Products I Can't Live Without: Take One

A fun game that I like to play is the "If you were stranded on a deserted island. . ." game. Most people play it by asking what person they would want to be stranded with. I play it with products – as in “If you were stranded on a deserted island and could have only two products what would they be?” (Sunscreen does not count, and please do not ask me why you would need products on a deserted island. Clearly you do not get the point.) Without a doubt, one of the two products I would want with me a on a desert island is Shu Eumura Fiber Xtension Mascara .

Although every year my hair gets a shade darker, I am a natural blonde. My eyebrows and eyelashes remain the most obvious evidence of this. Without mascara, I look like a chemo patient wearing a wig. It is the only make up that I actually wear daily. Sadly, every mascara I’ve ever tried has migrated underneath my eyes within a few hours of application, even the waterproof. Having tried virtually every brand (Clinique, Maybelline, Max Factor, Cover Girl, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Mary Kay, Smashbox, Christian Dior, Almay, and Neutrogena) last fall I became determined to find a mascara that did not settle underneath my eyes, but still made my eyelashes look fabulous.

I established a very scientific method for this. Every time I went to Sephora, I used a different mascara on each eye.* I then paid attention to what happened over the course of the day. After several rounds of this, I had two finalists: the Shu Eumura and Fresh Supernova mascara. But after wearing the Shu Eumura on my left eye and the Fresh on my right eye all day - and sleeping in them **- a clear winner emerged. The Shu Eumura lasted an entire day AND night without smudging. It didn't look great in the morning, but there was no smudging. I've been using it ever since, and can only regret that I didn't think to go to the brand of "the perfect eye" before. It’s truly phenomenal, and worth every penny.

Tomorrow, tune in for my other can’t live without it product.

*I went to a Sephora where all the mascaras have the wands cut out. I then used a clean wand for each eye. Not foolproof, I know, but I haven't developed any eye illnesses as a result.
**Do not do this at home. It's bad to sleep in your eye make up.