L'Oréal mascara traces back to a Paris chemist who set out to make hair dye that was safe on skin. This edit lines up the Voluminous family beside Lancôme, IT Cosmetics and a few newer names, all built around a better lash.
L'Oréal Mascara and the Paris Chemist Who Started With Hair Dye
Every L'Oréal mascara you have ever bought goes back to a hair dye. In 1909 a young Paris chemist named Eugène Schueller registered a company to sell dyes that were safe on hair and skin, and he sold them to Parisian hairdressers. The name came from his first formula, and it later became L'Oréal. That is the whole spirit of the brand in one story: a chemist, a lab and a problem to solve, long before makeup came into it. Mascara arrived decades later, and the Voluminous line is now the one most people picture when they think of the black and gold tube. Lash Paradise, for one, launched in spring 2017 as a washable mascara with a wavy brush of more than 200 bristles, floral oils and a fragrance-free formula. That is a lot of engineering for something that lives in a bathroom drawer. The four below are the everyday end of the range: an original with a bushy brush, a paradise, a panorama and a curling extensionist. Read the names as a menu and you have most of what a lash can ask for.
The family at the counter next door
The same company also owns Lancôme, which Armand Petitjean founded in 1935 and which joined L'Oréal in 1964, and IT Cosmetics, which L'Oréal agreed to buy in 2016. That family tree is why grid two feels like a conversation. Définicils is the lengthening mascara, with a flake-free formula that does not clump. Monsieur Big is the volume one, made for up to 24 hours of wear. Lash Idôle Flutter Extension claims up to 75 percent more visible length, and Lancôme's Lash Idôle launched in January 2021. Superhero from IT Cosmetics stretches lashes for a wider, longer, more open look. The founder of IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, started her brand because she could not find makeup that worked for her, and you can feel that in a formula built to stretch and stay. A tip: wiggle any of these at the root before pulling through. It saves the clumps that a fast sweep leaves behind.
Makers with a point of view
Grid three is where founders talk. Victoria Beckham Beauty arrived in September 2019 and added Future Lash, which uses a water-activated removal technology so warm water rinses it off. Saie was founded by Laney Crowell in 2019, and a mascara was among its first products. Westman Atelier is Gucci Westman's line, and the wand has an hourglass shape and a tapered tip to coat lashes one at a time. Chanel's Le Volume uses natural waxes and rapid-drying acacia gum, plus a brush with long and short bristles. What I would skip is layering fresh coats over dry ones from the outer corner in, because it builds up clumps on the tips and leaves the inner lashes bare. Coat the roots first, then brush out only what you need. Westman's own advice is to move the wand from side to side as you go, and it works on all four of these.
What I do at the mirror
I do not think there is one right lash. Some mornings I want the plain black tube, and some evenings I want the fluttery one with the clean removal. What I like about this edit is that it starts with a chemist in 1909 and ends with makers who fuss over a single brush. Pick the tube that matches the face you want to leave the house with, keep a spare in your bag, and replace it when it dries out. A lash is small, so treat it gently when you take it off too. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together A Paris Hair Dye, a Junior Copywriter and Clairol Hair Color at Home and Orange Hair Dye, From Neon Semi Permanents to Copper Permanents.
