Eyes are said to be the windows to your soul and are one of the first features that any person notices about you. That is why most women pay a little extra attention to the eyes while doing makeup. While eye shadows and eyeliners enhance the beauty of any women, mascara completes the look. Without mascara your look will be incomplete. Mascara opens up the eyes and accentuates your lashes. They can darken, lighten, color, thicken, lengthen or define the eyelashes. With the growing number of beauty products available in the market, it can get a little confusing as to which mascara to choose. The best way to select one is by knowing the mascara ingredients and select one that suits you the best.
Before we go on to the different ingredients in a mascara, let us first try and understand more about the history of mascara and the types of mascara available. There are two versions that about the history of mascara. According to some, the first mascara product was invented by Eugene Rimmel in the 19th century. In Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Romanian and Persian, the word Rimmel means mascara and hence, the invention was named after him. The other version states, that in 1913 T.L. Williams made the first mascara for his sister. The only ingredients in mascara that were used in the first mascara were coal dust and petroleum jelly. While mascara was developed over the years, new mascara ingredients were added. For example, instead of petroleum jelly, wax thickeners were added for better effect. Almost for 40 years, mascara was shaped into a mass. It was only in 1957, that the Helena Rubinstein mascara was introduced in the market, which had a tube and wand applicator and of course new and better mascara ingredients. Thus, mascara application was made much easier.
What is Mascara Made Of?
The active ingredients in a mascara are used for giving shape to the eyelashes, and thickening and darkening them. A mixture of special ingredients are added to the mascara, the main aim of which is to design and hold the shape and color of eyelashes. The basic ingredients in mascara includes water, film formers, wax thicker and preservatives.
Mascara are available in three forms - pressed cake, cream or liquid form. Mascara was first created in the form of a cake or pressed cake. You apply it to your lashes with the help of a brush, preferably a wet one. The principal ingredients for cake mascara are soap and black pigments, measured in equal amounts. Cream mascara as the name suggests comes in the form of a lotion. Packed in a tube, you need to squeeze the exact amount you want, to a tiny brush. Use it the same way as the cake form of mascara. Apply it on your eyelashes until you get the desired look. Using cream mascara often led to messy makeup. The invention of the mascara applicator corrected this problem.
The most common type of mascara used today is the mascara applicator which utilized mascara in liquid form contained in a modernized tube. A wand, which is in reality a round brush, is used to pick up just the right amount of mascara. This innovation started the growing popularity of mascara use. Mascaras applicators can be divided into two types - waterproof mascara and non-waterproof mascara. The ingredients used in both are slightly different from each other.
Waterproof Mascara Ingredients: Basically, waterproof mascara is made using volatile solvents. They mostly have a substance called isododecane. They also have waxes which are extracted from animal oil, vegetable oils and minerals. Apart from these some pigments, filmifying polymers and thickeners are also used. Mascaras are free from chemicals as they are water based cosmetics. Waterproof mascaras are highly resistant to sweat, tears, and rain. Once applied, they can be removed only by using a strong makeup remover.
Non-Waterproof Mascara Ingredients: Non waterproof mascara are based on water, soft surfactants like triethanolamine stearate, animal derived waxes, vegetable based waxes like rice bran wax, carnauba wax and candeilla wax, mineral original waxes, pigments, thickening polymers like gum arabic and preservatives. These mascaras are not resistant to tears or sweat but are easily removed with some soap and water. These are light mascaras which only last a short time.
So, go ahead and select a mascara that is best suited to your style and requirements. If you are allergic to any of the ingredients of the mascara or simply do not want the trouble of applying mascara everyday then you can definitely try eyelash tinting. Mascara is a great part of daily make up, so even if you have no time to apply eye makeup mascara alone can make you look beautiful. After all who can resist those sexy long lashes!
