Eyelashes for the Style Essences
(Trick) question: which style essences can rock mascara?
Answer: all of them!
This may be why so many people love mascara—it really can work for everyone.
The Best Lashes for Each Essence
Below are recs for every essence, specifying:
The best vibe/mood of your lashes
The best thickness and length for your upper and lower lashes
Natural
Mood: Effortless and fresh-faced
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Light but defined—just a couple smooth coats. You want to create the effect that the mascara could just be your naturally luscious lashes.
Length: Long. Surprisingly, Natural is most flattered by long lashes, which can communicate fresh-faced, healthy beauty. (Plus, Natural is an elongated essence.) Just make sure the effect is “There’s at least a small chance I was born with these” rather than “I used half the mascara tube for this.”
Lower Lashes
You’ll likely want to avoid lower lash product. Most people’s lower lashes are sparser than their upper, so lower mascara can overpower Natural’s carefree feel. You can also try a gentle swipe or two, with the aim of it not actually looking like makeup.Why Naturals rock mascara: Many makeup products can mimic the look of bare-faced beauty.
For instance, blush can mimic a natural, healthy skin flush.
And mascara can mimic the length and thickness of naturally full lashes.
So Naturals are great in minimalism, but they can also wear a lot of makeup products—as long as the effect is relatively, well, natural.
Naturals’ best look will generally be most similar to the center eye. In the center eye, the lashes have been defined and lengthened, without appearing extreme. It’s conceivable that some people naturally have lashes like this.
The top image works, too, but the lashes don’t feel as “robust” or “strong” (key Natural qualities) as the center image.
In the bottom image, the application feels too thick to be an effortless beauty look.
Ethereal
Mood: Dreamy and otherworldly
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Light. Use a feathery or fluffy application that doesn’t feel weighty or clumpy.
Length: Long. Ethereal is an elongated essence. And long lashes suit Ethereal’s dreamy, fairytale vibe.Lower Lashes
Thickness: Very light. Ethereal dislikes heaviness on the lower lashline.
Length: Long. Again, long lashes feel more fantastical than shorter ones.Why Ethereals rock mascara: Maybe surprisingly, Ethereals are really flattered by mascara. Just like the Ethereal essence, eyelashes are inherently soft, curving, and detailed. So Ethereal benefits from drawing attention to them.
This is a great example of how lashes can be ultra-long yet still feel light-as-air (especially toward the center of the eye).
You can also do long, airy lower lashes—just make sure to use a very light touch.
Ingenue
Mood: Youthful and demure
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Light. Ingenue lashes feel lightweight or fluffy, rather than heavy or clumpy.
Length: Short. Short lashes feel delicate and match the shortness of Ingenue facial features. (Importantly, “short,” just means not much longer than whatever your real lashes are—eyelash trimming is 100% not recommended!)Lower Lashes
Thickness: Light. Gentle lower mascara emphasizes the eye’s rounded shape.
Length: Short. As with the upper lashes, it’s completely ok if your lower lashes are naturally long—you just don’t need to further exaggerate them.Why Ingenues rock mascara: A light mascara coat feels soft and delicate, enhancing Ingenue’s wide-eyed, youthful beauty.
As seen here, Ingenues can do lightweight upper and lower mascara. You don’t need to lengthen your lashes for an Ingenue look.
Classic
Mood: Polished and well-groomed
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Moderate-full. Use several coats to create moderately full upper lashes, avoiding a bold or clumpy feel.
Length: Medium. “Moderation” is a key Classic quality. Upper lashes that feel very short or very long aren’t ideal.Lower Lashes
Thickness: Light. It’s easy for lower lash emphasis to appear intense. A light coat adds the polish that Classic wants, without feeling too extreme.
Length: Short. Since Classic features are defined by their balanced shapes and sizes, and since most people’s lower lashes are pretty inconspicuous, you don’t need to elongate them.Why Classics rock mascara: Applying a moderate amount of mascara creates a formal, polished, balanced Classic feel.
Here the center eye shows great Classic mascara: moderately thick and full, without appearing very short (top eye) or very long (bottom eye). Especially if you naturally have full lashes, Classic lashes can be a bit fuller than this, too (or a bit thinner, if your natural lashes are thinner).
The subtle lower lash coat also suits Classic.
Gamine
Mood: Bold and graphic
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Thick. Fully, spiky mascara brings the boldness that Gamine needs.
Length: Short. Short lashes (or lashes close to your real length—eyelash-trimming is not advised!) fit Gamine’s crisp, fast-paced vibe.Lower Lashes
Thickness: Thick. Your lower lashes don’t need to be as full as your upper, but adding ample all-over mascara helps create impact.
Length: Short. Short and to the point, since Gamine features are (often) short and pointy.Why Gamine rocks mascara: Heavy mascara creates a graphic feel that’s fantastic for Gamine.
Gamine lashes are spiky, thick, and not ultra-long. (You can even make your lower lashes a little thicker and spikier than this, if you like—Gamine is bold!)
