A mascara for under a tenner with a three-speed vibrating wand? Dismiss it and miss out says Sarah Vine
In life, they say, you’re either a Mac or a PC. An iPhone or a Samsung. A Beatles or a Rolling Stones fan. In makeup terms, you’re either a lipstick or mascara girl. I’m very much the latter.
Don't get me wrong: I love a bit of lippy. But I can definitely live without it. Mascara, on the other hand, is non-negotiable.
Whenever I disappear into the Get The Gloss sample cupboard (ostensibly in search of my ‘post’ but I think we all know I’m not fooling anyone), the girls know what to expect. Mascarageddon. In fact, I’ve come to suspect that they’ve started hiding them from me, since they know I’ll take them all, indiscriminately.
Because, you see, I am not a mascara snob. Some people, I know, find the mascara of their dreams and then stick with it through thick and thin. I have one friend who used to get her sister to send hers all the way from Hong Kong. Me, I’m a mascara slut. I’ll try anyone or anything, so long as it fulfils one basic criterion: it has to be black.
I have no truck with coloured mascaras, see. Just as I struggle to comprehend the current trend for pastel hair shades (perfectly fine if you’re 14 and want to look like a unicorn, utterly ludicrous on anyone else), I really do not see the point of coloured mascara. The whole point of mascara is to make your eyelashes look thicker and longer, not like Silly String.
And so it was that I came across GOSH’s new Turn Me On mascara . I found it languishing in the bottom of the box in the office, having clearly been overlooked, possibly on the grounds that a) it looks really cheap and nasty, b) the name is clearly designed to imply a sex aid and c) it’s £8.99 at Superdrug. But like I said, I’m not fussy.
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So imagine my surprise when I got it home, tried it and discovered that instead of being some silly cheap gimmick it was - is - in fact really, really good. Better, I would venture, than some of its much more expensive rivals. In fact, it has become my go-to mascara.
Why? Well, the formulation itself is very nice. Not too thick, not too thin, absolutely zero clumping. But it is the wand that is the real revelation. Specifically, the vibrating bit of it. Laugh if you like. But it really makes a difference.
Imagine applying your mascara with a very small electric toothbrush. Just at the motion of the toothbrush helps toothpaste into every nook and cranny, so the vibrating wand works mascara onto every lash. What’s more, there are three speeds to choose from (I kid you not), which means you can vamp it up or down or not at all, depending on mood. And it delivers a lovely even coverage.
Best of all, the packaging is so cheap and nasty that the embarrassing name wears off after just a couple of weeks in your make-up bag.
Click to buy GOSH Turn Me On Mascara, £8.99
You might also like our edit of the best mascaras for under a tenner and our feature what's in a wand?