5 best tubing mascaras for women over 50

5 Best Tubing Mascaras For Women Over 50 That Make Sparse Lashes Finally Show Up Again

By Susan Harper i

Former make-up artist, Wine lover & Blogger

Updated 2 DAYS AGO | 4 min read

Title

Every brand suddenly makes a tubing mascara "for mature lashes." I stopped believing it. Then I tested five of them.

I'm Susan. Thirty-five years as a TV makeup artist, retired at 55, now writing for women like me.

If you're reading this, you probably don't need me to explain tubing. You're likely wearing one right now. Thrive, maybe. Or Prime, or Tarte. And chances are it's... fine. Not what the ad promised. Fine.

Because let's be honest about what happened. Somewhere around 2022 the industry discovered us. Suddenly every tubing mascara was "made for sparse lashes." Same before-and-after photos. Same silver-haired model. Same promise that THIS one understands what menopause did to your lash line.

I've watched those ads for three years and I got tired of it. Tubing became a marketing word, the way "clean" and "anti-aging" did before it. The technology is real. The claim that any tube with polymers in it works on the fifteen fine, pale lashes we have left? That's the part nobody was testing.

So I did. Five tubing mascaras, all marketed at women like us, worn properly. Weeks each, not one afternoon for a photo. On my own 63-year-old lashes and on a few brave friends.

The short answer: tubing is the entry ticket, not the answer. Two of the five are decent mascaras with one flaw they hope you'll live with. One is mostly the marketing I got tired of. One proves a $13 tubing mascara costs $13 for a reason. And one actually did what the ads have been promising all along.

Bottom line: GraceLash Tubing Mascara is the one I went back to after the test ended. I've worn it every day for over a year now. My thin lashes actually show up, and at night it lets them go without taking any with it.

Last I checked they had a sale running. And you get 60 days to try it. Doesn't work? Send it back.

CHECK IF THE SECOND TUBE IS STILL $5

1. GraceLash Tubing

Let me be upfront. Given how this article started, GraceLash had everything against it.

You've probably never heard of it. Not at Macy's, not on Amazon. One small brand — exactly the kind of story the ads I'm tired of are built on. I only tested it because an old TV colleague showed up wearing it, and her lashes looked like HERS again.

Here's what nobody tells you: most tubing tubes are empty.

A hollow tube dries thin down your lash, like wet paint running down a wall. Longer, but wispier. That's Thrive, Prime and the Maybelline in one sentence.

GraceLash fills the tube. With Brazilian Ceará Carnauba — the hardest natural wax on earth.

A filled tube wraps thick around the lash instead of stretching thin along it. A hollow tube can only lengthen. A filled tube builds. On the fifteen fine, pale lashes menopause left me, that's the difference between "longer" and finally visible. And because carnauba is that hard, a trace does the work of a heavy coat — no weight, curl holds all day.

Bonus: the hardest wax on earth doesn't melt in lid oil. My daughter got married in Florida in June. I cried through the ceremony. The photos came back perfect.

Why it won: it's the only one that never asks you to compromise.

Every other tube here works on a trade. Thrive removes beautifully but only lengthens. Tarte dries out, flakes, and needs micellar. Prime clumps and grips your lashes at the sink. Maybelline costs $13 and behaves like it. You picked a flaw you could live with — and forgot you picked it.

GraceLash: Four things, one tube.

1. Real volume. Not just length. The only filled tube on this list. Thicker at the base, darker across the line, visibly there from across the room. Volume is what our lashes actually lost. This is the only tube that gives it back.

2. Flexible tubes. So it never flakes. Those black specks by 4pm? Tubes that dried brittle and cracked off — some straight into your eyes. GraceLash keeps castor oil and Korean ginseng inside the tube, so it bends with every blink instead of snapping. Set, never hard.

3. Removal that's actually just warm water. Every box says it. One means it. A supple tube lets go; warm cloth, twenty seconds, tubes slide off whole. No fingers, no cleanser, not a single lash on the pad. At our age, every lash you scrub off takes months to come back — if it comes back at all.

