I’ve made no secret of my love-hate relationship with mascara. My natural eyelashes are pretty short and sparse and I find that even many of the best mascaras tend to smudge on my hooded eyelids. Suffice to say I've been known to skip mascara entirely on most days. When I do opt for a mascara there’s been one brand that I’ve been loyal to for many years. However, it’s my job to test out products, so when I was recently encouraged to branch out of my mascara comfort zone and give the Lancôme mascara offering a run for its money I tentatively agreed. And I have to be honest—I’ve been blown away by the formulations.
Whether you want longer-looking, separated lashes like me, you’re after volume or drama, or you want lift and curl, Lancôme has a mascara that suits. Ahead, my full review of every single Lancôme mascara and my honest review of each.
1. Lancôme Hypnôse Mascara
As someone with quite fragile, sparse lashes I loved how comfortable this formula felt to wear. It’s enriched with ProVitamin B5 and my lashes never felt crispy or brittle when wearing this—no matter how much I layered it up. Although it’s described as a volumising formula, the thing that impresses me most about Hypnôse is the customisable finish. Just one coat gives a fluttery, defined appearance or you can layer it up for a thicker more dramatic lash look.
2. Lancôme Hypnôse Drama Mascara
I’ve never seen a brush like the Hypnôse Drama one—it’s almost like an ‘s’ shape and it has been designed to coat every lash as you wriggle it from root to tip. It definitely took a few tries to get used to it, but once you have there is no denying how good this mascara makes your lashes look. My eyelashes are few and far between but this makes all of them look thicker, fuller, and glossy—perfect for a night out.
3. Lancôme Lash Idôle Mascara
If you love really feathery, fluttery, pretty lashes then you’ll love the Lancôme Lash Idôle mascara which provides just that. I really like the shape of the curved brush which glides through lashes to evenly distribute the formula without any clumping. However, I think my super-short lashes would benefit from some shorter bristles just to make sure every single one was covered. Despite this, the result gives a really wide-eyed, curled lash finish which works for basically every occasion.
4. Lancôme Monsieur Big Mascara
For me personally, this is a night out mascara as it’s so incredibly volumising that I almost feel a bit self-conscious when I’m wearing it. If you love the look of falsies, then this is a great alternative. The soft fibre brush packs on the formulation to boost volume and thickness. My only gripe is that if you apply more than a couple of coats it can start to look a little bit spidery—but that might be because I don’t have an abundance of lashes to coat.
5. Lancôme Defencils Mascara
This is a truly brilliant everyday mascara. I love that the wand isn’t too big—great if you have hooded eyelids like me and are prone to getting in a bit of a mess with application—but it’s perfectly shaped to extend and lengthen each lash. It never looks clumpy, even when I’ve applied multiple coats, it just gives a naturally extended finish with wonderfully separated lashes. I adore it.
6. Lancôme Hypnôse Le 8 Mascara
There have been so many mascaras that I’ve tried in the past that have made my eyes water and by the end of the day they're incredibly sore. This one, however, is wax-free (meaning it’s so easy to remove) and infused with an amino acid-based serum that actually looks after your lashes when it’s on. Not only does it care for them, but it provides an impressive amount of volume and fullness so your lashes look good and feel soft too. Genius.
