inky black lashes, thanks to ebony and midnight blue pigments. Equally important to mention is that we found it does so without clumping or transferring, plus its curved brush is everything.
Reasons to buy: Offers impressive staying power, whilst also curling and volumising your lashes
Reasons to avoid: Expensive
Best conditioning mascara
RRP: £18 for 12ml
When testing we noted that its creamy texture glides on effortlessly, delivering ultra-black pigments that give lashes a really rich darkness. Laced with nourishing Vitamin B5, it conditions and strengthens lashes, too. As for the brush, it has a curved shape that captures every hair, and we loved the way it grabbed onto hard-to-reach corners with ease.
Reasons to buy: Features Vitamin B5 and has a lengthening, lightweight and buildable formula
Reasons to avoid: Can clump
Best long-wearing pick
RRP: £25 for 12g
We can confirm that this mascara definitely coats the lashes on the first swipe and that the brush reaches every hair, despite it being completely straight. We did notice, however, that it doesn’t curl lashes as well as the other mascaras we tried – we'd recommend an eyelash curler for that. But that being said, it really did turn up the volume on our lashes, delivering big on thickness and length.
Reasons to buy: This formula is ophthalmologist-tested, glides on smoothing and does not budge
Reasons to avoid: Can be clumpy and isn't the best lash curler
Best for natural but lifted lashes
RRP: £28 for 8ml
If you're a lover of natural, no-makeup-makeup, this ILIA mascara is perfect for elongated, fluttering lashes that are subtle but elevated. We love that this brush features two sides, one is a comb - to separate the lashes - and the other, is a short bristle brush to coat and lift. The formula just glides on and looks so flattering.
Reasons to buy: Is infused with nourishing shea butter, is suitable for sensitive eyes and ophthalmologist-tested.
Reasons to avoid: Doesn't offer as high of an impact as other mascaras on this list and is a tad pricey,
How we tested these volumising mascaras
To deduce which formulas are the very best volumising mascaras, we've trialled several dozen formulas and mascara brush types from various brands across all price points. Our testers wore the formulas on numerous occasions and, to get top marks, the mascara had to tick several of our beauty boxes. The following factors were all taken into consideration by woman&home's beauty testers.
We looked for impressive staying power, a formula that’s easy to build without flaking or clumping and, most importantly, voluminous, thick results. For extra points, we looked out for those formulas containing lash-loving ingredients, too
- Ease of application
- How wet or dry the formula is
- Brush size
- Inclusion of lash-loving ingredients (like fatty acids and vitamin E)
- Whether it clumped, flaked or smudged
- Colors available
- Price
How to choose the best volumising mascara for you
There are a couple of factors to consider when choosing the best volumising mascara for you, which some of the industry's leading makeup experts have broken down below.
- Your natural lashes. “Think about your natural lashes and what you would like to add to them,” says Aimee Connolly, makeup artist and founder of Sculpted by Aimee. “If you have naturally straight lashes, look for a mascara that adds volume and curl. If you have a hooded eye shape, consider a waterproof formula so that it won't easily transfer onto your eyelids, and if you have thin lashes opt for a lightweight formula that isn't too wet to avoid weighing your lashes down.”
- The wand. “What you want to look for is the wand,” says Skinner. “A comb is going to create a fine, separated lash. A densely compact brush will help add length. However, for volume, what you are looking for is a rubber style brush that will drop a generous amount of mascara to the lash base as it spreads it through the length of your lash while keeping everything separated.” This results in a dramatic, chunky look that perfectly complements full glam faces and moodier spring makeup looks alike.
How to apply the best volumising mascaras
“When applying mascara, think about how you add volume to your hair – it’s all about the root,” says Skinner. “So, start by building up the product in the root of your lashes before drawing the mascara through to the tips, in an upward motion. A little side-to-side, zig-zag wiggle will give a "back comb" effect to help support the fuller lash look you want,” he continues.
“Don’t forget your bottom lashes,” Connolly adds. “if you add a lot of volume to your top lashes, it's a good idea to balance the eyes by applying a light layer to the bottom lashes, too.”
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Emma Stoddart is a freelance beauty journalist and self-confessed skincare aficionado with over five years’ industry experience. Emma has worked for some of the UK’s top women’s titles including Net-A-Porter, Stylist and Grazia. Her experience spans online and print as well as producing editorial shoots with some of the industry’s biggest artists, including Val Garland. Asides from working with them behind the scenes, she’s also had the chance to interview the likes of Patrick Ta, Pat McGrath, and Sam McKnight for all their insider tips and tricks.
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