for: Mascara, Algeria Mascara is a cosmetic used to darken, lighten or colour lashes, also it can be used to thicken, lengthen and define eyelashes. Mascara comes in three forms: liquid, cake, and cream. It also comes in many formulas, tints, and colours. The general purpose of mascara is to define, thicken, lengthen, and emphasise lashes.

Mascara is available with tube and wand applicators. Ingredients in mascara include water, wax thickeners, film-formers, and preservatives. Mascara brushes can be straight or curved, to curl eye lashes, with fine or thick bristles. Some mascara wands contain rayon or nylon fibers to lengthen eyelashes.

History

The first mascara product was invented by Eugene Rimmel in the 19th century. The word "rimmel" still means "mascara" in several languages, including Portuguese (rímel), Turkish (rimel), Romanian (rimel), Dutch (rimel), Persian (rimel) etc.

, whose name is a combination of his sister's name and Vaseline, eventually became a leading cosmetics company.

Mascara is used to darken and thicken lashes, and was composed of colorants and carnauba wax. Users wet a brush and rubbed it over the cake, then applied it to the eyes. Mascara is used by women to enhance eyes as well as draw attention to them.

The modern tube and wand applicator was more appealing to the market than the old "cake" mascara. Max Factor was the first to create a mascara with a wand applicator in the product tube, which started the modern mascara products available today.

Composition

Modern mascaras can be divided in two groups: water resistant mascaras (often labeled waterproof) and non-water resistant mascaras.

Water resistant mascaras have a composition based on a volatile solvent (isododecane - an isomer of dodecane), animal-derived waxes (beeswax), vegetal based waxes (carnauba wax, rice bran wax, candelila wax), mineral origin wax (ozokerite, paraffin), pigments (iron oxide, ultramarine) and filmifying polymers. These mascaras do not contain water-sensitive moieties, offering an excellent resistance to tears, sweat or rain. As a result, these mascaras can only be removed with a specific make-up remover, able to dilute the dried mascara film.

Egg whites are often used in colored mascara.

Non water-resistant mascaras are based on water, soft surfactants (like triethanolamine stearate), animal-derived waxes (beeswax), vegetal based waxes (carnauba wax, rice bran wax, candelilla wax), mineral origin waxes (ozokerite, paraffin), pigments (iron oxide, ultramarine), thickening polymers (gum arabic, hydrophobically modified cellulose) and on preservatives. These mascaras can run under the effect of tears, but are easily removed with some soap and water.

Polymers in a water dispersed form (latexes) can bring some level of water resistance to the group of normally non-water resistant mascaras.