Mascara is a cosmetic products used by both male and female to make the eye lashes look thicker, longer, and darker. Undoubtedly, mascara is an essential eye makeup and it is very rare to find a person who is not familiar with mascara. Mascara is an important eye makeup item that you must have in your vanity bag or makeup kit. Since the time when mascara was first used, there have been a lot of changes. Now mascara is available in different types and also in a wide variety of shades or colors. Well, mascara has come a long way into positioning itself as one of the best selling cosmetic products of today.
A brief history:
Mascara is not a new product as its history can be traced back in Egypt during 4000 B.C. Also Babylonians, ancient Greeks and Romans used mascara during the ancient time. At that time, some substance made of galena or lead sulfite, malachite, and charcoal or soot was used to darken the lashes, eyebrows, and eyelids.
Earlier mascara was available in the form of a pressed cake and was applied to the lashes with a wetted brush. The principal ingredients for cake mascara were soap and black pigments, measured in equal amounts. This process of applying mascara was a difficult one. Another form of mascara is the cream mascara that came in the form of a lotion. Cream mascara is packed in a tube. To apply it, you need to squeeze the cream mascara to a tiny brush which you can apply it on your eyelashes. Using cream mascara often led to messy makeup preparation. This problem was solved with the invention of the mascara applicator in the 1960s. Mascara was available in a bottle with a grooved application rod which was soon replaced with a brush. Then the liquid mascara form was invented. Liquid mascara comes in a modernized tube. A wand, which is in reality a round brush, is used to pick up just the right amount of mascara. This innovation played a key role in making mascara popular worldwide as an essential eye makeup product.
Basic Ingredients in Mascara:
There are different formulas to make mascaras. Despite the different formulas, the same basic elements are the same – pigmentation, oils, and waxes. For manufacturing mascaras, companies don’t use pigments derived from coal or tar. Natural colors and inorganic pigments are mainly used. Carbon black is the black pigment in most mascara recipes, and iron oxides provide brown colors. In some mascaras, an additional pigment of ultramarine blue is also often used.
As far as oil is concerned, there are different types of oils used for making mascara. Some of the common oils are mineral oils, linseed oil, castor oil, eucalyptus oil, lanolin, oil of turpentine and even sesame oil. Waxes usually used for making mascara are paraffin, carnauba wax, and beeswax. There are also certain formulas where alcohol is also used.
Also there are variations in ingredients depending upon the desired effects of the mascara. For instance, water proof mascaras have ingredients like dodecane that rebuffs water. On the other hand, non water proof mascaras have water-soluble ingredients. Mascaras designed to lengthen or curl the eyelashes often contain nylon or rayon microfibers. Additionally, ceresin, gum tragacanth, and methyl cellulose are regular ingredients used in mascaras.
Which ingredients are used today?
As far as manufacturing of mascara is concerned, there are two main methods of production. Based on the method, ingredients are used. The first type of method is called anhydrous. In this method all waxes, oils, and pigments are mixed, heated, and agitated simultaneously in formulated ratios. Here no water is used. The other method is called emulsion which is bit length. Here first of all water and thickeners are combined. Separately, waxes and emulsifiers are mixed and heated. Pigment is added individually to both mixtures. Finally both the mixtures are combined in a homogenizer to mix the oils, water, waxes, and emulsifiers thoroughly. This results in a semi solid substance.
In addition to the common ingredients used for making mascara, different companies have come up with different formulas for their products. For instance, Avon uses the Lash Fidelity Technology in its Perfect Wear Longlasting Mascara. The key ingredients used in this mascara are special fibers, waxes and polymers.
On the other hand, L’Oreal’s Featherlash Softly Sweeping Mascara, Black makes use of glycerin and vitamin E formula to get the right color shade and high quality.
Maybelline’s Great Lash Waterproof Mascara uses specially-formulated synthetics. This helps in the prevention of moisture attraction to the waterproof mascara.
To conclude, most of the best mascaras available on the market today use all-natural ingredients, and there are some differences in the procedure. More and more research work is going on and soon there will some more ingredients to use and there can be a whole new procedure to make mascara to keep your eyes beautiful and attractive.