It’s the Becca one, called Ultimate Mascara.

There she is!

I feel like a fool for not realising this was a tubular mascara until now. On the plus and less foolish side, it’s good to know it exists, and is probably the thickest and most ‘classic mascara’ of all the tubular mascaras I’ve tried. (I usually use Clinique Lash Power, which gives a lovely clean, defined look.)

If you’re not sure what tubular mascara is, here’s a (very old, but no less accurate) post on it. It’s all I use now, except at very occasionally when I go for something REAL VOLUME BOOSTING like Lancome Hypnose or CoverGirl Lashblast.

In a clamshell:

• Tubular mascara that has been created specifically to stay put, and was first invented for women living in humid envirnoments. It’s water resistant, essentially. I love it for teary days, or sweaty days, or dancing nights. Actually, I rarely wear any other kind of mascara, so ‘every day’ is probably a more accurate description.
• It is terrific for women who always get drop down, or mascara smudging under the eye, as tubular mascara will offer neither of these “benefits”
• It is removed very easily with warm water and your index finger and thumb, by gently pulling the ‘tubes’ of mascara off the lashes. There is no damage to the lashes, don’t be a dingus!
• If you’re a fan of black, messy eyes when you get out of the shower, you will no longer be granted them as the eyes will be completely clean and free of all mascara when you turn off the taps.

Another new (genuinely new, not just new to me ala the mascara above) product I have been using and am starting to think very highly of is the Ultraceuticals Ultra B2 Hydrating Serum ($79). I fly too much, and have dry skin to begin with, so this has been a wonderful moisturebooster-er under my night cream. It’s a thick, slightly-sticky gel, but it sinks in fast.

Remember: What ever your greatest skin concern is, that’s what your serum should target. Your face creams can be more generic, but the serums can actually DO something. Might be breakouts, redness, hydration, sagging, brightening… depends on your needs. (And yes, you can layer them.)

I’m a big fan of anything with hyaluronic acid in it, (a non-irritating complex sugar found abundantly in our bodies) which is a hydration powerhouse due to its Popeye-style ability to hold 1000x its weight in water… meaning it not only helps boost water levels in your skin, but more crucially, locks it there, so you get smoother, most hydrated skin. It’s also a terrific ‘piggy-back’ ingredient, which is good news when one of the other ingredients needing a ride into the skin is B5 (which is anti-inflammatory… and anti-inflammation is HUGELY important in skincare, especially know that we know how incredibly inflammory (“ageing”) things like eating sugar and the sun and smoking etc are).

But I’m also a fan of lunch, which is what I’m going to make right now.