No7 lift and curl mascara
- Size: 7ml
- Suitable for sensitive eyes: Yes
- Key ingredients: Flax seed extract, jojoba derivative
Available in black and brown, this mascara has been designed to be an everyday essential. While it doesn’t deliver the false-lash effect of the Too Faced better than sex mascara (£25, Boots.com), it does make a dynamic difference in just one swipe.
Formula
Following the latest trend of make-up products that do much more than just conceal and cover natural features, the No7 lift and curl mascara has key ingredients that work to benefit natural lashes from the inside out.
To get into the beauty brains behind it, flax seed extract has been added to help moisturise, smooth and add shine to lashes while creating a biochemical barrier to protect from external damage. Meanwhile, a jojoba derivative helps to penetrate the hair follicles, to strengthen natural lashes and load on extra hydration.
So, it’s safe to say this mascara does much more than just lift and curl.
Design
The packaging of this mascara isn’t our favourite. It doesn’t have the sleek, sexy appeal of the Chanel allure mascara, nor the gilded glamour of the Lancôme lash idôle mascara, named best overall in our mascara guide. But it does stand out from the crowd in a vibrant yellow colour that can easily be spotted in your make-up bag.
It’s also incredibly lightweight, as it’s made from plastic. So be sure to rinse and recycle the parts that you can.
Looking at the wand, its soft synthetic bristles are neither the biggest nor the smallest we’ve seen, sitting somewhere in the middle, packing a punch while still in the realm of natural lashes.
Performance
While most mascaras include the terms ‘lift’ or ‘curl’ in their product names, this No7 mascara definitely delivered on both claims and even lengthened too. But, unlike other mascaras, even though every lash was coated, they were still soft, giving a ‘barely there’ feel our tester fell in love with.
As you can see from the images, there is a noticeable difference between the lashes with and without the mascara, which opens up the eye with a dramatic fluttery lash effect, without looking false. And these results lasted all day, without any annoying speckling of falling mascara residue on the face.
The result
Our favourite thing about this mascara was how weightless it felt when on. In fact, our tester often forgot they were wearing any mascara at all, which is quite the statement from someone who regularly shares their hatred for sticky, clumpy and locked-straight lashes when wearing most mascaras.
It immediately opens up the eye, lifting and curling lashes (as the name claims), while still being soft and flexible in a way many mascaras aren’t. Although one coat is enough to catch every lash, it can be layered for a more emphasised effect too.