When your place of employment happens to be Allure, everyone and their grandmothers tend to treat you like a living, breathing beauty encyclopedia — not a humblebrag, just the honest truth. Not a single day goes by when at least one person randomly asks us, “What is your favorite [insert beauty product here]?” The best mascara is, without a doubt, one of the most frequently mentioned topics. They all want to know what exactly is making our lashes look like falsies without the issues of crusting, flaking, and webbing.
While some of us do dabble with treatments like lash extensions or lash lifts, we all have our tried-and-true tubes of mascaras that we regularly restock. Some of our picks may be curling mascaras for a lifted and fanned-out look, while other Allure editors prefer one of the best waterproof mascaras for a smudge-proof finish. Whichever results you’re trying to achieve, chances are we know exactly which mascara you’ll need.
With that in mind, we rounded up our editors’ absolute favorite mascaras of all time, including a few Best of Beauty winners, with brands ranging from drugstore favorites like Maybelline New York to Sephora darlings like Too Faced and Anastasia Beverly Hills. We’ve also got the luxury market covered (hi, Dior and YSL Beauty).
Discover all the best and boldest mascara formulas that lend Allure editors’ lashes the most volume, curl, length, and — dare we say — a false lash effect, each and every day.
Our Top Picks:
- Most Conditioning: Ami Colé Lash-Amplifying Mascara, $19
- TikTok Sensation: Maybelline New York Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara, $13
- Most Allure Accolades: Lancôme Définicils High Definition Mascara, $29
- Best Lengthening Mascara: Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real Magnet Extreme Lengthening Mascara, $28
- Best Waterproof: Dior Diorshow Waterproof Mascara, $32
- Best Clean Mascara: Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara, $28
- Best Tubing Mascara: Blinc UltraVolume Tubing Mascara, $26
- Bring on the Drama: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag Mascara, $25
- Best Volumizing Mascara: Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara, $20
All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Ami Colé Lash-Amplifying Mascara
Some mascaras get gloopier and stiffer with every additional coat, but the Ami Colé Lash-Amplifying Mascara just gets better and better. The rich, black formula won’t smudge, run, or flake, which is exactly why it was awarded a 2022 Best of Beauty Award, and that’s thanks to a conditioning duo of jojoba derivatives and shea butter that prevent brittleness from the get-go. And because this formula is far from quick-drying, you actually have time to play and build it up to your exact desired effect.
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Dior Diorshow Waterproof Mascara
When it comes to luxury and waterproof mascaras, a former Allure editor says little-to-none come close to Dior’s Diorshow Waterproof Mascara. “My eyelashes are naturally pretty long, albeit blonde, so I don’t really love wearing mascara all the time (mostly because I hate taking it off at the end of the day),” she said. “When I do, however, I go all-out glam with the Dior Diorshow Waterproof Mascara because it makes my lashes longer, thicker, and just the right amount of obnoxious diva.”
Plus, you can “slobber and splash in the Dior Diorshow Waterproof Mascara and it will stay on,” Los Angeles-based makeup artist Molly R. Stern has said of the long-wearing formula.
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Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara
The Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara is a three-time Allure Readers’ Choice Award winner that treats your lashes to a volumizing, thickening, and jet-black formula fortified with keratin, shea butter, and beeswax — rivaling many a “non-clean” formula. This flutter-inducing mascara has a unique, double-sided wand — one softer to curl and create volume, and the other longer to lengthen and separate and brush out clumps — for perfectly defined lashes. Best of all, it washes off easily with just warm water.
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Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag Mascara
News editor Nicola Dall’Asen says this 2020 Best of Beauty winner just simply “hits different.” Its slightly chunkier formula and curvy, dense brush create a thicker and more voluminous look without clumping. But that doesn’t mean you can’t wear this mascara on minimal eye makeup days, either, because Dall’Asen swears by this pick for creating lashes that are “thick and voluminous, long and wispy, or anywhere between.”
“With a couple of swipes, the formula builds itself both upward and outward, so I get big, fanned-out lashes that practically hit the ceiling,” she says.
