Mascara - how many swipes?

[pippistrelle]

I was on a train yesterday morning and a woman opposite was putting on her make-up. What caught my attention was she had been putting on her mascara for quite a while and, from the point I noticed her, there were easily over a hundred further swipes of mascara. Her lashes looked fine by the time she had finished - not especially heavy or cakey. So I counted my own mascara application this morning - three swishes and done. If I used a hundred strokes, I doubt I'd be able to open my eyes. Is she just using terrible mascara or am I missing out on the art of carefully building my lashes?

How many swishes do you swear by?

Two, one downwards and one up.

Three each side for me
gosh she must have shares in Max Factor

Loads. Rubbish natural eyelashes.

Can you explain what you mean by "downwards" please? Do your coat the top side of your lashes?

Yes I I sort of nearly close that eyelid and sweep down on the top of the eyelashes. Makes a big difference.

Thanks - I'll try it!

The train woman sounds like my DD 14. She puts loads on, she has naturally long lashes, and has had people ask if she is wearing false lashes when it is just hers with loads of mascara. I'm more 2 or 3 swipes.

just keep going until i get the desired effect !

Four to five, I think, but I use tubing mascara and it has a limit in my experience of how much you can add before it starts to do bad things.

6 per eye I think. I have naturally long lashes, but I'm not into the natural look. I love a good smokey eye.

Probably about 8 or 10, but that includes using the end of the wand to get the smaller lashes.
A hundred though? Wow!

Just a couple of swipes but I saw a reel recently where the person demonstrating put her mascara on really slowly and carefully, moving the brush from side to side and making sure each lash was coated. I tried it and makes a difference as I have very long eyelashes but they have thinned over the years.

A hundred though? Wow!

I promise I am not exaggerating. I completely invaded her privacy, and counted. Sneakily though, like a proper commuter should, I'm not a barbarian...

Hi! Maybe what she was likely doing was building very thin layers slowly. Some lighter or drier formulas need more strokes to build intensity, while richer formulas deposit more product quickly (so you need fewer swipes).

One. Benefit roller lash.

I counted today because of this thread. About 60 on each eye

Loads, nowhere near 100 though! They’d be a cakey mess if I tried that! they’d join together and look like one giant stick together lash!
Maybe she was coming to the end of the tube and the mascara was a bit dried out and bit depositing mascara onto the lashes!

What mascara do you use?

In the interests of science, I did four on each eye today and any more and I'd be veering into drag queen territory. But then mine claims to have a false eyelash effect (YSL Faux Cils). I don't think it looks like false eyelashes but just a couple of swipes gives good coverage.

I do “extend” the life of my mascara by adding water to it and ao towards the end it does run thin and i have to apply many times.
but even though it wouldnt be near 40

do you think she might have had a transparent mascara? My very first onewas like this

Proper commuter 🤣🤣🤣😂

I keep going until it looks good .

I have dark eyelashes but it’s 2-3 each side and I’m done. I can never see much difference from using different application techniques with makeup in general though - I always feel like I’m missing something when I try to follow videos. But maybe there’s only so much improvement you can make from a dodgy starting point!

My sister must put on the best part of 100 swipes. And afterwards her lashes look exactly how you would imagine that would look…big, thick, cloggy and clumpy hairy spider legs. She looks so lovely with no or little makeup on but insists on excessive amounts of it because she says she doesn’t feel happy with her appearance without it. She must spend a fortune on mascara.