4. The bonus: Lash Refill Complex. A peptide, biotin, castor oil, Korean ginseng — the four things menopause sends less of, fed back all day. Six weeks in, my lashes felt like more to work with. "Could be placebo. I'll take it."

The others do one or two of these. Nobody else does all four.

And rare for this category: tested on women over 60, not 25-year-olds. No BAK, no parabens. My sensitive, contact-wearing eyes haven't complained once in a year.

A Thrive or Tarte girl? Run my test: one on each eye, one day. By noon, one eye looks fuller. That's the entire argument — and it's free.

Almost a year in. Still my daily.

PROs:

Filled tubes (With the hardest natural wax on earth) — real volume, not just length

The only mascara on this list that makes a sparse lash line look FULLER

Flexible tubes (castor oil + Korean ginseng) that bend with every blink, zero flaking, nothing in your eyes

Precision wand catches even thin lashes

Carnauba doesn't melt in lid oil. No smudging, no raccoon eyes, hooded lids included

Precision wand with silicone bristles made for sparse lashes

Slides off whole with warm water only. No fingers, no cleanser, no lashes on the pad

Lash Refill Complex (peptide, biotin, castor oil, Korean ginseng) feeds lashes all day

CONs:

A bit more pricey (but maybe that's the reason why it's so good)

Only sold on the Grace & Muse website (not in stores, not on Amazon)

Only in black and brown (Others have more colors)

This is the one I use. The only one where I couldn't find the compromise. And exactly why it earned the #1 spot on this list.

One thing worth knowing: GraceLash Tubing Mascara is made in small batches. When it sells out, it's gone for 3 to 4 weeks. In stock now? Timing is on your side.

And you're not taking my word for anything. 60 days, money back. Wear it on one eye next to your current tube. If your mirror doesn't settle it by noon, send it back and you've lost nothing but a morning.

BUY IT HERE

2. Tarte Tartelette Tubing

Tarte came closer than anything else on this list.

I want to be fair here, because this is a genuinely good mascara and I understand why it has the following it has. Tarte took five years to build this formula and you can tell. It's their first tubing, and they did not phone it in.

The wand is slim and tapered, which matters more than people realize once your lids start to hood. It gets into the corner without dumping product on your crease. And the formula itself is properly conditioning. Shea butter, castor oil, vitamin E, plant waxes. Vegan, no parabens. That's not label decoration, my lashes never felt stripped after a month of daily wear.

Length? Excellent. Two coats and my lashes were visibly longer. Separated, feathery, no spider legs. On camera it photographs beautifully.

So why isn't it number one?

Because the formula dries out. And a tube that dries out does two things you won't forgive.

The first is flaking. Tarte's tubes go on soft but they don't stay soft. Through the day they dry down harder than they should, and a hardened tube is a brittle tube. By late afternoon I had fine dark specks on my cheekbones. Not a snowstorm — a few. But if you wear it daily, you know the ritual: the 4pm mirror check, the ring finger sweep under each eye. You've probably stopped noticing you do it. That IS the flaw you learned to live with.

The second is the sink. A tube that's dried hard doesn't want to let go. Tarte's own instructions quietly admit it: warm water or micellar water or makeup remover. For a lot of women, mine included, plain warm water didn't get all of it. So you reach for the micellar and the cotton pad, and you're right back to the tugging that tubing was supposed to save you from. On lashes like ours, that's not a footnote. That's the whole reason we switched to tubing in the first place.

And for the record, the length-to-volume ratio leans the same way as most tubing: lovely length, modest fullness. But that's not the dealbreaker here. The drying is.

Where it lands.

If your lashes are still mostly there, you remove your makeup with a cleanser anyway, and you love the feathery length, Tarte is a lovely mascara and the best-known tubing on this list for a reason.

But if you're a Tarte girl who's ever wondered why "warm water removal" never quite worked the way the box said, or where those little specks come from — it's not you. It's the tube. There's one on this list that stays soft until you want it to let go.

