The 5 Best Mascaras For Natural-Looking Lashes

Over the past few years, the world of makeup trends has undergone a huge transformation. It's wild to think that only a few years back it was all about the more dramatic the better. Bold smoky eyes, sharp contour — it was all about the dramatic emphasis wherever you could place it on your face, per Allure. Fast-forward to today, and the makeup industry couldn't have strayed further. 

Now, we have the "Glossier girl" or "clean girl" aesthetic to strive for. It's all about looking as natural, minimal, and glowy as possible, per Ipsy. Less is ultimately more, and while makeup once served the purpose of adding as many layers to alter your face as possible, it's not merely a medium used to only slightly improving and effortlessly emphasizing your natural beauty. Of course, everyone is here for the transition, especially since this new era of makeup is more about embracing your appearance and not caking on layers to cover up. While generally, this new look revolves around building the perfect base through your skincare and lightweight glowy makeup products, everything plays a role from your eyebrows to your lashes. 

Eyelashes have arguably undergone the most drastic jump recently. There was a time when influencers were suggesting layering up two false lashes to build as much volume as possible, whereas now it's all about a few brushes of a lightweight mascara. Here are five mascaras that will just give your natural lashes a little extra zhuzh without doing too much.

What better place to start than with a mascara that explains just how natural it is in the name. Perricone MD's No Makeup Mascara is the mascara you need to complete your all-natural look, per Who What Wear. While this mascara isn't entirely clear, it's the closest thing to it. The formula only gives a light brush of color that coats your lashes enough to blacken them, but not enough to add a thick layer to them. 

The best part about Perricone MD's No Makeup Mascara is that it's not only meant to coat your lashes, but also treats them. The entire No Makeup range is infused with skincare, and this mascara contains vitamin E, biotin, avocado oil, and tocotrienols to help your lashes grow over time, per Perricone MD. The brush is uniquely dual-faced, and the fine bristles work to coat each individual lash without adding too thick of a layer. This mascara will darken your lashes, and give them a little extra lift and curl while also keeping them in healthy shape thanks to the biotin.

Any roundup of products dedicated to the natural no-makeup-makeup look simply wouldn't be complete without a Glossier honorable mention. Glossier's Lash Slick Mascara instantly won fans over the second it dropped, as it lived up to its promise of providing a natural look to your lashes, per Byrdie. 

Glossier claims the Lash Slick provides a "baby extensions effect" as it separates and coats your lashes lightly while visibly elongating them. What helps the mascara give your lashes a little extra something without clumping them up is the tiny hair fibers in it that coat your lashes, creating the illusion of more lashes rather than thicker lashes. Byrdie's Senior Editor, Hallie Gould, raved about Lash Slick, "I love this mascara for daytime because not only does it look really natural, but it also literally doesn't budge, which is one of my all-time biggest pet peeves when it comes to most mascaras I try."

Fans also can't get enough of this natural mascara, especially considering how smudge-proof it is, as one user playfully reviewed, "Apart from making your eyelashes POP, it is 100% tears-proof. I was surprised that it lasted all day, even after ugly crying during my therapy session. 100% would recommend to v emotional girls like me," per Glossier.

Tubing mascaras are a unique phenomenon in the beauty world. The name may sound odd, but once you figure out the science behind it, it'll be your new favorite formula. Tubing mascaras work by coating each individual lash in tubes of the mascara formula, at first it may seem like a typical mascara, but when it comes to removal you'll notice that tubing mascaras take a lot less tugging and can simply be removed with hot water, per Marie Claire. Tubing mascaras are especially great because the tube method prevents them from flaking or rubbing off throughout the day. They also happen to be perfect for a natural look.

DHC's Double Protection Mascara has its own huge fan following, as the tubing mascara provides just a tiny bit of tint, volume, and length using the smaller than usual brush size, per Elite Daily. The tubing formula will keep all your natural-looking lashes in place all day long. Take it from Emma Watson, who's a huge fan of the mascara as she raved to Into The Gloss, "The only mascara I use is from DHC ... The DHC mascara only comes off in warm water. So I use it on films because if I'm in a tank or it's raining, then the mascara doesn't run because it won't move in cold water. And the brush is really nice. I swear by it."

One of the easiest ways to cheat your way to more natural-looking lashes is by using a brown mascara. It may seem to go against everything you've ever believed in, but the truth is that brown mascaras can work just as well at darkening your lashes, except they do so in a less harsh way that is guaranteed to create a more natural-looking lash. 

If you're unsure, perhaps you should test the waters by trying out one of the best drugstore mascaras for natural lashes. Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty has been a huge success, always providing high-quality products at an affordable price point. The Flower Beauty Lash Warrior Mascara in Fierce Brown is no exception, per Ipsy. 

The mascara itself has a very buildable formula that allows you to create as natural or as dramatic a lash look as you'd like. The formula also adds clump-free volume and length to your lashes, but the shade Fierce Brown is the star of the show as it is the most natural-looking brown shade of mascara that is closest to real lashes. So a couple of brushes of this will leave your lashes looking lifted and coated while still appearing natural.

It's only right to wrap this list up with the mascara that's been around for the longest. Lancôme has always been praised for its iconic mascara formulas. Their Hypnose mascara has always been a celebrity favorite that's praised by the likes of Gabrielle Union, Sigourney Weaver, and Diane von Fürstenberg, per InStyle. Well, if you're not into all of the dramatic volume the Hypnose mascara creates, then the Lancôme Définicils High Definition Mascara is the one for you. 

There's a reason why this mascara made its way to Allure's "23 Best Mascaras of 2022" list, and that's not the only award it's won. The Définicils High Definition Mascara is all about natural length. It separates your lashes leaving them looking as natural as possible, while still fluffing them up and stretching them out to achieve maximum length, per Lancôme. The brush is covered in grooved bristles that grab your lashes and coat them without piling on an unnecessary amount of product that clumps them together. 

With a cult following, fans can't get enough of this mascara as one user left this rave review, "I've always loved this mascara which remains the benchmark standard in my life. I think it puts all others beneath it in quality and consistency. I love the narrow, long brush which never pulls up too much mascara so it doesn't clump. This is the absolute best mascara in my opinion," per Lancôme.