The secret to your good mascara is all in the chemical mix: pigments such as titanium dioxide and iron oxides to give the color; waxes such as paraffin wax, carnauba wax and beeswax to keep the color attached to your lashes; and oils like castor oil or lanolin to help the pigment coat your lash thickly, and provide some water resistance. Cosmetics manufacturers generally follow the same type of process globally.

Since mascara is applied to your lashes with a bristle brush, its degree of water-resistance might be a deciding factor for someone who would like to spend a day at the beach. Water-resistant mascaras are oil-in-water emulsions and mainly contain waxes of natural and mineral origin, which can resist the penetration of water only to a certain degree. Whereas, water-proof mascaras are water-in-oil emulsions, which contain water rebuffing ingredients like isoparaffins, isododecane, or siloxanes. This acts as a shield against water which gives the required resilience against sweat, tears, and even complete water submersion at the beach!

Did you know that there are people who believe that mascara is made of bat droppings, i.e. guano? This misunderstanding stems from a similarity of words since a crystalline form of ‘guanine’ is used in some mascaras. The FDA and European regulations have actually authorized ‘guanine’, and not ‘guano’, as a colour additive for cosmetics. Colour additives intended as coal-tar hair dyes need to have FDA approval before they go to the market. For example, kohl is a color additive considered illegal in the United States.