A social media furore erupted when an influencer’s followers accused her of lying about the prowess of a new mascara. So, of course, we had to try it out for ourselves.
Not a week goes by without some drama on TikTok, to be honest we prefer less drama and more learning about ‘underpainting’, Mary Philips’ makeup technique (she’s Hailey Bieber’s makeup artist btw), but c’est la vie. The latest story, quite literally hitting the headlines (it’s been covered by Rolling Stone and Time magazine) involves makeup artist and mega beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira reviewing the new L’Oreal Paris Telescopic Lift, £12.99. So far, so good right?
Well, not quite. Mikayla’s 14.4 million followers have taken umbrage believing that she has added falsies to her final look to make her lashes look fuller and longer but claiming the mascara has done all the work.
If you haven’t seen the video, it starts with Mikayla having already applied the mascara to one side and finishing off the other. She applies two coats and then turns to the side (where her lashes suddenly seem denser) before declaring, “look at the length. Do you see that? I am speechless.” Ending the video by saying that she doesn’t think any other mascara “will ever be able to compete with this.” Pretty big statement for a mascara, especially as we find our loyalty to our best budget mascaras changes pretty quickly with the constant development of mascara formulation and wand design.
@mikaylanogueira THESE ARE THE LASHES OF MY DREAMS!! @lorealparisusa never lets me down 😭 #TelescopicLift #LorealParisPartner #LorealParis @zoehonsinger ♬ original sound - Mikayla Nogueira
Now, we have no idea whether she has used false lashes or whether she hasn’t, Mikayla has remained silent about it all so far. But this isn’t a new argument, although it is one we thought wouldn’t come around again. Years ago false lashes were used in all big glossy mascara campaigns to amplify/ lie about how good a mascara was. Here in the UK, the Advertising Standards Agency brought in legislation that meant brands had to declare if the lashes were being supplemented with falsies. Granted, you still had to use a magnifying glass and have a beady eye to spot a very quick asterisked mention at the end of the advert, but it has to be declared.
Nowadays where consumers are asking for complete transparency and honesty from their brands - and certainly from the influencers they follow - even though Mikayla has very clearly labelled that she is a #LorealParisPartner - it’s the fact that her followers don’t feel that she is being honest with them that seems to have taken over everything.
Whether the mascara has done what she is claiming it has, has become slightly irrelevant on TikTok. But not to us, this is the kind of thing we love. Which is why we had to try it out for ourselves. Here is our beauty director SJ giving the L’Oreal Paris Telescopic Lift, £12.99 a try and her verdict. And we can promise no falsies have been used in the making of this video!
SJ’s verdict on L’Oreal Paris Telescopic Lift, £12.99
"On pulling the wand out of the tube two things strike me. Firstly, the brush seems a bit on the piddly side - my favourite mascara brushes are big, fluffy bristles so I initially don’t hold out much hope for this. Secondly, not only does it look piddly but it’s almost a bit lopsided. It’s not, of course, it’s a fancy new wand design that L’Oreal say makes lashes look 5mm longer. On the ‘front’ side, which you use first, there are little hooks that are meant to load the mascara formula onto the lashes and lift them up as you brush it through. The ‘back’ side is a flatter comb design that separates the lashes to make them look more volumised and longer. And does it do that? Well, yes I think it does. After one coat my very fair lashes already look more lifted and a bit longer and after two coats I think they look denser too. I’m not sure anyone would assume I’m wearing false lashes but I leave that for you to ponder.
My biggest gripe is that I personally don’t have the time or inclination to make sure I’m using the ‘correct’ side first. I like a mascara wand that’s the same all the way around so whichever way you put it on you’re getting the same effect. However, for those that are more into their lashes than I am, that may not seem like much of a big deal.
Unlike Mikayla I do think there are other mascaras that compete with this or are in fact preferable. So once I’ve finished it I will be deferring back to my absolute favourite mascara, which happens to be L’Oreal Lash Paradise, £11.99 (I am not a #LOrealParisPartner in any way shape or form) which I feel makes my lashes look fuller and is slightly cheaper. I don’t think it’s caused any kind of upset on social media (yet), but that’s fine with me.”