Women are different! No kidding! Each and every one of us, but that’s a good thing. afterall, I’d hate to be part of an identikit line up, as I’m sure that most of us would be.
Our hair, lips, bones, shape everything. All these individual parts make the whole that the outside world sees, but almost without exception, we all want to change, enhance, tweek bits of ourselves to make a difference to the au naturale look we all sport in the mornings.
Some choose surgery and dramatic haircuts, others choose clothes in a certain style, most change their looks though, with a spot of makeup!
Having said that though, the changes we make to our own look are not necessarily the same as those that another woman might make, should she have control of our wardrobe or makeup bag.
We’ve all taken surreptitious glances at other women and thought “I wouldn’t have put that dress/coat/hat/hairdo on her” or maybe “a different shade of lipstick would look better” It’s human nature, or more specifically woman-nature!
But is it really about how others see us, or how we see ourselves? Gok Wan is the champion of body confidence and being happy in our own skin, and in the same token, whenever I’m working with a client, be it a straight makeup application or a personal lesson, I invariably get told that my client doesn’t know how to ‘do eyeshadow properly’ or ‘where to put blusher’ etc etc. And I always say that whilst application is the key to a flawless look, it’s more about being happy with the reflection in the mirror than how you got there.
Equally, there are occasions when I’ve itched to flex my artistic wings on a client, only for them to prefer a barely-there look, and that’s fine! Whilst I can encourage a client to try something a bit more feature enhancing, if they’re not going to feel comfortable with their reflection in the mirror, then I’m not going to force a woman to be someone they aren’t.
It was at a lesson I was teaching recently that I began to think about why we choose certain products and why we look for different results in them. Is there really a need for such a massive multi billion pound cosmetics market with new products released almost daily, and new brands being launched seemingly every month?
The “hmm, there could be an article in here” moment came when I selected 2 different mascaras for my client to try out. One was lengthening and thickening, the other was just lengthening, and both were from the same brand.
Both the mascaras gave a lovely finish, however, my client and I both preferred a different finish and it got me to thinking about what we’re looking for in a mascara, and why?
So, I asked my trusted forum members and came up with the following -
Almost without fail, everyone wanted thicker, yet defined lashes. Certainly no-one seemed to want the fat clumpy mono-lash look that celebrities seem to be sporting at the moment. They all want their lashes to look like lashes, but with more oomph.
Surprisingly, lengthening didn’t come out on top, though around 40% of the ladies all said that they wanted it, but most wanted a thicker look, but with separated lashes.
Popular recommendations from the forum members are -
Max Factor Masterpiece Max
Lancome Hypnose
Lancome L’Extreme
Estee Lauder Zero Smudge
Estee Lauder Projectionist
Clinique High Impact
Benefit Bad Gal
Rimmel Sexy Curves
Max Factor False Lash Effect
Clinique Long Pretty Lashes
L’Oreal Extra Volume Collagen
and with some research of my own, and some very willing clients, we’ve drawn up a shortlist of other mascaras that do what they claim to do -
Estee Lauder Turbo Lash - yes, the motion mascara, it’s great!
Barbara Bort wavelength
Paul and Joe duo
Barbara Bort longlash
Estee Lauder Sumptuous
Rimmel Glam Eyes
Urban Decay Sky Scraper
Urban Decay Big Fatty
Clinique High Impact Curling
These are the products that we, the professionals, and the non-pro-makeup-junkies, recommend. Heartily recommend, and keep on buying.
Look for a brand where it says what it does, and check back here before you buy!
