“Maybe it’s Maybelline” isn’t only a catchy slogan, it’s also likely the answer if you’ve ever seen someone on the street and wondered “what mascara is she wearing?” Some brands just get it, and when it comes to mascara, Maybelline gets it. The brand has something for everyone—from the most natural of options to formulas that rival falsies—which could be why people are very passionate whenever you ask them about their favorite. My mom has had a tube of Great Lash in her makeup bag for as long as I can remember, and our senior beauty editor, Lindsay, will preach the gospel of Total Temptation to anyone that will listen. (I’m personally not a mascara loyalist but have tried and loved many a Maybelline tube).
That said, with so many different formulas to choose from, getting to that point can require a heavy amount of trial error—especially given that you can’t exactly test drugstore mascara in the store. That’s why we enlisted Glamour editors to put every tube to the test and broke down what exactly you get with each option. Read on for our honest reviews of the best Maybelline mascaras.
I’m not a really big “obvious makeup” person, but I have one notable exception and that’s mascara. I’ll do multiple steps to make sure the rest of my face looks like I have no makeup on, but I want my lashes bold, thick, and unmissable.
The downside of this is that unlike the so-called everyday mascaras—a concept I’ve personally never understood—mascaras that scream “I have lashes!” come with a lot of problems. First of all, half of them are just plain bad and don’t do what they claim to do. They’re too dry, too gunky, or too clumpy. And they’re always huge pain to take off. It’s hard enough to get me to wash my face at night, let alone use 10 cotton pads to meticulously remove black goop lash by lash.
I have found a few formulas that meet my strict criteria. Dior’s Diorshow, with its super fat brush and dark-as-night color, is as good as everyone says for real lashes that look like fakes. Too Faced’s Better Than Sex has also lived up to its name at least 50 percent of the time in my experience. (The mascara rarely disappoints me, so IDK how bummed I should actually be about that statement. Hmmm.)
But they’re not perfect. Both are prone to smudging, which means I’ve spent a majority of my adult life with a mirror attached to me like an extra appendage, obsessively checking to make sure my under-eyes don’t look like a raccoon.
Then along came Maybelline’s Total Temptation, which I like to refer to as the drugstore Diorshow. The brand first revealed this mascara backstage during the spring 2018 shows to so much fanfare that Maybelline’s lead makeup artist, Grace Lee, said tubes were “going missing.”
Backstage at Public School Spring 2018
After one swipe, it wasn’t hard to see why. Without clumping, flaking, or smudging, my lashes are instantly transformed. Where some mascaras start to get gloppy after too many coats, this one builds with ease, all while maintaining a curl. (The trick is to wipe the wand on the top of the tube first to deposit any excess; otherwise, it can get gunky.) I’m lucky to already have fairly long lashes as is, but with this, I swear sometimes they reach my browbone. The formula itself, meanwhile, goes on jet-black and airy, and it has a faint coconut scent.
I’m normally someone who hates scented beauty products outside the occasional vanilla lipstick. (Like, I’m sorry, but why do my eyelids need to smell like chocolate? And who is smelling my eyelids?) But the fragrance on this is surprisingly subtle and actually even enjoyable. That’s likely due to the fact that the mascara is infused with coconut extract to help nourish your lashes, so it smells more natural as opposed to a chemically added fragrance. The coconut extract’s benefits can also be felt when you’re taking it off. Some thickening formulas leave my lashes crunchy and shriveled; I’ve found my lashes look slightly more lustrous after regularly wearing Total Temptation.
I could probably do without the thirsty name, but its “irresistibility”—as the brand’s marketing puts it—is real. I freaking love this mascara.
Every step of the Gigi Hadid x Maybelline collaboration has been a surprise. For some context, most models front a brand, lend their faces to a campaign, and that’s the extent of it. Not so with Gigi: on top of rolling out her own, 28-piece collection with Maybelline, she put on a makeup masterclass for editors and influencers and walked us through the thought process behind the products. The collection has a lot of pale pink goodness, but priced at $8.99, the lipsticks are clear standouts. Gigi stuck to nudes and reds, as befitting the collection’s East Coast/West Coast themes, and there’s not a dud in the bunch. We know because we rounded up Glamour editors to test them out. Read on for their honest thoughts.
With a modeling portfolio like Gigi Hadid’s, sometimes it’s hard to know where her true aesthetic lies. That’s just the way modeling works: you take on the identity of whatever brand you’re working with and rep the lifestyle they ask. And while she frequently posts straight-up cool snapshots from her life, she’s undeniably mysterious. So when news broke that Hadid was taking her Maybelline partnership a step further, and developing her own full collection? No one knew what to expect, other than the obvious: it was going to be really friggin’ pretty. And with the products revealed today, that assumption is safely confirmed.
Where most collabs stick to new spins on pre-existing products, the partnership is a line-up of new products revolving around Hadid’s world-traveling lifestyle. According to the brand, that means an eye contour palette, tinted primer, black gel eyeliner, black liquid eyeliner, black fiber mascara, an iridescent liquid strober and matte lipstick.
The first promo images also dropped today, featuring Hadid in nude lipstick and inky black, winged eyeliner.
It’s a sharp twist from the glowing look she showed off from the collection’s palette, which you might remember from blinding you.
That duality might just be intentional: the shots that Maybelline, Hadid, and her makeup artist, Erin Parsons, have posted all center around the cool-toned East Coast collection. The brand says that it was “inspired by Hadid’s love of the perfect nude,” and we have a sneaking suspicion that means there’s more to come.
Over on Ulta’s account, they posted a photo of tawny, warm-toned swatches from Hadid’s West Coast Glow palette, teasing that there are actually “two full collections” along with the Jetsetter palette. We’ve reached out to the brand for confirmation and will update when we hear back, but it would make sense. Hadid was born and raised on the West Coast, but spends tons of time in New York, so she would know both coasts pretty well—and the Jetsetter palette could be the go-anywhere bridge that connects them.
Nothing like some makeup detective work to start the weekend. The full collection (and everything that entails) will be available at Ulta on October 22. The second we know more, we’ll keep you posted.
With three seasons of collaborating with Tommy Hilfiger on her illustrious CV already, model-designer-It Girl-Lady Gaga palGigi Hadid is on to the next project in her apparent quest to take over the world: a collaboration with drugstore cosmetics fave Maybelline. Hadid announced the news in a cryptic Instagram post on Sunday afternoon, and, although there aren’t too many details at this point, you can definitely color us intrigued.
All this to say, if her history with the company and the photo she granted us are any indications, then the collab is already setting up to be in good shape. Especially because it’s already been in the works for a whole year (sneaky, Gigi).
Is the ’70s vibe a hint of what we’ll be seeing in her collab with the brand? How do we schedule “coming soon” on our iCals?? We need answers! (To that point, we’ve reached out to Maybelline for more details and will update as soon as we have further info.)
