Want thicker and perfectly feathered lashes that mimic the effect of falsies? The best volumising mascaras are designed to be an easy route to exactly that, without the need for lash glue (or quite as steady a hand for the application).
While lots of the best mascaras on the market focus on boosting volume and claim to deliver a similar level of drama to rival that of the best false eyelashes. "Volumising mascaras represent the holy trinity of mascara needs – thickening, lengthening, and curling lashes," says Dominic Skinner, Global Senior Artist for MAC Cosmetics. "It’s this combination that gives the general appearance of 'volume', whereas other mascaras may only focus on one or two of these attributes."
And so, to whittle down these perfect mascaras that meet all three of the aforementioned criteria, woman&home's beauty team got to testing (and re-testing) dozens of them, bringing you a comprehensive guide to truly the best lash-boosting formulas. Whether you're searching for a new affordable drugstore mascara or want to invest in something luxurious, here are the insights you need to be able to purchase with confidence...
The 12 best volumising mascaras, reviewed by our beauty team
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RRP: £28
This mascara sells once every seven seconds and, having road-tested it on multiple occasions, we totally see why. The hourglass-shaped brush is loaded with bristles and grips onto every lash, pulling them upwards while adding volume and thickness at the base.
While some volumising mascaras tend to weigh lashes down, this one feels lightweight despite its impressive plumping powers. We love it, which is why we deem it the overall best volumiser.
Pros: Buildable, lifting and long-lasting
Cons: A tad pricey; can smudge
RRP: £36
If "French girl lashes" were a thing, then Chanel has bottled precisely that look with this mascara. Delivering plumped-up, voluminous lashes, it creates a chic aesthetic that doesn’t look too "done" or polished. Instead, our lashes were left looking thick, fluttery and loaded with drama. It's one of our picks for the best brown mascaras. The only pitfall we experienced was that it does tend to clump with the first application.
Pros: Great colour payoff, ophthalmologist-tested and buildable
Cons: Can clump; cheaper options are available
RRP: £12.99
Not only is this one of our favourite affordable marscaras on the market, it's the one we deem the overall best L'Oréal mascara, too. With just a few strokes of its fluffy brush, made our tester's short eyelashes much fuller, longer, curlier and more defined. It also applies really smoothly, thanks to its buttery, silky formula and the infusion of floral oil.
Not only that, this affordable buy is also considered a close rival to the results of Too Faced's Better Than Sex mascara – but with a considerably smaller price tag.
Pros: Adds mega volume and length, non-clumping, affordable
Cons: Can flake by the end of the day
RRP: £21
One of the best Rare Beauty products overall, we found that the Perfect Strokes formula is the perfect balance of not too wet, not too dry, plus it's very buildable, lending itself well to both everyday wear and elevated evening looks.
We also loved the design of the wand and how the multi-length brush catches lashes of all lengths, ensuring that they are separated, lengthened and defined. We'd say it's a strong contender for one of the best lengthening mascaras, too.
Pros: Lengthening and volumising; castor oil nourishes lashes
Cons: Can clump as formula nears its end; packaging is easily marked
RRP: £27
You can tell the sort of results this brush will give at first glance. A long-time favourite of many, we love how the super-fine bristles of this best-selling mascara capture every single lash (yes, even those pesky corner ones!). The result is a longer, fuller flutter that’s extremely voluminous.
The downsides to the Benefit They're Real! Mascara? While it is long-wearing, we did find the formula a little hard to remove at times – the toss-up with such a hardy formula. Our advice is to use a heavy-duty eye makeup remover or one of the best cleansing oils.
Pros: Lasts for hours, adds length, separates lashes for a feathered look
Cons: Can be hard to remove
RRP: £31
The narrow and tapered brush of Smokey Eye Mascara is the perfect size to wiggle into the root of your lashes to extend length, as well as separate and add volume – which is great if you don't have lots of natural lashes to work with.
The formula's Kohl pigments also gave our lashes a pitch-black look that makes this mascara, as its name suggests, a perfect pairing for a classic smokey eye. One of our testers with oily skin did find it printed above the lids a little on occasion, but setting the area with translucent powder was an easy fix for this. Overall, it creates a nice touch of volume that's not too over the top.
Pros: Doesn't clump, long-wearing, adds subtle intensity
Cons: May smudge on oily skin; quite pricey
RRP: £10 (£17 for non-members)
We were so impressed by both how buildable this Beauty Pie formula is and how much product saturated the brush after just one dip in the tube. In fact, for some preferences, the amount that coats the brush would be plenty for everyday wear.
This mascara was also very easy to distribute it onto the lashes evenly and layer up without even a hint of clumping – the polar opposite of some of the volumising mascaras that didn't make the cut. We also love that it comes in both black and brown options.
