I’ve only had lash extensions once and the experience went something like this: Endure 45 minutes of application, marvel at my newly huge Disney woodland creature eyes, then freak out for weeks while my extensions eventually began to shed (along with my regular lashes). So instead of dealing with the lash loss, upkeep, and cost that comes with extensions, I’ve invested my time (and money) on hunting for my dream mascara.

I’m willing to admit my criteria’s pretty exacting. I want that full-on falsies effect in a non-drying, non-clumping formula—my lashes are long and sparse, so they clump badly—and it needs to be easily removable with a gentle cleanser. Few have come close to fitting the bill, but I think I’ve finally found a product that gives me better-looking lashes than actual extensions, courtesy of the best beauty brand you’ve never heard of: Lash Star Beauty.

I discovered Lash Star’s Full Control Mascara the same way I’ve stumbled upon most of my favorite things: on the Internet, along with a healthy dose of skepticism. A claim for it said the formula can boost lash volume by 4,100 percent. I’m no mathematician, but that’s an absurdly specific percentage. Alluring, if possible—seriously, pick a thing on your desk, close your eyes and try to imagine it 4,100 times larger. You can’t, can you?—but questionable on the basis of specificity alone. There was also the brush to consider. I used to side-eye most double-wand mascaras on principle. (If a product is good, why does it need two brushes, you know?) None have really ever given me both volume and separation in the way they promise.

This really comes through though. Like most double-wand mascaras, Full Control has a big brush and a baby brush. But unlike literally every other mascara I’ve tried, you’re not meant to start out with the big brush and follow it up with the smaller. Nope, the trick of this mascara is that the little one comes first.

It’s called the tightline brush and you use it to prep every lash—the brand’s website calls this “coaxing” which I find adorable and also apt—before using the larger, curved silicone brush to add additional coats (according to the website, a third coat is what delivers the full 4,100-percent volume increase). Basically, you’ve got an itty bitty primer brush to lay a wide-eyed foundation and a big nubby brush to drive it home. As it turns out, this concept is kind of genius.

At first, I worried that my normal application technique—wiggling the brush slowly through my lashes from base to tip—would gunk on too much product, but that’s exactly how the brand recommends putting it on. The mascara itself goes on smooth and deposits the exact right amount of product due to…I don’t know, the dark arts and black magic? Whatever the secret, it layers perfectly and comes off like a dream with mild soap and water.

There’s no way for me to prove or disprove that outrageous volume claim. But all I can say is that I’ve had multiple people stop me and ask where I’ve been getting extensions these days because the results are that good.

Lash Star Beauty Full Control Mascara, $35, bluemercury.com

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