Black Mascara Is Dead | Allure

We’ve all been asked the quintessential beauty-lover question: “What’s the one makeup product you won’t leave the house without applying?” I run everyday errands with nothing but sunscreen on my face, but for anything more involved than a trip to Target, you can pry my black mascara out of my cold, dead right hand (there’s concealer in the left).

I’m lucky to have naturally curled lashes, but I can’t help but feel they look insufficient. My eyes are small, and that has always felt like some kind of beauty deficiency that—according to makeup ads—needs to be remedied with eye-opening, lash-lengthening, illusion-conjuring mascara. When I’m putting together even the most low-key makeup look, I can practically hear my lashes begging for a coat of my least dramatic black mascara; a more elaborate look calls for the longest, thickest lashes possible, and therefore multiple coats of lengthening and volumizing black mascara.

Or does it?

Naturally, TikTok has highlighted what appears to be a rise in former mascara devotees skipping it, self-assuredly assembling makeup looks that put no emphasis on lashes—a trend that’s also made itself apparent on runways, in market trends, and among beauty experts such as editors and makeup artists.

TikTok creator Hailey Drew, known for her “full glam no mascara” look, was one of the trend’s early advocates. In December, she outlined her tips for achieving that look in a video that earned 36,000 likes. “Do your normal makeup, maybe even a cute little shimmery eye… bold brows, complementary colors, of course, and then no mascara,” she said. “I know it seems like something’s missing, but really, it’s chic. It’s giving high fashion.” One of the most popular #nomascara TikToks, with nearly 10 million views, features creator Ava Shaw doing a detailed no-makeup makeup look minus mascara and writing, “Realizing my makeup looks cleaner without mascara.”

And while some fans of the look may be wearing every other type of makeup product for their no-mascara moment, the concept of skipping it falls neatly in line with other less-is-less makeup trends we’ve observed lately, like rejecting undereye concealer and embracing the return of red lips with bare skin. Whether a reflection of full-face exhaustion or simply a shift in tastes, skipping mascara is increasingly popular, even among the very people who know and love mascara for a living; when the Allure staff was asked if they’d changed their mascara habits recently, nearly a dozen editors raised their (virtual) hands.