Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara: An In-Depth Ingredient Review

Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara has been a staple in makeup bags for decades, lauded for its lash-doubling formula and ability to create a full-lash look. This review delves into the ingredients that make this mascara so popular, offering a comprehensive look at their functions and potential concerns.

Key Features and Benefits

The Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara promises several benefits:

• Lash-doubling formula: Glides on smoothly to build great-looking lashes.
• Lash-building brush: Designed for easy application and achieving a full-lash look.
• Hypoallergenic formula: Ophthalmologist tested and safe for contact lens wearers.
• Buildable volume: The small brush is easy to control for buildable volume.
• Curl and Thickness: The curl brush lifts each lash for the perfect curl and thickness.
• Allure Readers' Choice and Best of Beauty Award Winner

Complete Ingredient List

The ingredient list for Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara is as follows:

Aqua/Water/Eau, Cera Alba/Beeswax/Cire D'Abeille, Ozokerite, Shellac, Glyceryl Stearate, Triethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Methylparaben, Quaternium-15, Simethicone, Quaternium-22, Butylparaben. [+/- May Contain/Peut Contenir: CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77491/Iron Oxides, CI 77007 Ultramarines, Mica, CI 77891/Titanium Dioxide, CI 77510/Ferric Ferrocyanide, CI 75470/Carmine, CI 77288/Chromium Oxide Greens, CI 77289/Chromium Hydroxide Green, CI 77742/Manganese Violet].

Detailed Analysis of Ingredients

Base and Solvents

• Aqua/Water/Eau: The most common skincare ingredient. It serves as the primary solvent in the mascara, dissolving and carrying other ingredients. The water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized, ensuring its purity and stability.
• Propylene Glycol: A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products.

Waxes and Thickeners

• Cera Alba/Beeswax/Cire D'Abeille: A natural material produced by honey bees to build their honeycomb. In skincare, it functions as an emollient and thickening agent. It's the yellow, solid stuff that you probably know from beeswax candles.
• Ozokerite: A hydrocarbon wax consisting mainly of saturated straight chain hydrocarbons with C18-90+ carbon chain length.
• Stearic Acid: A common multi-tasker fatty acid.
• Palmitic Acid:
• Glyceryl Stearate: Chemically speaking, it is the attachment of a glycerin molecule to the fatty acid called stearic acid. It can be produced from most vegetable oils (in oils three fatty acid molecules are attached to glycerin instead of just one like here) in a pretty simple, "green" process that is similar to soap making. It's readily biodegradable. It also occurs naturally in our body and is used as a food additive.

Film Formers

• Shellac: A natural resin that forms a film on the lashes, helping to hold the curl and shape.

Emulsifiers

• Sorbitan Sesquioleate: A mainly oil loving molecule that helps water and oil to mix nicely, aka emulsifier. In itself, it can create water-in-oil emulsions (when water droplets are dispersed in oil), but it is used mostly next to water-loving emulsifiers to create nice and smooth oil-in-water creams. It can also function as a wetting and dispersing agent helping insoluble particles such as color pigments or inorganic sunscreens (zinc/titanium dioxide) to disperse nice and even in liquids.

pH Adjusters

• Triethanolamine: It’s a little helper ingredient that helps to set the pH of a cosmetic formulation to be just right. What is true is that if a product contains so-called N-nitrogenating agents (e.g.: preservatives like 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, 5-Bromo-5-Nitro- 1,3-Dioxane or sodium nitrate - so look out for things with nitro, nitra in the name) that together with TEA can form some not nice carcinogenic stuff (that is called nitrosamines). But let’s assume a bad combination of ingredients were used and the nitrosamines formed.

Preservatives

• Methylparaben: The most common type of feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason parabens. Apart from the general controversy around parabens (we wrote about it more here), there is a 2006 in-vitro (made in the lab not on real people) research about methylparaben (MP) showing that when exposed to sunlight, MP treated skin cells suffered more harm than non-MP treated skin cells. The study was not done with real people on real skin but still - using a good sunscreen next to MP containing products is a good idea. (Well, in fact using a sunscreen is always a good idea.
• Butylparaben: Another paraben used as a preservative.
• Quaternium-15: A preservative.

Other Functional Ingredients

• Simethicone: A type of silicone that's used mainly to stop the product from foaming when it's not needed.
• Quaternium-22

Colorants

• CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77491/Iron Oxides: Pigments providing black, brown, and yellow colors.
• CI 77007 Ultramarines: A blue pigment.
• Mica: A mineral that adds shimmer and light-reflecting properties.
• CI 77891/Titanium Dioxide: A white pigment that can also provide opacity.
• CI 77510/Ferric Ferrocyanide: A blue pigment.
• CI 75470/Carmine: A red pigment derived from insects.
• CI 77288/Chromium Oxide Greens: A green pigment.
• CI 77289/Chromium Hydroxide Green: Another green pigment.
• CI 77742/Manganese Violet: A violet pigment.

Application Instructions

To achieve the best results with Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara, follow these steps:

Read also: Classic Mascara, New Hue

1. Hold the custom curl brush at the inside curve to align with the base of lashes.
2. Sweep the lash-building brush from the root to tip of lashes. For a more intense blue color, start with lash primer before applying mascara.
3. Continue building volume until the desired lash look is achieved.
4. Repeat Step 1. until desired lash look is achieved.
5. Do not let mascara dry in between coats.
6. Easily remove mascara with makeup remover.

Safety and Precautions

• To safeguard Maybelline purity, reserve this product for your personal use.
• Treat the applicator with the hygienic care you give your eyes.
• Never apply this product in a moving vehicle.
• Do not dilute mascara with water, saliva, or any other substance.
• Cap tightly after use.
• If change in odor or appearance occurs, discontinue use.
• Do not use this or any other eye cosmetic if your eye is injured, irritated, or infected.

Read also: Tattoo Brow Gel: Does it Work?

Read also: Waterproof Mascara Test: Maybelline Sky High

tags: #maybelline #great #lash #washable #mascara #review

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