Romantic
Mood: Glam and alluring
Romantics are flattered by quite long, moderately-thick upper lashes.
Your lower lashes can be long and moderately-thick, too.
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Moderate-full. Lashes will look fluffy and thickened, without veering into clumpy or spiky. Very thick mascara isn’t ideal, because it can make the lashes all appear to blend together, which feels too blocky and graphic for Romantic’s softness.
Length: Long. Very thick lashes can easily feel bulky. In contrast, very long lashes can still feel soft and glam. So lengthening mascara is awesome for Romantic.Lower Lashes
Thickness: Moderate. You want enough fullness to create a glam, sensual look, but not so much that it feels graphic or harsh.
Length: Long. Long lashes add glamour!Why Romantics rock mascara: The Romantic vibe is made for mascara, since generous lash emphasis adds elaborateness and allure.
Surprisingly, though, Romantic is not the essence that can rock the heaviest lashes. That title goes to:
Dramatic
Romantic Dramatic Megan Fox. Here she looks intrigued about being able to pull off such heavy lashes.
Mood: Striking and intense
Upper Lashes
Thickness: Thick. Dramatics can handle spiky, clumpy, and/or very full mascara. Dramatic mascara can be especially full toward the base of the lashes (even so full and dense that it mimics the look of eyeliner).
Length: Long. Dramatic is an elongated essence. Plus, extra-long lashes are extreme and attention-grabbing.Lower Lashes
Thickness: Thick and dense. Dramatic doesn’t show restraint!
Length: Long. Dramatic is, well, dramatic!Why Dramatics rock mascara: Is it surprising that of all the essences, Dramatics can wear the heaviest mascara?
While there’s definitely exceptions, Dramatics generally pull off the most extreme makeup—after all, Dramatic is flattered by bold, avant-garde styling. And it’s much bolder to emphasize the heck out of your eyelashes than to downplay them.
Romantic Dramatic Classic Demetria McKinney pulls off ultra-long and full lashes.
Quick disclaimer
The above recs are more guidelines than absolute rules.
What’s most important is creating the mood of each essence. And often that will be achieved by following the guidelines for thickness and length.
But there can be exceptions!
For instance, it’s recommended that Naturals use a rather light coat of mascara, to create a natural beauty look.
But if your real lashes are already full (and especially if you also have very full brows), it’s possible that a moderate or even thick coat of mascara can be part of an effortless-appearing, Natural look on your specific face—full lashes may look natural on you.
In summary,
Many people will find the above guidelines helpful for illustrating their most flattering mascara.
But since we all have unique beauty, you may want to tweak the recommendations based on your specific features.
What if your lashes won’t obey?
It’s completely ok if your lashes won’t conform to their recommended length/thickness!
There are so many other makeup products—liner, eyeshadow, highlight, etc.—that you can use to create eye makeup that overall matches and flatters your essences.
What if you’re a blended type?
Here are options for matching your mascara to your blended style type:
Match your mascara to the essence(s) in your eyes—For many people, this may be the most harmonious option. If you’re not sure which essence(s) you have in which facial features, you might also consider:
Match your mascara to your dominant essence—Pretty obvious! If you’re a Romantic Natural Ingenue with mostly Romantic, you can likely pull off glam (long and moderately-thick) Romantic lashes
Experiment with combining elements of two or more essences in your mascara—Alternately, if you’re a Romantic Natural Ingenue with primarily Romantic, you might find that it looks most harmonious to wear lengthening mascara (to flatter Romantic and Natural) applied in a thin coat (to flatter Natural and Ingenue).
What about color?
For best results, match your mascara to your color season!
While black mascara is a typical choice, many people may find that black-brown, brown, or other less-extreme shades are more flattering, depending on their season.
What about false lashes?
Mascara guidelines also apply to falsies! You can use the above thickness, length, and mood recs to select false lashes.
Additional thoughts:
Dramatics will have the easiest time rocking falsies
Romantics can rock false lashes, too, but extremely full falsies may look too dense and severe
For Ethereal, it can be flattering to apply long, delicate falsies, especially to just the outer portion of your lashes—this creates a dreamy vibe that can still feel gentle
Many falsies will look too heavy for Ethereal, Natural, and Ingenue (and often Classic)
Many falsies will feel too long for Gamine and Ingenue (and often Classic)
Where do these recommendations come from?
I made these recs based on a combination of:
Observation—extensively observing what most flatters celebrities and real people with different essence blends
Testing—basically doing virtual draping for eyelashes (comparing the same eye with fuller/thinner, longer/shorter lashes to different styles of clothing and seeing what was most harmonious)
And theory—checking to make sure that my observations and testing fit what we generally know to be true about the style essences
This is also how I make recs for hair, clothing, and other makeup for the essences—through a combo of observation, testing, and theory.
Since ultimately we’re all unique, every recommendation won’t necessarily work for everyone.
But in general, the recommendations can be a great guide to the best elements for your beauty.
