By
Kitty Guo,
a writer at the Strategist covering beauty, fashion, and gifts.
In the summer, I tend to shelve my usual tubing mascaras in favor of waterproof ones that can more easily handle heat, sun, and sweat. (Tubing formulas hang on well enough for everyday use, but easily soften and slide off your lashes in the presence of warm water.) The upside of waterproof mascara, however, is also its downside: Taking it off frequently requires an inordinate amount of scrubbing. My removal technique — dissolving the mascara with a cleansing balm, then going in at least twice with face wash — works reasonably well, but sometimes I’ll still wake up and notice flecks or faint dark rings around my eyes.
So when Lancôme launched a new product called Mascara Melter, I was intrigued. It looks just like a regular tube of mascara, wand and all. You brush it onto your lashes, and the formula — which contains jojoba oil and squalane — is supposed to melt even the hardiest waterproof mascara so that you can rinse it right off. To test that claim, I tried it on three waterproof mascaras that I keep in my makeup kit. Below, my findings.