PROS:

Genuinely conditioning formula (shea butter, castor oil)

Slim tapered wand. Good on hooded eyes and lower lashes

Serious length. Separated, natural, no spider legs

Vegan, cruelty-free, no parabens. Fine on sensitive eyes

Four shades and easy to find (Sephora, Ulta, Amazon)

CONS:

Tubes dry out through the day and get brittle

Flaking. Dark specks on the cheekbones by late afternoon

Warm water alone often isn't enough. Micellar water and tugging come back

Length yes, fullness modest. Doesn't fill in a sparse lash line

Made for all lashes, not for the ones menopause left us

A very good mascara. Just not built for the problem we're solving. That's why it sits at #2 and not at #1.

BUY IT HERE

3. Thrive Liquid Lash™

Thrive was my mascara for years. The first tubing formula I ever tried, and the one most of you are wearing right now, I know, because it's the one my inbox defends the hardest.

If you had asked me at 53, this list would have ended right here. Thrive would have been my number one.

So why is it sitting at number three? Two reasons, and if you wear it daily you already know both. You've just made peace with them.

One: it's a lengthening mascara wearing a volume costume.

Thrive's tubes are the classic hollow kind. They stretch each lash out beautifully, the "extensions" name isn't a lie, but they add almost nothing to its thickness. On a full lash line, length alone reads as drama. On our lash line, length alone reads as sparse but longer. You can see every gap, just from further away.

I wore Thrive for years thinking my lashes simply couldn't do fuller anymore. Then I wore a filled tube on one eye for a day and found out it was never my lashes. It was the empty tube.

Two: the clumping when you chase what isn't there.

Because coat one gives you length and no body, you go back in. And Thrive punishes coat two. The tubes set fast, the second layer can't blend into the first, and the wand deposits generously — so it beads, chunks, spider legs. Out comes the lash comb. You've learned to apply it slowly, carefully, one thin coat, quit while you're ahead. That careful little morning routine you've built? That's not skill. That's a workaround.

The removal is still lovely, and I'll say it plainly: warm water, tubes slide off, no lashes on the cotton pad. That part never let me down once in all those years, and it's exactly why Thrive sits at #3 and not lower. It gets the evening right. It's the morning where it quietly shortchanges you.

PROS:

Reliable tubing formula that holds through the day

Easy warm-water removal, no cleanser needed. Genuinely gentle on lashes

Established brand with a huge following. Sold on Amazon and Thrive's own site

A solid introduction if you're new to tubing

CONS

Length only. Hollow tubes add almost no thickness to a fine lash

A sparse lash line stays visibly sparse, just longer

Clumps and spider legs on the second coat

Needs a slow, careful hand every single morning

$26 a tube for what's basically a baseline tubing formula

A great #3. If Thrive has served you well, nothing here says throw it out. But do the one-eye test against the tube at the top of this list. If by noon both eyes look the same, keep your Thrive and my blessing. Mine didn't look the same. Not even close.

BUY IT HERE

4. PrimeLash Tubing

PrimeLash showed up in my Facebook ads. A LOT.

Their marketing is genuinely refreshing. Women aged 50 to 80 in the imagery. Talking to women like us, not at us. Most beauty brands don't bother. Prime does. I respect that. And they donate a portion of sales to breast cancer research, which is real.

It's tubing, and it comes in more colors than anything else here. Navy, plum, whatever you want. If you've ever wanted to soften black with a plum on a grey-haired base, this is the easiest way to do it. It's also safe for sensitive eyes, and mine are difficult.

But the product? It's OK. From my perspective, mostly marketing fluff.

It has Thrive's problem and Tarte's problem. At the same time.

Like Thrive, the tubes are hollow, so you get length and no real body — and the moment you go in for a second coat to fix it, the sticky formula beads and clumps. The wand drags more than it deposits. The curl I started with in the morning was gone by lunch.

And like Tarte, it won't let go at night. Tubing is supposed to rinse off with warm water. I was still tugging at the end of the day. For a mascara sold specifically to women whose lashes are thinning, holding onto those lashes at the sink is the one sin you really can't forgive.

So why is it at #4 and not last?

