The Best Mascaras for Summer

Clinique High Impact ($14.00) is a “tube” mascara, which means that it isn’t technically waterproof. Instead, it’s heat, sweat, and water resistant so long as it isn’t warm water. Since it isn’t waterproof, it washes off easier than waterproof mascara–just use warm water. You can see me wearing it here.

Maybelline Full ‘n Soft Waterproof ($7.00) gives you soft, full lashes that won’t smudge, flake, or fade away in the hotter summer months. I love this mascara for a more natural lash look, but I always have a tube of the waterproof stuff for those lazy summer days, too.

Prescriptives Here to Stay ($19.50) gives you lots of length, richness in blackness, and it’s designed to last you all day, literally–24 hours. It does a good job of holding up throughout the summer for sure.

L’Oreal Voluminous Waterproof ($8.00) gets you summerproofed lashes with lots of volume with wispy, lush lashes. I personally don’t like to wear waterproof mascaras everyday, so I often opt for solid, proven drugstore buys for my waterproof mascaras.

To learn more about or purchase these mascaras, check out Drugstore.com, Nordstrom.com, Prescriptives, and Sephora.com.

Don’t forget to check out our posts on: Best Mascaras — Thickening and Lengthening, Best Mascaras — Colored mascaras, and Best Mascaras for Natural Looking Lashes.

What are your favorite waterproof formulas?

The Best Mascaras for Natural Looking Lashes

Maybelline Full ‘n Soft ($7.00) is one of my favorite drugstore mascaras, and I used it for years before switching to MAC Plushlash. It’s consistent and pretty. You get exactly what it says — full, soft-looking lashes. I’d say this is on the far end of natural, just before it gets dramatic.

Clinique Long Pretty ($14.00) gives your lashes a subtle, natural lift and adds a little more black to your natural lash color. You can see it in action here.

Bobbi Brown Everything ($22.00) is perfect for everyday. In some ways, it epitomizes what you’d want in a very downplayed, natural mascara. It’s a soft black that doesn’t clump nor does it length/thicken your lashes much. It’s going to give you a slightly fuller lash, but it’s really just adding more color to your lashes.

To learn more about or purchase these mascaras, check out Drugstore.com, Nordstrom.com, Prescriptives, and Sephora.com.

Don’t forget to check out our posts on: Best Mascaras — Thickening and Lengthening and Best Mascaras — Colored Mascaras.

The Best Mascaras for Colored Lashes

Benefit BADgal Plum ($19.00) will help warm up eyes! You can see me using it here. I definitely prefer plum over brown for more natural-looking lashes, too! BADgal is a reliable mascara formula that gives some length, average thickening, but it doesn’t clump up easily (which is always a huge plus in my book).

Urban Decay Big Fatty ($17.00) is available in several different shades–from Electric Blue to Purple Haze. Use colored mascaras to help bring out different colors in your eyes. Big Fatty has a larger-sized brush, so for those of you who aren’t used to it, you may find it a little difficult to adjust to at first. However, I’ve found UD’s colored mascaras to work better than the average one, so it’s worth trying out.

Laura Gellar Line & Define ($20.00) is more than a mascara, actually, with one side meant to line and the other side is a mascara wand. There are five shades available, with New Navy being my personal top pick as it really makes your eyes appear whiter.

Givenchy Eye Fly Lash Extender ($24.00) comes in a gorgeous indigo blue called Fly in Blue, as well as a fun violet shade called Fly in Violet. It’s a little on the pricey side, but it gets the job done well. I particularly like the lengthening it gives me.

YSL Everlong ($26.50) comes in lots of fun colors, and the brush is really spectacular. There are just so many bristles on this baby that it really helps coat every lash.

To learn more about or purchase these mascaras, check out Drugstore.com, Nordstrom.com, Prescriptives, and Sephora.com.

Don’t forget to check out our post on: Best Mascaras — Thickening and Lengthening.

What are your favorite colored mascaras?

The Best Mascaras for Thick, Dramatic Lashes

MAC Plushlash ($11.00) is my all-time favorite mascara. It’s exactly what it says: plush. I always get ultra black, thick lashes with this mascara. No matter how many mascaras I try, I always end up coming back to Plushlash. I think, ultimately, I might make the switch to Chanel Exceptionnel if it weren’t so pricey (and not 2.5x better than Plushlash). MAC’s Zoomlash is another good one, though I feel it’s a little more prone to clump, though it has the super black color I love.

Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes ($28.00) is one of those new-fangled mascaras, because it has a crazy mascara “wand” which looks more like a spiky ball. This works best without a primer, as when I used it with MAC’s Prep + Prime, I found it smudged.

Dior DiorShow Iconic ($27.00) beats out the original DiorShow for me, because Iconic doesn’t smudge or flake like DiorShow (the original) did for me. DiorShow is a classic mascara, known for its dramatic lengthening, thickening, and ultra rich pigmentation of black.

Lancome Oscillation ($34.00) is a moving mascara. Oscillation doesn’t come cheap, but it really does work well to give you long lashes without clumping them up. It does take several applications to get the hang of it, and you’ll have to figure out what technique works best for you. You can read my full review if you please.

Chanel Exceptionnel ($28.00) is a deliciously luxe formula that gives you incredibly dark, lush lashes with insane length. You can read my review and see how it looks!

CoverGirl Lash Exact ($8.00) is a mascara that really proved drugstore mascaras often are better than high end products. Good level of color richness in the black, plus lengthening and thickening to make your lashes that much more enviable. If you need more volume, check out Volume Exact. (Oh, and I’ve heard good things about LashBlast, though I haven’t personally tried it.)

To learn more about or purchase these mascaras, check out Drugstore.com, Nordstrom.com, Prescriptives, and Sephora.com.

What are your favorite mascaras for thick, dramatic lashes?