Clear Mascara: What It Does and Where It Belongs in Your Regimen

It may seem understated next to pigmented mascara, but clear mascara offers more than it lets on. This lightweight gel shapes, sets, and defines without adding colour, making it a flexible option for lashes, brows, and any areas that benefit from subtle structure. For use outside of lashes, we recommend purchasing a separate tube to avoid cross contamination to the sensitive eye area.

From lifting lashes to smoothing flyaways, this clear gel can give you subtle structure across multiple steps in your grooming routine. Here’s what clear mascara does, how it works, and where it may be of use.

Much like pigmented mascara, clear mascara works by coating and separating each lash, and enhancing the appearance of your natural curl and length. It offers soft definition and lightweight hold, helping lashes stay lifted and groomed throughout the day when used alongside a lash curler, similar to the way hair gel maintains a hairstyle with shine and control. It can also be applied after using an eyelash curler to lock in shape.

But clear mascara doesn’t stop at lashes and brows. It’s a simple product with more uses than you might expect. Here are a few ways it can fit into your routine:

Lash Primer

When used as a primer, clear mascara creates a smooth base that conditions and preps lashes before applying your traditional pigmented mascara.

Eyebrow Grooming

Clear mascara can be applied to the brows to help shape and set hairs in place with a flexible, natural looking hold. It works to tame stray hairs, sculpts your ideal brow shape, and locks in a polished finish that lasts throughout the day.

For Managing Short, Fine Hairs

To tame the short and fine hairs along the hairline, clear mascara can be applied using the attached spoolie brush to smooth, and shape flyaway baby hairs as the finishing touch to a slicked back hairstyle.

Beard Grooming

Clear mascara may also be used to shape and control facial hair, including beards and moustaches. It tames flyaways, defines the natural shape, and adds hold without stiffness. For use in the beard, or any other areas listed above, we recommend using a separate tube to avoid any risk of cross-contamination with the sensitive eye area.

While eyelashes help protect the eye area, they are also delicate. This sensitivity may lead to the belief that clear mascara, or lash products in general, can cause damage. In reality, daily friction from rubbing the eyes, or harshly removing makeup is more likely to contribute to breakage or loss. Clear mascara, when used and removed correctly, is not inherently damaging to the lashes.

There are some important factors to consider when choosing a clear mascara. To help support your lashes, it’s best to choose a nourishing formulation. We also recommend doing a patch test when adding new products to your regimen.

And finally, to help prevent potential damage, it's best to remove all traces of mascara during your PM routine, using a gentle, eye-safe cleanser like our bestselling Squalane Cleanser formulated to effectively cleanse the skin by removing makeup, dirt, and impurities while supporting the skin’s moisture barrier.

If you’re after a natural yet polished look, clear mascara offers subtle definition, flexible hold, and a glossy sheen to eyelashes. It’s also a multitasking staple. A well-formulated clear mascara can offer more than just aesthetic benefits, it can enhance the look of your lashes while also supporting their healthy look. With the right ingredients, it can provide flexible hold and subtle definition, while also conditioning, hydrating, and supporting lashes.