The color range genuinely solves something for grey and silver hair that every other brand here ignores, it's kind to sensitive eyes, and it does hold through the day. It's a middling formula wrapped in a brand that actually understands who it's talking to. I just wish the tube understood it too.

PROs:

Nice effect for the first hour or two

The widest color range on this list. Real options for grey and silver hair

Marketed to women 50+ by people who seem to be paying attention

Brand donates to breast cancer research

CONS:

Hollow tubes. Length without volume, like Thrive but stickier

Clumps on the second coat, every time

Volume hard to build. Length doesn't really follow

Hard to remove. Still tugging at the end of the day, on thinning lashes

Growth claims I never noticed in two months of wear

The marketing is great. I wish the product matched it.

BUY IT HERE

5. Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubing

Let's talk about the $13 question, because I know some of you are asking it. "If tubing is tubing, why not just buy the drugstore one?"

Maybelline finally made a tubing mascara, it's everywhere — Ulta, Amazon, the grocery store — and it costs a third of everything else on this list. The box promises the full bingo card: smudge-proof, flake-proof, clump-proof, 24-hour wear, one-swipe warm water removal. I genuinely wanted it to work. A $13 answer would have been a lovely ending for this article.

It's the worst formula on this list. And it's not close.

Everything the other four do wrong, this one does at once. The tubes are hollow, so it's length-only — and thin, glassy length at that. It clumps almost immediately; by the second pass my lashes were sticking together in stiff little groups the wand couldn't rescue. And the flaking. Oh, the flaking. The box says flake-proof, and by mid-afternoon I had black debris on my cheekbones and, twice, pieces in my eye. That's a hollow tube drying out fast and cracking apart, exactly the mechanism we've been talking about all article, just at drugstore speed.

The removal is the same story. "One warm water swipe" on the box; in reality reviewers keep reaching for an oil cleanser and a cloth, and so did I. Scrubbing. On our lashes.

And here's the tell: there's nothing in it FOR your lashes.

Look past the front of the box and read the label. It leads with water, acrylate polymers and drying alcohol. There's a whisper of shea butter and castor oil in there for the marketing copy, but nothing with a job to do — no peptide, no biotin, nothing that feeds a lash or keeps a tube supple. It's the tubing mechanism at the lowest possible cost, with everything that makes tubing work for lashes like ours left out. That's not a flaw. That's the business model.

Who is it for, honestly? A 30-year-old with a full lash line who wants to try tubing for the price of a sandwich, wears one thin coat, and takes her makeup off with cleanser anyway. For her, fine. For us, it's $13 you'll spend twice — once on the tube, once on the mascara you buy to replace it.

PROS:

The cheapest tubing mascara you can buy, and it's sold everywhere

Genuinely lightweight feel on the lash

Ophthalmologist and allergy tested, fine with contacts

cheap way to find out if you like the tubing feel at all

Cons:

Clumps by the second coat. Stiff, stuck-together groups

Flakes badly. Black specks on cheeks and in eyes by afternoon

Hollow tubes, drying formula. Thin length, zero volume

"Warm water removal" that actually takes an oil cleanser and scrubbing

Nothing in the formula with a real job for your lashes. No peptide, no biotin, nothing

You get exactly what you pay for. And what you pay for is the word "tubing" on a $13 box. Everything that makes tubing actually work for lashes over 50 — the filled tube, the flexible tube, the true warm-water release, the ingredients — costs money, and it isn't in here.

It's not the one.

BUY IT HERE

And The Winner Is…

Gracelash Tubing Mascara

Almost a year now. Still my daily. Not because it's perfect. Because every morning it does the one thing I stopped believing a mascara could do. It gives me my lashes back. And every night it lets them go without taking any with it.

All five of these are tubing. That's the part that surprised me most doing this. I went in thinking the technology was the answer, and it turns out the technology is just the entry ticket.

Here's the honest scorecard. Tarte conditions, but dries out and won't let go. Thrive removes like a dream, but only ever lengthens. Prime knows exactly who we are, and then clumps on us anyway. Maybelline proves the mechanism can be had for $13, and proves why it shouldn't be. Each one asks you to live with something. And if you're wearing one of them right now, you probably are living with it — the 4pm mirror check, the careful single coat, the micellar bottle by the sink. Little habits you built around a flaw so long ago you stopped seeing them as workarounds.

