This Is The Weird (But Obvious) Reason Your Mascara Keeps Flaking Off

You know the sitch. You leave the house with mascara-coated lashes to kill, and look in the mirror two hours later only to see some seriously attractive black smudges under your eyes.

What’s the deal? Even with the fanciest, most expensive and *so-called* long-wearing mascaras out there, panda eyes seem inevitable.

Well, we may have solved the problem, thanks to the cosmetics detectives at Vogue. Celeb MUA Jeanine Lobell explained to the magazine recently that there’s quite a few reasons your mascara doesn’t last the day – including one which really had us kicking ourselves.

According to Jeanine, one of the main reasons for flaky mascara is that it’s applied onto wet or moist lashes, either after a shower, after washing your face or after applying eye cream.

“You don’t want any water on your lashes,” Jeanine emphasises.

“Your lashes won’t separate properly and the mascara won’t stick properly… That will make the bottom lashes smudge for sure.”

That’s us told.

But of course, there are a few other possible issues that could be affecting your mascara’s staying power.  If you’ve been diligently drying your lashes every morning and still aren’t seeing better results, here’s Jeanine’s checklist…

1. Replace your mascara often
Just because there’s still some product left in the tube doesn’t mean it’s worth using. Old mascara is Jeanine’s “number one offender,” and she recommends throwing your tube away once the mascara starts to look matte rather than glossy.

2. Choose a lengthening rather than thickening mascara
Mascaras that add density tend to be more fibrous, which leads to all of those pesky flakes under your eyes. If you can’t live without thick lashes, try applying a waterproof topcoat over your mascara.

3. Don’t be impatient
As with nail varnish, you need to allow each coat of mascara to dry before applying the next one. So do one coat, then move on to lippy or eyeliner, before returning for the second coat. Easy!

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