What can I say — I love fun little facts about things. So I figured I’ll put up my little mascara and lash trivia collection here. Why not?
- Eugene Rimmel is credited with creating first commercial mascara in 19th century. In some languages rimmel is still the word for mascara.
- Originally mascaras where sold in powder or cake form.
- Modern mascara type was created in 1913 by T.L. Williams. He mixed coal dust with petroleum jelly for his sister Mabel, and later grew the invention into Maybelline.
- While lipstick was the primary makeup item for our grandmothers, according to some polls mascara is the “can’t-live-without” item for the younger generation.
- The search for “mascara” returns 14.9 million pages on Google, 45.9 million pages on yahoo search, and 32000 videos on youtube — which is a fantastic place to search for mascara tips and reviews, by the way.
- Most of the perfect eyelashes you see plastered on magazines and billboards are photoshopped. You can even get some ideas on how it’s done from videos like this. So don’t be too hard on yourself if your eyes don’t look as perfect as Heidi Klum’s. Hers probably don’t either
- Eyelashes are sensitive to the touch, which is why your eyes reflectively close when you first try to apply mascara. It’s a built-in mechanism of eye protection (lashes also protect eyes from dirt going in the eye).
- While in many cultures women attempt to make their lashes look bigger all the time, according to wikipedia, Hadza women pluck them completely!
- Did you know that there is a drug marketed as the solution to growing longer fuller and darker lashes? I don’t know anything about it so consult your doctor for an actual medical advice. All I know is that it exists and it is called Latisse. Marketed by Allergan Inc it was originally designed as a glaucoma drug with longer lushes being an unexpected side effect…
- Mascara is not the only product marketed for the eyelashes. If you dig enough through the beauty offerings you’ll find such products as eyelash conditioner, eyelash stimulator, gels, curlers, extensions, fake lashes and more. It’s never been a better time for batting eyelashes.
- United States Patent 7465114 is a patent for a vibrating mascara applicator. That may seem to be a joke, but did you know that Estee Lauder released just such a vibrating mascara to the market, called TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara? I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s actually getting lots of positive buzz…
See? Little facts can be fun…