GraceLash is the only tube on this list that doesn't ask. Real volume from the filled carnauba tube. No flakes, because the tube stays flexible from morning to midnight. Warm water and it's gone, every lash still yours. And a refill complex feeding your lashes the whole time in between. Four for four. Nobody else on this list goes better than two.

Here's what I didn't expect, though. It was never really about the mascara. It's that moment you catch yourself in the hallway mirror and you don't stop and look twice. You just think, THERE I AM. And you keep walking. That's what I bought. The mascara was just how it arrived.

When I ordered, the 2 for $39.95 deal was on, about $20 each. You get 60 days either way. Doesn't work on your lashes? Send it back.

So if you're happy enough with your current tube, do the one thing I'd ask. Wear it on one eye and GraceLash on the other, for one day. Your mirror will finish this article better than I can. And if it doesn't — 60 days, money back, no harm done. That's not a leap of faith. That's just curiosity with a safety net.

You're not silly for wanting your lashes back. You were never silly. You just needed the one that was made for the lashes you have now. She's been waiting in the mirror this whole time.

summary

#1 Gracelash Tubing Mascara

Buy it here

#2 Tarte tartelette Tubing Mascara

Buy it here

#3 Thrive Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara

Buy it here

#4 PrimeLash Mascara by Prime Prometics

#5 Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubes

Buy it here

Join the discussion…

20COMMENTS

Linda Mitchell

2 days ago

Bought GraceLash three weeks ago after reading this. I'm 64. Used it every day since. My husband actually said my eyes look "brighter." He never notices ANYTHING lol. And the warm water removal. Not a single lash on the cotton pad. I nearly cried. Game changer.

Patricia Wagner

3 days ago

I have very hooded eyes. Every mascara I've tried turns me into a raccoon by lunch. Migrates right onto the lid. I've thrown out at least 7 mascaras in the past 3 years. Is GraceLash actually different for hooded eyes? Scared to throw another $40 away.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Patricia Wagner · 3 days ago

Hi Patricia. I have hooded eyes too. Two things help here. The wand is smaller than the big fluffy brushes most brands use, so it doesn't dump product on your lid before reaching the lash. And the carnauba wax in the tubes doesn't melt in the oil on your lids, which is what smudging actually is. Nothing melts, nothing migrates onto your crease. The 60 day guarantee is what got me to try it. If it doesn't work for your eyes, you send it back. Nothing lost.

Kathleen Moore

4 days ago

I have to push back a little Susan. I've worn Thrive for four years and I love it. Removal is gentle, never smudges on me. Are you saying I should switch even though I'm happy?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Kathleen Moore · 4 days ago

Hi Kathleen. No. If you love it, that counts for a lot, and Thrive's removal really is excellent, I said so in the review. I'd only ask you one question. When you look at your lash line straight on in daylight, is it FULL, or is it long? Thrive's tubes are hollow, so they can only ever do the second one. I wore it happily for years too, right up until I put a filled tube on one eye for a single day. That comparison is free. One day, two eyes. And GraceLash gives you 60 days to send it back. If your mirror says stay with Thrive, stay with Thrive. Mine had other ideas.

Rosemary Vance

5 days ago

I grabbed the Maybelline Sky Tubes at the grocery store because $13, why not. Should have known. Clumped on the second coat and by dinner I had black bits on my cheeks AND one in my eye. The box literally says flake-proof?? Took an oil cleanser to get off too. Cheap isn't cheap if you throw it in the drawer after a week.

