I must have mascara. Must. I've got very fair, fine lashes, though they're long, and they simply disappear if they're not touched up.
For years, I used the pink & green Maybelline, until the year when I developed an allergy to lanolin and any chemical in makeup that ends in the word "lanolate."
Now I use Physician's Formula. It's fine but not waterproof.
I'd try other mascaras, but it's an expensive hassle -- because first, I have to stand there in Sephora or the drugstore or at the make-up counter at a dept. store squinting at the tiny, tiny print that lists the ingredients. (It's not fun to decipher cosmetic ingredients. They really can't print them small enough.) Sometimes I've bought stuff that doesn't list the ingredient I'm allergic to & I find they've lied, and there must be **something** else in there that my eyes just don't like or else in such a small proportion that they don't technically need to list it.
And yeah, when I lived in the West Village, near Industria Studios (where they do a lot of fashion shoots), I was slightly acquainted with some makeup artists who worked there regularly & would have lunch nearby, and would sometimes run out to a drugstore on 7th Ave when they needed something. Their standby was the pink & green Maybelline. They were brilliant at applying it, though -- just the right amount on the wand, taking their time, being extremely careful, and holding the brush at different angles. This is why they're professionals, though & why they are called "artists."
