My Lashes Would Never Hold a Curl, But This French Mascara Changed All That

Whilst I'm lucky to be blessed with long and dark eyelashes, they're also poker straight, which makes it a challenge to find a good mascara that's up to the challenge of not just curling my stubbornly straight lashes, but also holding them in place without drooping. Don't get me wrong, my eyelash curler does a good job at giving my lashes an initial lift, but many curling mascaras I've tried fail to keep them perky past 12 P.M.

I've always considered Lancôme to be the Rolls-Royce of mascaras, and the original Lash Idôle Mascara (£28) is a holy grail amongst many of our team's makeup bags. So when I heard that the French beauty brand was launching the new Lash Idôle Curl Goddess Mascara (£28), I just knew I had to try it. I've been testing it out over the past couple of weeks, and I've got some thoughts on it.

Lancôme Lash Idôle Curl Goddess Mascara

The Brush

The wand has one of the more unusual-shaped brushes I've seen. It has a curved shape with bristles angled at 40° that corkscrew around the brush, which gives it a helix-like appearance. Unlike the classic Idôle mascara, it has a solid brush as opposed to a flexible one, and it has deep reservoirs between the bristles to load on the product and help volumise your lashes as you sweep it through. The tube itself also has an hourglass shape, which is actually really nice to hold. And the brushed rose gold finish? Stunning.

The Formula

This mascara dries pretty quickly, helping to lock your curl into place (big plus). It's also a very volumising formula (Lancôme claims it delivers both a 150% curl boost and up to +800% volume), but miraculously, it doesn't feel heavy on the lashes at all. It feels lightweight, flexible to the touch and fluttery, and I'm happy to report it didn't flake or smudge either, even on my hooded eyes. I find that one coat is more than enough for eye-opening length and volume, but you can get away with a second coat without clumping. It also didn't irritate my watery eyes, making it a great mascara for sensitive eyes, too.

The Result

Before

After

My Verdict

Even as a lover of Lancôme's mascaras, this one exceeded my expectations. My lashes were left with a beautiful curl that lasted all throughout the day without drooping, with plenty of volume and lengthening that really made my lashes pop—they almost touch my brows when I'm wearing it! Miraculously, even though it does all of this, it didn't transfer to my upper lids or flake, either. I'm impressed.

If I had to nit-pick, I'd say it's a bit too volumising for my taste (I'm not usually a volumising mascara gal). But with mascara being so personal to everyone, this might not be a problem for you. It felt light as air on my lashes, and you only need to gently swipe it through your lashes to get an eye-opening result. You can definitely layer up with another coat, but anything more than two may start entering clumping territory. But to be honest, one coat is more than enough for me. Finally, a mascara that actually holds a curl in place.

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How I Tested

I tried the new Lancôme Lash Idôle Curl Goddess Mascara prior to its launch for a fortnight to see how the formula worked. As a beauty editor with straight lashes that don't hold a curl, I evaluated how well it curled and held my lashes in place, as well as noting how well it lengthened and volumised my eyelashes. I wore it every day to see if it smudged or flaked, and experimented with layering a couple of coats to see how it performed.

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At Who What Wear UK, we know that beauty isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our editors have tested thousands of products, including some skincare, makeup, hair and nails, over the years and work closely with trusted experts—dermatologists, make-up artists and leading industry insiders—to ensure every guide is well-researched, inclusive and relevant to you.

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