Ellen Braithwaite

6 days ago

I've used the Tarte tubing for about a year and liked it, but lately it's not doing much for me. And I DO get those little specks by the end of the day, I thought it was my eyeliner. Is it worth switching or am I just chasing something that doesn't exist? I'm 61 and I'm tired of buying mascaras.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Ellen Braithwaite · 6 days ago

Hi Ellen. You're not imagining it, and those specks are not your eyeliner. Tarte's tubes dry out through the day and get brittle. That's where the flakes come from, and it's also why warm water alone never quite gets it off at night. Every micellar-and-cotton-pad session costs you a lash or two, and at 61 those are expensive. That's the whole reason GraceLash ended up at number one for me. The tube stays soft, so it never flakes and it lets go with just warm water. Do the test from the review. Tarte on one eye, GraceLash on the other, look in the mirror at noon and again at the sink that night. Can't see a difference? Send it back, you have 60 days. That's how I decided too.

Barbara Sullivan

6 days ago

I was a Thrive girl for SIX years. You nailed everything. Long lashes, sure, but my lash line still looked thin, just... stretched. And heaven forbid you try a second coat. I kept thinking it was just me getting older. It wasn't.

Margaret Foster

1 week ago

I'm 71. Gave up mascara entirely two years ago. Every night I was losing more lashes scrubbing it off. The cotton pad full of lashes broke something in me. Reading this gave me a tiny bit of hope. If I try GraceLash, how do I take it off without doing more damage? I can't lose any more.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Margaret Foster · 1 week ago

Hi Margaret. This is exactly why I came back too. I thought I was done. Here's how it works. Warm water on a soft washcloth. Press it on your closed eyes for about 30 seconds. The little sleeves soften and slide off in one piece. You'll see them on the cloth as tiny black flecks. That's the tubes coming off, not your lashes. No scrubbing. No tugging. Your lashes stay where they belong. A year in and that part still feels like magic to me.

Sandra Klein

1 week ago

Honestly? I'm exhausted by every brand swearing it's THE one. I've heard it. Bought it. Thrown it away. What makes this any different from the last five that promised the same thing? Not trying to be rude. Just tired.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Sandra Klein · 1 week ago

Hi Sandra. That's not rude, that's the whole reason I wrote this article. I was tired too. So don't believe me. Wear your current mascara on one eye and GraceLash on the other for one day, and let your own mirror decide at noon. If it loses, send it back within 60 days and you've spent nothing but a morning. That's the only pitch I've got, and it's the one that worked on me.

Carol Bennett

1 week ago

Most useful mascara article I've read in years. Thank you for not pretending to love everything. Half these "reviews" online are just five ways of saying buy it. You actually told us what's wrong with each one. Bookmarked.

Sharon Whitfield

1 week ago

I was worried about microplastics in tubing mascara. Read somewhere they're microplastics. Have you looked into this Susan? Trying to be more careful what I put on my body at our age. Otherwise the GraceLash review made it sound exactly like what I've been searching for.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Sharon Whitfield · 1 week ago

Hi Sharon. Good question, this comes up a lot. Yes, tubing mascaras use polymers. That's how the formula wraps each lash in a sleeve. But polymer doesn't automatically mean microplastic. Polymers are just molecules that link together in chains. Honey contains polymers. Wool is made of polymers. Your own hair is a polymer. Microplastics are one specific synthetic type that breaks apart into tiny floating particles. The polymers in tubing mascara are not that. They come off as whole little sleeves in warm water. You can actually see them on the cloth. Not the same thing. I asked this same question before I tried it. Once I understood the difference, I stopped worrying.

Nancy Rasmussen

2 weeks ago

I've curled my straight lashes since I was 13. Tried two tubing mascaras over the years and both straightened my curl by lunch. Does GraceLash actually hold a curl? Because every tubing mascara I've ever tried hasn't.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Nancy Rasmussen · 2 weeks ago

Hi Nancy. This was my biggest fear too. Thrive flattened my curl by lunch for years. The difference with GraceLash is the carnauba. Because the wax is so hard, a trace of it does the work of a heavy coat, so there's barely any wet weight pulling the curl down before it sets. Curl your lashes first, then two thin coats. Holds all day. I tested it through my daughter's wedding in Florida last June. June. Florida. Ceremony. It still held. The first tubing mascara that didn't kill my curl.

Karen Donnelly

2 weeks ago

Susan, I've been reading you for three years. You're the only beauty person who doesn't treat us like we're 25. The other channels keep telling us to "glow." What does that even mean when your skin is what it is now? You actually get it.

