Every struggling, mascara-wearing college student knows choosing a specific brand of mascara can be tricky. Some of them are too clumpy, some of them are weirdly thick and some of them just fail to make your eyes POP. It is for precisely this reason I decided to do the research myself, and figure out which mascara is really the best. I picked out five random mascaras you can find at any CVS, Target, or drugstore, and observed the quality of each one.Â
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5. Revlon Ultra Volume — $5.99
This mascara is pretty good for the price it goes for. It has a medium-sized brush so it reaches a good portion of your lashes. However, it is not quite small enough to easily get the corner lashes, which can be a difficult task. The design of the brush honestly isn’t the best. It also has a tendency to separate your eyelashes in a weird way. It is difficult to get them to spread out evenly. The good thing about this mascara is that it works well for volume, as the name suggests. It is an okay mascara to use as far as clumping goes, but definitely not the best of the bargain brands.
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4. Neutrogena Healthy Lengths — $8.99
This particular mascara has a small and easily maneuverable brush that I really enjoyed. It does a great job at lengthening, but it takes a lot of coats to really get that defined look. Even after a ton of coats, it is not as heavy as it should be. It did a good job of not clumping which was definitely a plus. This is not a bad choice.
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3. Maybelline Volum’ Express: The Falsies – $5.94
The curved brush on this thing is just awesome. It allows full mobility, and it prevents clumping for the most part. It provides excellent length and volume. Overall, it is a great choice of mascara. The only problem would be reaching the corner lashes. The way the brush curves makes it even more difficult to do this.
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2. Rimmel London Volume Flash ScandalEyes — $5.49
This is one of my favorite mascaras. The brush is thick, and lets you get a lot of your lashes at once. It is fairly good about not clumping, and it makes your lashes look incredibly thick and long. It gives your eyes a very defined look. The only problems are reaching the corner lashes and the fact that once it is almost empty, the quality declines a lot. It does not go on as smoothly near the end but it is a really great product for the most part.
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1. L’OrĂ©al Voluminous Butterfly Intenza — $7.99
This was by far the best choice out of the five random selections I made. This mascara goes on smoothly, and it lengthens and separates lashes. It essentially gives you everything you want: length, volume and definition, without clumping at all. It’s definitely the closest you will get to a professional mascara out of these five choices.