How to select a Mascara

Eye makeup is incomplete without mascara. Selecting a good mascara is like selecting a dress for a party. A mascara not only defines your eye lashes but also highlight the areas close to it. Before you buy a mascara, check few things so that your eyelashes look flawless, vibrant and eye catching:

1. The most important thing to check before starting with a mascara is the type of eyelashes you have and the type of lashes you want to style. Majority of us desire to have curled lashes. A better option is to use an eye lash curler first and than a Mascara. For recommended curled lash mascaras, check bottom of this article. Besides curled lashes, the other ways we desire are thick, extended, bulky, voluminous etc. Mascaras come with different brush designs for styling the lashes the way you desire. The profile and shape of the fibers help in styling the lashes. The fibers can be twisted in a plane or may form a helix around the wand. Fibers can be made of plastic, nylon or rubber. Choose a tapered brush with dense fibers at the middle or base for adding volume to lashes. For top recommended mascaras for curled lashes, check end of this page.

For extended long lashes, you should choose a brush with long fibers and for short to medium eyelashes, one can go with tapered or short bristled brush. For recommended mascaras on lash extension, check the end of the article. The brush of Mascara can have traditional plain plastic or rubber fibers or twisted nylon fibers around the wand. Choose a plastic comb brush for adding adding definition to eyes and go for a brush with pointed bristles to prevent clumping or clustering of the mascara. A brush with fine fibers help in lash multiplication.

The choice of wand is also important in adding effects to eyelashes. The wand can be curved for adding curls, spherical for separated lashes etc. A wand with a small bristles and short brush can be used for brushing lower lashes of eye.

2. Look for the right formula in your Mascara. The waxes and rich solutions help in providing different effects to eye lashes. The two common formulations include waterproof and smudge-proof. Waterproof mascaras can be used under rainy conditions. Its even resistant to tears and also resistant to swimming water and so used by swimmers during during swimming. Some mascaras come specially with sweat proof formulations, you can pick that if you sweat a lot.

Other common formula that you read on mascaras is smudge-proof. Smudge proof can be used under oily, greasy, sweat and humid conditions. A mascara should be resistant to smear and flake formation. These days almost all mascaras contain both the above formulas Except that, a mascara should be clump resistant, safe for contact lenses and light weight to give you extremely light and gorgeous lashes. run during hot weather or form flakes. If your skin or eyes are sensitive, choose a hypo-allergic mascara.

3. Black mascaras are more common than others but its not the only color available. Mascaras come in other colors too. You can try green, blue, purple and other colors too to create a good contrast with other colors. Make the colors of eye lashes match to your eye-shadow or eye-ball or your dress or hair color or to a color commonly used in festivals or occasions. A match of color with eye-brows or hair color to eyelashes is something majority of celebrities and models like to have. Make it more noticeable so that your eyes could catch other's focus on it.

4. The lasting strength of mascara is also an important factor. Generally, a mascara should have good lasting power. A number of good quality mascara's come with good lasting power of more than a day. It should not smudge or run after few hours of application.

5. What type of lashes do you like, dry or wet? Wet lashes are not always a problem and ladies with long lashes like keeping mascara wet as it makes lashes look more shiny and hot but a big problem with wet mascara is the clumping of the lashes. This is one big reason why dry mascara is preferred over wet. Thick and long lashes with wet mascara makes you look gorgeous but a dry mascara is more clean and works well with fine and short lashes. So buy one that dries faster or keep it wet without clumping. Wet mascaras come in a tube but there are other mascaras which are available in dried state known as cake mascara. Cake mascara comes in pressed form like an eye-shadow. To use it you need to add water. Its a mascara of our grandma time, very economical and used to create vintage looks.

6. What has been applied on lashes has to removed finally. So, Mascara removal is also important and generally this takes lot of time, hard work and sometimes its irritating too. Both waterproof and smudge-proof mascaras are not easy to remove but water-proof mascaras are more stubborn and take time and hard work to get removed. Oil based makeup removers can solve this problem. Generally, models and celebrities go for multiple coats for creating combined effects which later gets difficult to remove. Choose Elemis White Flowers Eye & Lip Makeup Remover, The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Makeup Remover, NIVEA Double Effect Eye Make-Up Remover, Lancôme Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover for easy removal of mascaras.

Here are some of the top recommended mascaras from artists and makeup experts:

Mascara for long and extended lashes:
Le Volume de Chanel Mascara, Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara Multi-Dimensional Sophistiqué (for long and curly lashes), lancome definicilis high definition mascara, Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Fake Out Mascara, Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara, Benefit They're Real! Mascara, M.A.C false lash mascara, Maybelline great lash mascara

Mascara for short lashes: Tom ford ultra length mascara, Tarte Cosmetics Lights, Camera, Flashes Statement Mascara,

Water proof Mascara: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash Waterproof Mascara, Lancome Hypnose Waterproof Custom volume mascara, Maybelline hypercurl volum' mascara, L'oreal Paris double extend Mascara, Almay one coat triple effect waterproof mascara, Rimmel London extra super lash water proof mascara.

Smudge-proof Mascara: Lash definition smudgeproof mascara, Maybelline Newyork volum' express classic curved Brush washable mascara, Presige My biggest lashes Big Lash effect mascara, L'oreal Paris voluminous Mascara carbon black, Maybelline New York volume' express the colossal cat eyes mascara, Physicians formula organic wear 100% natural origin jumbo lash mascra, Revlon photoready 3D volume Mascara,

Best volume addition Mascara: Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, Yves Saint Laurent Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils Babydoll (adds both volume and curl), Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume Mascara, Cover Girl Lash Blast Clump Crusher Mascara(clump free), Lancome Hypnôse Star 24H Waterproof Show-Stopping Volume Mascara, L'Oréal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess, Lancome Hypnose Drama Instant Full Body Volume Mascara

Curled lash Mascara: Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara (clump-free), Maybelline xxl curl power Mascara, Deborah milano definitive volume and curl mascara, L'oreal false lash architect 4 dimensions effect waterproof mascara

Wet Mascara: Wet n wild Mega volume mascara (keeps eyes lashes wet)

Cake Mascara: Longcils Bonzcacosmetique mascara, Le femme Professional Formula cake mascara.