When you take into account concealing, baking, contouring, highlighting and blending, our makeup routines are long enough without adding any additional steps.
Which is why the idea of an eyelash primer has never really appealed to me. I barely have the time in the morning to apply my mascara, let alone a mascara primer.
But the new L'Oréal Paris Paradise Mascara Primer had me intrigued. I am obsessed with the effect their Paradise mascara has on my lashes, and if a primer can boost that effect even further then sign me up.
L'Oréal promise that their primer will not only make your lashes look 'even longer and fuller' when applied under your regular mascara, but it will also help keep your lashes conditioned with its jojoba oil formula.
So I took it off to our beauty booth for a thorough test to see if it's really worth the extra faff in the morning.
Buy now L'Oréal Paris Paradise Mascara Primer, Boots.com, £9.99
I was worried that a primer might give me crusty lashes before I'd even applied mascara. But the formula was actually much lighter than I expected and apart from a slight whiteness to my lashes, I couldn't really feel, or see it.
For a fair test I teamed the primer with the matching L'Oréal Paradise Mascara. I also took a picture the next day of my lashes wearing the same mascara without any primer, to see if there was a visible difference.
The first thing I noticed when comparing was that there was a real noticeable difference in the length of my lashes when I used the primer. Without the primer my lashes were a bit stubby, but with the primer underneath they were literally touching my eyebrows.
As well as a visible difference in length, I also noticed that my mascara stayed on much better with the primer. I'll be honest with you, my Paradise mascara was a bit old and nearing the end of it's life, so by 5pm it had definitely started to leave a few crusty specks on my cheek just because the formula was dried out. But the primer seemed to really revive it and I had zero flaking when I used the two together.
So it turns out an eyelash primer really does work and can not only make a difference to your eyelash length, but the wear time of your mascara as well.
Now will I stop hitting snooze so I have a extra few minutes to apply an mascara primer every single morning? Realistically no. I'll still be rolling out of bed and applying my makeup on the train. But when I'm making an effort, or when I want my eyelashes to touch my eyebrows again, or when my mascara needs replacing and I'm too lazy to go to Boots, L'Oréal's Paradise Mascara Primer will be my saviour.
With thanks to King of the Booth.
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Laura is a former writer for Cosmopolitan UK, covering everything beauty and fashion related and specialises in makeup, plus-size fashion and the world of YouTube. Her favourite pastime is reminding everyone of that one time she met Charlie Hunnam and Jason Momoa. Please don't ask to see the pictures...
