In starting Chasing Elixir, my life is now pretty much 90% occupied by thoughts of beauty products.  What will I try next?  What will be the next beauty buzz?  What am I using now?  What have I used before?  It’s a fascinating journey, and I find myself surprised by some of the random thoughts that pop into my head here and there.

Somehow in the last couple of days, I’ve been thinking about my very first beauty experiences.  My obsession with makeup started when I was about 14, and through the years I’ve tried and purchased hundreds of products, most of them I can’t recall.  But what I do remember, is Mascaras.

Mascara is the one item I was always on the hunt for.  Especially with my short Asian lashes – I envy all the models in magazine ads with lush, thick, curvy lashes, and wish that I could have the same.  Clearly I’m not alone – hence the numerous launches of mascaras by cosmetic companies every year, and the billions of dollars pumped into their advertising.

This is the first mascara I’ve ever tried (hold your laughter please, and stop trying to guess my age, if you hadn’t read about it in previous posts):

Just to clarify, this was my mum’s mascara, as like many women, my first beauty experiences were from playing with my mum’s makeup.  I remember thinking how awesome the dial-control system is – not that I ever used anything other then level 10

It made me chuckle a little to see this “innovative” technology back on counters with the launch of Rimmel’s 1-2-3 Looks Mascara, Almay’s One Coat Dial Up Mascara, and Revlon’s Custom Eyes Mascara.

And I even found its TV ad!

The first mascara I purchased was in high school year 9 or 10, when glamorous models dominated the beauty publications. Oh I loved the original supermodels – Naomi, Cindy, Claudia, Christy and the lesser known Karen Mulder. And when Niki Taylor, a model who possessed glamour and girl-next-door looks signed with Covergirl – I literally ran out the door (and then caught 2 buses) to purchase this:

I don’t know if that was the first ever mascara with a curved brush, but I do remember being disappointed that it did not work wonders for my dead straight lashes. But I didn’t care – I had something that Niki Taylor put her name to!

A little further down the tracks, I got into the “trade screts” of makeup artists. I promptly purchased what is supposedly every makeup artist’s essential, Maybelline’s Great Lash Mascara (did nothing for me), and “the makeup of makeup artists” Max Factor’s 2000 Calories Mascara (only clumped my lashes).

The next mascara that got me running out the door to purchase was Prescriptives False Eyelashes Mascara:

I’m pretty certain that the original version of this mascara was in black packaging but the same brush.  It was the first mascara with the “false lash” claim – and I ate it right up.  It occupied the back cover of a Cosmo or Cleo with no model shot, just a massive image of the mascara and its enticing name (much like Clinique ads these days).  It was probably the first sign of me being a future marketer, as I remember marvelling at how such a simple ad could have such a huge effect on me.  I handed over a big $20 note for it shortly after seeing the ad.

Since then, I’ve tried many many more mascaras.  Notable mentions include Maybelline’s Sky High Curves mascara (my favourite whilst working for the L’Oreal group), Lancome mascara of any variant (though I could never muster the nerve to hand over that much cash to purchase one myself), Dejavu Fiberwig (doesn’t always ‘grip’ onto the lashes, but when it does it gives great lengthening effects) and Kiss Me Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara (hard to remove, but my HG mascara).

And of course I have to mention the latest instalment in my mascara journey, and that’s the launch of Face of Australia’s Impact-Curl Mascara (in store mid-March).  Without appearing to use my blog as advertising for my own brand, I do have to say that I have put in hours of research in making it a fantastic mascara that I am happy to use on a daily basis.  As a mascara fanatic, I’m just proud

What are your first makeup memories?  Please share as I find it such an interesting topic!

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