Makeup is fun, an art, an artist’s dream. Makeup can enhance, bring out features and completely distort features if that is your goal (think Hollywood movies and Halloween). As someone who loves the creative flair of cosmetic makeup, the one item I find most necessary to bring out your face, especially the eyes, is mascara. Above all else! (Lipstick comes in second)!
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the eyes. It may darken, thicken, lengthen and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms – liquid, cake, or cream – the modern mascara product has vast formulas, however, most contain the same basic components of pigments, oils, waxes and preservatives.
The most standard colors of mascara are black and brown. But guess what? Standard isn’t something one has to stick to in fashion. It is possible to bring out the natural color of your eyes with cool, chic, colored mascara.
Long, colorful eyelashes equals lovely lashes!
The Collins English Dictionary defines mascara as, “a cosmetic substance for darkening, lengthening, curling, coloring and thickening the eyelashes, applied with a rod or a brush.” The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) adds that mascara is occasionally used on the eyebrows as well. Two for the price of one in one wonderful item of makeup.
Mascara Fun Fact: Exactly where the word “mascara” comes from is unclear, but it is most frequently thought to be based from the Spanish word mascara, meaning mask or stain, and the Italian word maschera meaning mask.
Enhance eye color magic with colored mascara. Crayons for the eyes.
Long, colored, eye-catching eyelashes act as picture frames for your enchanted eyes.
How to Wear Colored Mascara Well:
- Apply the mascara over a primer. By first swiping a coat of primer on your eyelashes, this adds length and fullness to the lashes.
- If you choose, match the colored mascara to your eye color, your clothes and/or your eye shadow. Marvelous Miss Match.
- Try one color of mascara on the upper lashes, and a different color of mascara on the lower lashes. Va va voom!
- Wear a heavy black mascara on the inner eyelashes, then branch out to color on the outer eyelashes (or vice versa).
- Give your eyelashes a rainbow of color treatment.
Aesthetic adornment is a cultural universal phenomenon, and mascara can be documented in Ancient Egypt. Records from around 4000 BC refer to a substance called kohl that was used to darken eyelashes, eyelids and eyebrows. Kohl was used to mask the eyes, believed to ward off evil spirits and protect the soul, by both men and women.
Mascara Fun Fact: Makeup was considered unsightly and uncouth in Western culture until the Victorian era. During the Victorian era, social opinion shifted radically towards the promotion of cosmetics, and women were known to spend a majority of their day occupied with beauty regimens. Great efforts were made to create the illusion of long, dark eyelashes. Victorian women made a type of mascara in their homes, consisting of heating a mixture of ash or lampblack and elderberry juice on a plate and then applying the heated mixture to their eyelashes.
I’m so glad all we need to do today to obtain gorgeous black and colored mascara is drive to a store and/or beauty supply shop.
The increased demand for mascara led to the development of many formulas seen in the current market. Despite the many variations, all formulas contain the same basic elements: pigmentation, oils and waxes.
Pigmentation: Carbon black, ash or soot is used. Also, ultramarine blue may be added. Tar and coal derivatives are prohibited by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Oils: Mineral oils, linseed oil, castor oil, eucalyptus oil, lanolin, oil of turpentine and sesame oils are used.
Waxes: Paraffin wax, carnauba wax and beeswax.
Mix and match the perfect ingredients to bring out the magnificent magic of long, splendid, colorful eyelashes.
Mascara Fun Fact: Mascara pulls away the eyelash from the rim of the eye, creating a doe-like illusion of larger, more open eyes. The product that we recognize as mascara today didn’t develop until the 19th century. A chemist named Eugene Rimmel developed a cosmetic using the newly invented petroleum jelly. The name Rimmell became synonymous with the substance and still translates to “mascara” in the Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Romanian and Persian language today.
In 1913, T. L. Williams created a remarkably similar mascara substance for his sister Maybel. In 1917, T. L. Williams started a mail order business from the product that grew to become the company Maybelline. Interesting!
For a kick-starting head start to a fabulous set of eyes, coat your lashes with charming colored mascara.
Colored Mascara Fun Fact: To remove the colored mascara, merely apply an eye makeup removal cream (available at stores and beauty salons) or use petroleum jelly! Both products work wonders and don’t pull out the eyelashes in the removal process!
Fashion: There’s room for us all. Don’t let your eyes fool you. Colorful eyelash magic!
Nancy Mangano is an American fashion journalist, screenwriter and author of the Natalie North murder mystery book series. Visit Nancy on her global online fashion/style/beauty magazine Nancy Marie Mangano Style at https://nancymariemangano.com, her Facebook page Nancy Mangano at https://www.facebook.com/nancymmangano/ Twitter @https://twitter.com/nancymangano and her author website http://nancymangano.com
