I would not hesitate to wager that if each woman on the face of this earth had to pick one beauty product it would be mascara. Like my quest for facial cream, I have been on this search lo these many years. I still have not found mascara that gives me 100% satisfaction.

From the beginning of time the focal point of the face has been the eyes. Every movie, magazine ad, etc. has always depicted women with perfectly made up eyelashes -- I have long envied Madonna's, Cher's -- when she had her TV show -- and even Tammy Faye Bakker's on a good day. Either their make-up artists have discovered the mystery to the look of perfect lashes or they are super airbrushed. I have tried eyelash curlers, brushes, curling irons, eyelash combs, and even considered an eyelash dye job to get the same effect to no avail. Fake eyelashes? Get back to me on that, I still need more practice.

Thankfully, I have been blessed with naturally strong and "normal" length eyelashes. Growing up I used whatever brand of mascara my friends were using at the time. The longer the better. The thicker the better. Naturally, this leads to the more the better. More is always better in my book, so I am looking for the "lengthening," the "smudgeproof," the "thickening," and the "high definition" (what is this a TV?) all in one wand. I am as aware as you are that not one single manufacturer makes one tube to include all this and they probably never will -- surprise, surprise. Now, I'm not going to go through and rate every single mascara on the market; I'll just give you a taste.

In the past couple of years I have noticed a lot of my friends using "the pink stuff," which I have tried and despise. You know the one -- "Great Lash" -- a.k.a. the "pink stuff" from Maybelline. "Hated it!" Let's start with the brush. The actual brush at the end of the wand looks like it was made to coat the eyelashes of my Raggedy Anne doll and there never looks like there's any mascara even on the wand. By the time I think I have enough on it, five minutes have gone by. Sorry, but I don't want to spend that much time doing my mascara unless I can see the results. And have you ever tried to remove it at the end of the night? Forget it. When they say "waterproof" they mean it. It doesn't even make your lashes long or thickened, just stubby and frayed. What is the deal with this stuff and why is there such a cult following for this pink tube? Now don't get me wrong, I don't have the answer to this problem but I have a temporary solution and I am hoping that someone out there can shed some light on this.

Feeling confidant about my trysts with the department stores, I have been confidently buying most of my products there, including mascara. Of course I consulted my "Bible" (i.e. fashion mags) before I left the house, even ripping pages out to take with me so I would not make a mistake. The following are the ones I've tried in the last six months.

1. Clinique's Gentle Waterproof -- My feeling for their mascara is the same feeling I have about their whole line of make-up -- it's for people who don't normally wear make-up. I like their stuff, but the majority of the time in my life I feel like I want to look like a rock star. When I was little I would have done anything to have been a Solid Gold Dancer, or at least look like one. Since the rock star thing didn't really work out, I still have to do what I can to partially live out my dream. Clinique's make-up is made well and they have great natural colors, but that's just it. When I wear make-up I want people to be able to tell that I have a little on. So I rate their mascara as one step above "the pink stuff."

2. Definicils mascara from Lancome--Liked it a lot. The brush was the right size (not perfect but deal-able) and it coated the lashes nicely, lasting almost all day without completely coming off. I rate this as the middle best of the three.

3. Lastly we have Shiseido's Optimal Volume. Now this one is a little strange. It is gel-based -- which your everyday mascara is not -- the consistency smoother than others. It coated my lashes nicely and separated them while making them longer. I really saw a difference with this one. It glided on and I felt that it uniformly covered the lashes without skipping areas.

Like every product, it depends on what "look" you're going for. But for my purposes, as described above, I pick the Optimal Volume. For those of you who can't give up "Mr. Pink," or don't want to waste what you have left, you can always go for the "I've been up all night because I am a rock n' roll maven" look. Start with two or three coats of the Optimal Volume and a good coat -- ten minutes worth of pumping should suffice -- of "the pink stuff" so it will run and flake off over time, giving you that "bed-head," or in this case "bed-eye," look.

GRIPE OF THE MONTH: Sorry, has to go to Sephora again. They no longer have the "exchange" program where you can take back make-up items from certain lines (which they carry) that you don't like and get store credit. In the old days -- well a year ago anyway -- I found out that they had this program. I went through my make-up box to search out what I did not like, was sick of or just didn't want, and brought a bag of stuff back for exchange. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not that cheap (my father takes that cake) I just like a bargain when I can get it. After a couple of times doing this, they stopped honoring this policy. I was afraid my picture would be posted in the front of the store, "NO MORE RETURNS, CYBELE." Yes, Sephora is the best for the one-stop-shop and who knows, maybe they will start a new policy of "buy one lipstick and get three free." I can always dream can't I?

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--Cybele Parsignault

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