By Kristin Costin

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if waterproof mascaras are truly more waterproof than washable mascaras. To carry out this experiment, five waterproof mascaras and two washable mascaras were obtained. Seven artificial eyelashes were attached to each of six pieces of filter paper. Each of the mascaras was applied to an individual eyelash. Room temperature water, artificial tears, or salt water were applied to the eyelashes. The eyelashes were then either left untouched to see if they ran without wiping or gently wiped. The filter papers were labeled according to the solution used and if there was wiping.
None of the waterproof or washable mascaras ran in any of the three tests regardless of the solution used. All of the washable mascaras smeared in all of the wipe tests regardless of the solution used. Three of the five waterproof mascaras smeared in all of the wipe tests depending on the solution used. The waterproof mascaras and the washable mascaras both had no running in the "No Wipe" tests. However, the waterproof mascaras proved to be less affected by the solutions than the washable mascaras in the "Wipe" tests.