I Ditched Mascara for the Summer — and It Was Wonderful

Would it be possible to get through a summer without mascara? (Photo: Getty Images)

The holy makeup trinity is concealer, lipgloss, and mascara. Even if women wear nothing else, that’s the combo many wouldn’t dare go out without. But in the hottest moments of summer, mascara can be a total bummer. Just ask anyone who has popped out of their air-conditioned office at midday to grab a bite, only to come back with unintentional raccoon eyes and wilting, flaking lashes. It made me wonder: Could I get through a summer without mascara? And, if so, would it make my life happier?

I moved from New York City to Dallas recently, and this is my first summer in the smothering Texas heat. Most days it feels too hot to wear clothes or makeup, which has made me seriously revamp both my wardrobe and my summer makeup and skincare routine. And while I love mascara and have always counted it as one of my must-have items, this summer I decided to embrace the idea of paring down my makeup for a fresh, clean, glowing look. Even waterproof mascara still flakes in my eyes in the Dallas heat, and it both feels and looks heavy with lighter summer makeup. So that sticky lash enhancer was one of the first things to go.

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I’m a big devotee of Lancôme’s Hypnôse Volumizing Mascara ($27.50), but the dramatic look it gives my lashes stuck out in a big way when I switched from bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream ($29.50) to the much lighter Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer ($44). It no longer made sense on my face. So instead I opted to highlight my brows with a stronger hue using the classic Anastasia’s Perfect Brow Pencil ($23), and used Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed ($38) on the apples of my cheeks, highlighting the same area that mascara covered but giving my face a different focal point.

At first it felt really strange not to have mascara on — not quite naked, but my eyes looked so different to me, like seeing Taylor Swift without her cat-eye look. But I had to get used to my softer lashes and fuller brow combo look, and the only way to do that was to really commit to wearing my makeup in this strange new configuration.

Related: Better Than Naked: Why Bare-Lid Eye Makeup Is Hot for Summer

I continued curling my lashes, getting them to turn up and pop just like I would before applying mascara, and tried some alternatives ways to highlight them. First was the old standby of mascara primer, which I used simply to help hold them in place. But it didn’t feel clean, like the rest of my makeup, and was instead sticky and kind of odd to wear without finishing with mascara. I realized that, psychologically, to embrace a true mascara-free life, I needed to move on from the tube.

Next up was the Beyoncé-endorsed Rosebud Salve ($6), a.k.a. The Miracle Beauty Product. On the plus side, if you use the original formula from the tin, it’s easy to carry in your purse and use for multiple needs, from glossing your eyelashes (which I tried) and highlighting your cheekbones to smoothing out rough patches of skin. But it does feel a bit sticky on the eyes if your application isn’t perfect (which it often isn’t when you’re out and about and working without a mirror).

Finally I stumbled upon my favorite lash product in Whole Foods: castor oil. This is another miracle product, incidentally, as it’s good for softening both your hair and your skin. And unlike my other two eyelash taming solutions, castor oil was never greasy or sticky, but very natural feeling. It also gave the lids of my eyelids a nice shimmer when I missed the mark a little (but be careful not to get it into any orifices, please).

So that’s become my daytime go-to — and for evenings or occasions when I feel like my lashes need some extra color, I dab some dark brown or black eyeshadow onto the back of my hand and drop a dollop of castor on top of it, mixing the two together to create a tint I can apply to my curled lashes. It’s not super long lasting, but it gives me that extra definition I get from mascara without the extra weight.

In the end, it’s been nice to reconnect with my actual face — sans some of the makeup I thought I needed to be pretty, which eventually became synonymous with looking “like myself.” But as it turns out, I look (and feel) great — and like me — without it, too.