Donna Pickering

3 weeks ago

$40 is a lot for me. I retired last year and I'm careful with money now. Is it really worth it over the drugstore options? That new Maybelline tubing one is $13 at my grocery store. I want to believe. But I've burned through enough cheap mascaras to be cautious about anything that costs triple.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Donna Pickering · 3 weeks ago

Hi Donna. Totally hear you, and I tested that exact Maybelline for this article. It's #5 on the list. Clumps, flakes, and there's nothing in the formula for your lashes. It's $13 you spend twice, once on the tube and once on the replacement. Quick clarification on GraceLash too. With the buy-one-get-one offer on the site it's two tubes for $40, so about $20 per tube. Still more than drugstore, I won't pretend otherwise. But three cheap tubes you throw away is $45. One that works for less than that is just better math. And you have 60 days. Doesn't work for you, send it back. The risk is on them, not you.

Cynthia Harlow

3 weeks ago

Bought PrimeLash because of their Facebook ads. EXACTLY what you described. Sticky on the second coat. Spider legs by 2pm. Curl gone by lunch. And getting it OFF at night, don't get me started. The marketing IS great. The product was nothing. Glad I'm not the only one who fell for it.

Kathleen O'Brien

1 month ago

Just turned 65. Wear contacts every day. Most mascaras have my eyes watering by noon, and the flaky ones are the worst, those bits end up right under the lens. Tempted to try GraceLash. Any other contact wearers here who've tried it?

Deborah Frankel

1 month ago

You mentioned GraceLash has ingredients that "feed" your lashes. After everything I've read online about lash serums (sunken eyes, eye color changes, lashes falling out when you stop), I'm honestly terrified to put anything "growth" near my eyes. Can you tell me more about what's actually in this one?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Deborah Frankel · 1 month ago

Hi Deborah. Your fear makes sense. The scary side effects you're reading about come from prescription lash serums. GraceLash is NOT a lash serum. It's a tubing mascara with conditioners built in. A peptide, biotin, castor oil and Korean ginseng. The kind of things that feed your lashes a bit while you wear it, nothing hormonal, none of the heavy ingredients you're worried about. I've used it for almost a year. After about two months my lashes looked less starved than they had been. A bit more body. A bit darker at the root. I'm not going to pretend I ran a clinical study on my own face. But I noticed it. And I'm still using it.

Diane Sutherland

1 month ago

Slight disagreement on Tarte. I get on with mine fine and I'm 67, the length really is lovely. But you're right about the removal, warm water alone never does it for me either, I always end up reaching for the micellar. Rest of the article was spot on. Ordered GraceLash after reading it, will report back.

Joan Whitley

1 month ago

Susan, what do you use on your lower lash line? Mine were always lighter than my uppers, but now they're basically invisible. I don't want to buy a second mascara if there's a simpler answer. Help?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Joan Whitley · 1 month ago

Hi Joan. Great question, I get this one a lot. No second mascara needed. Same GraceLash tube, different amount. Wipe the wand on a tissue first so there's barely anything on it, then hold it vertically and touch just the tips of the lower lashes. A whisper, that's it. The small wand is why it works down there, it grabs the fine pale ones instead of gluing three together. And since the tube seals the lash instead of sitting wet on it, nothing prints onto the skin under your eye by 3pm, which is what always gave me away with regular mascara on my lowers.

Bonnie Hartman

1 month ago

Loved this mascara breakdown. Any chance you'd do the same for foundation next? I'm 66 and every one I try either settles into every line on my face or turns orange by lunch. I'm so sick of the trial and error. Would trust your picks over anyone's.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Bonnie Hartman · 1 month ago

Hi Bonnie. Foundation is the #1 topic in my inbox right now. I'm halfway through testing 8 of them on myself, and on a few brave friends. Hopefully ready to share in the next few weeks. Hang tight.

Janet Caldwell

2 months ago

Sending this to my sister. She's 68. We both used to love getting ready. We both gave up. Maybe this is the way back in for both of us. Thanks Susan.