Light and perfectly defined lashes, but especially very black, such is the new dress code of the back-to-school mascaras. The lashes are dressed without too much, lash by lash, but the look is intense and deep.

A passion for the dark

Women never have black eyelashes enough! 80% of French women exclusively choose this colour and many brands only offer their mascara in this shade. This autumn, the black increases the tone and becomes a little more radical. With an abyssal intensity, the"black carbon" pigments (always obtained with nanoparticles) light up the eyes. A flood of"blacker, you die" mascaras!"falls on the first day of school: Mascara Le Volume Ultra-Black 90 Black Khôl Chanel (31 €) ; Audacious Mascara Black Satin Nars (26 €) ; Mascara Volume Million L'Oréal Extra-Black L'Oréal Paris (13,30 €) ; Be Long Mascara 01 Intense Black Clarins (26,90 €) ; Mascara Extra Lash Sculpting Black Onyx Laura Mercier (27 €) ; Cils Sensational Intense Black Gemey-Maybelline (9,50 €) Mascara Black Ecstasy Giorgio Armani (33,50 €) ; Lash Queen Mascara Perfect Blacks 01 Lasting Black by Helena Rubinstein (34 €). If most are"generalists" who fill, curl and lengthen lashes, some have particularities, such as Yves Rocher's Neo-Smoky Mascara (€19.90, launch price until September 24, 2015: €11.90), a perfect"hybrid" whose 2-in-1 brush makes up lashes as well as eyelids. Another originality: its formula does not use the usual black carbon pigments, but 100% natural vegetable charcoal, blacker than traditional pigments.

Modular volume

The era of the"single-layer mascaras" that fixed and hardened the lashes is over. No more spider's paws, and no more cardboard and agglomerated eyelashes! Today, they are"volumized" very finely. You don't necessarily save time, but the result is more natural, less"charging". The new volume is clean and under control. It is made to measure, by superimposing the layers at will, without making packages. The much softer textures, based on vegetable waxes or acacia gum, can be modulated as desired and coat the lashes passage after passage, without sticking or hardening them. Superimposable, they allow a multitude of applications as well as a fast drying. The care ingredients (moisturizing, fortifying, regenerating…) that soften textures are also in the air of time. As in the new creation Respectissime Mascara Volume by La Roche-Posay (17 €), dedicated to sensitive eyes. Its high tolerance formula based on reconstituted tear fluid contains"lash expanders", light as air, to not weigh the lashes. These hollow polymeric half-spheres of very low density wrap each lash to"inflate" it without stinking it. The brushes (elastomer, fan or with"pimples balconnets" as in the next Mascara Faux-Cils Push-Up Drama by Gemey-Maybelline, due out in November) allow a homogeneous distribution of the product along the entire length of the lash. But the best"ambassador" of this"progressive volume" trend is surely the latest Diorshow Mascara 090 Pro Black (33.50 €). Its microfibers optically reproduce the effect of the eyelash extensions used backstage . Just like the XXL brush, inspired by the toothbrushes with which makeup artists make up eyelashes during fashion shows. A protective ingredient, sericin (a protein isolated from silk) forms a film on the lash and helps smooth it. Finally, last but not least The patented"Air-Lock™" wringer limits air infiltration into the formula to prevent it from drying out.

The importance of the wringer

This small"bottleneck", at the top of the mascara bottle, allows on the one hand to"spin" the brush to avoid excess material (there are more or less powerful, we grant you !), but also to preserve the freshness of the formula by limiting the introduction of air. A crucial point for women because it represents their main source of dissatisfaction towards their mascara. This drying out of the formula over time is of course due to the air entering the bottle as soon as you use your mascara, but also to a mechanical phenomenon: each time the brush is extracted from the bottle, a small quantity of formula rises and accumulates in the neck of the packaging (sometimes forming a ring of hardened material), which hinders its complete closure. Dior's"Air-Lock™" wringer is thus equipped with a longer and wider skirt, ending with a valve. The skirt is a holding area for optimal mascara closure. Twice as long as a conventional wringer, it prevents the texture from rising up to the level of the neck, thus avoiding the accumulation of mascara which hinders hermetism. The valve limits air penetration, it acts as a protective cover, opening after opening.

When sensoriality comes to mascaras

Who says a mascara can't be a hedonist? Not Lancôme in any case, who, with his Mascara Volume Sensation Cashmere (Hypnôse Volume-à-Porter, 29 €) wins the palm of the sensoriality! Subtle perfume of fresh roses, melting cream texture, complex regenerating to the native cells of rose™ and… cherry on the cake, soft lashes to caress, to make velvety butterfly kisses! The touch of the lashes is a new fact to take into account! And the perfume. More and more often scented with floral waters (zone of the glance obliges), the mascaras do not have any more this characteristic odor which was not frankly pleasant ! Some are even the object of a perfume as elaborate as that of a beauty cream. This is the case of the new Volume Effet Faux-Cils Mascara Perfected Formula N°01 Noir Haute Densité by Yves Saint Laurent (32 €). The formula has been enriched with vegetable oils and its fragrance of mandarin, jasmine, violet leaves, sandalwood and vanilla is a real plus! L sensoriality can also come from the eye. Indeed, the mascaras are more and more beautiful to look at, like the Full Lash Volume Mascara, Mascara Regard Tentateur by Shiseido (27 €, early October), with a particularly successful design. The volutes that criss-cross her body evoke the curves of the lashes. Can be reapplied at will, it also uses an innovative pigment (the Black Luminous Pigment ) which amplifies the volume by optical effect. This pigment has a 100% flat surface to reflect the light that comes to rest on the lashes, without any diffraction, thus intensifying its power.

Make-up removal with water…

They may be smudgeproof (resistant to sebum, perspiration and heat), smudgeproof meaning"anti-burrs"), more and more mascaras (Helena Rubinstein, Shiseido) do not require a specific make-up remover and simply remove with water ! In fact, they adapt to each person's habits: micellar water, milk, simple eye make-up remover or two-phase, if desired. Or just warm water, in the shower, like the Asians!

Mascaras top coat

Similar to eyelash tints, Lancôme was the first to offer this type of semi-permanent mascaras (i.e. lasting 2 to 3 days!) last year (Cils Tint Black, 29 €). In September, it's Givenchy's turn to launch his own: Mister Intense Black Mascara Top Coat N°1 Black Vinyl (27 €), an intense black eyelash ink, which sheathes and densifies the look without material effect. For natural lovers who still want to have a keen eye!

Ariane Le Febvre