Pros: Nourishing formula, buildable, separates lashes well
Cons: Quite pricey without the membership
RRP: £26
Touted as one of the best mascaras with fibres, this formula also darkens lashes and gives wow-worthy length. What we particularly loved about it while testing is that it is very lightweight and didn't leave our lashes at all crispy.
This mascara also contains hemp-derived cannabis oil to nourish your lashes while you wear it – but don't worry, it contains no THC and isn't psychoactive.
Reasons to buy: Nourishes lashes; fluttery effect with no clumps
Cons: Brush is quite large, might be messy to use
RRP: £33
A fan favourite, we found Diorshow's maxi-sized, chunky brush deposited just the right amount of pigment for a voluminous, fanned-out finish – without any clumps, of course. As well as volumising, it lengthens and curls lashes, too.
In other words, we’d highly recommend this mascara to anyone who has short, straight lashes. If we had to knock a point off anywhere, it would be because the formula dries quickly, which did lead to some flaking during the testing period.
Pros: Curls, lengthens, buildable, great pigment and colour options
Cons: Can dry out easily, pricey
RRP: £26
With a chunky, hourglass-shaped brush, Anastasia Beverly Hills' Lash Brag gave our tester full-bodied lashes that rivalled our favourite falsies. But instead of weighing them down (which wearing false eyelashes can do), this felt ultra-light while we wore it – almost as though we weren't wearing any mascara at all, in fact.
We did have one quibble with this mascara: despite its overall greatness, we did find that the formula started to flake and transfer a bit by the end of the day.
Pros: Buildable, doesn't clump, lightweight, ophthalmologist tested
Cons: Can transfer with time
RRP: £34
Prepare to fall head over heels for Guerlain’s super luxurious volumising mascara: Noir G. This is a total game-changer – and we don't use that term lightly – with ebony and midnight blue pigments, the lash-lifting formula creates a full fringe of intensely dark lashes.
Equally important to mention, in our opinion, is that we found it manages to do all this without clumping or transferring – plus, its curved brush is a dream to use.
Pros: Impressive staying power, curls, volumises
Cons: Expensive
RRP: £18
The first time we tested this Sculpted by Aimee number, we found its creamy texture glides on effortlessly and that it delivers ultra-black pigments that give lashes richness and depth. In fact, our tester continued to use it as one of her go-to mascaras since then. Laced with nourishing vitamin B5, it is designed to condition and strengthen them, too.
As for the actual wand and brush, it has a curved shape that fits into the root of the lashes and captures every hair; we loved the way it grabbed onto hard-to-reach corners with ease.
Pros: Vitamin B5, lengthening, lightweight and buildable formula
Cons: Can clump
How we tested the best volumising mascaras
A selection of best volumising mascaras we tested
In order to write in-depth reviews of the products that are truly the very best volumising mascaras, our testers tried several dozen formulas with various different mascara brush types from brands that span all price points, drawing on our years of beauty testing experience.
During this time period, woman&home's testers wore each formula on more than one occasion so that they could thoroughly assess its capabilities. To achieve high marks, the mascara had to tick several of our beauty boxes, and so all of the following factors were all taken into consideration.
- Packaging
- Consistency and wet/dryness of formula
- Any beneficial ingredients (like fatty acids and vitamin E)
- Brush shape, size and material
- Ease of application
- Whether it clumped, flaked or smudged
- How the results looked immediately after applying
- How well it lasted
- Colours available
- Price
How to choose the best volumising mascara for you
To help you find your very best mascara match, there are a couple of different factors that should be taken into account. Some of the industry's leading makeup experts have broken these down below.
- Your natural lashes: “Think about your natural lashes and what you would like to add to them,” says Aimee Connolly, makeup artist and founder of Sculpted by Aimee. “If you have naturally straight lashes, look for a mascara that adds volume and curl. If you have a hooded eye shape, consider a waterproof formula so that it won't easily transfer onto your eyelids. And if you have thin lashes, opt for a lightweight formula that isn't too wet to avoid weighing them down.”
- The wand itself: “What you want to look [at] is the wand,” says Skinner. “A comb is going to create a fine, separated lash. A densely compact brush will help add length. However, for volume, a rubber style brush will drop a generous amount of mascara to the lash base as it spreads it through the length of your lash while keeping everything separated.” This results in a dramatic, chunky look that perfectly complements full glam faces and moodier spring makeup looks alike.
How to apply the best volumising mascaras
In terms of getting the best results from your new mascara, Skinner advises: "Think about how you add volume to your hair – it’s all about the root. So, start by building up the product in the root of your lashes before drawing the mascara through to the tips, in an upward motion. A little side-to-side, zig-zag wiggle will give a 'back combed' effect to help support the fuller lash look you want."
“Don’t forget your bottom lashes,” Connolly adds. “If you add a lot of volume to your top lashes, it's a good idea to balance the eyes by applying a light layer to the bottom lashes, too.”
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