Overall Tips

• Get the right color: Most mascara comes in black, though may also come in brown-black and brown. Like your brows, your lashes should be just slightly darker than your natural hair color - for example, if you have light brown hair, your lashes are probably medium to dark brown and your lashes are probably dark brown. Redheads and white-blonds may look better using a brown mascara than black. I actually look like I'm not wearing mascara (just have really nice, thick lashes) when I use brown-black, whereas full-on black mascara looks obviously like "make up" - so black mascara is better for my more dramatic looks, but brown-black is my "everyday" base color. Try different shades of mascara and see which one works best for you.
• Prep your lashes: Just like you have primer for your skin that goes on before your concealer/foundation, and primer for your eyelids that goes on under your eyeshadow, have a primer for your lashes. Urban Decay sells a product called Lingerie and Galoshes for Lashes - a double-ended primer and sealer product. The "lingerie"-primer is applied before your mascara, to prime and separate your lashes. The "galoshes"-sealer is applied after your mascara(s) to waterproof them and seal them for the day. (Since most colored mascaras are not waterproof, this is pretty valuable.) It's $17 for one double-ended tube, so you get enough of each product to use up in a year, which is about the point that the tube should probably be discarded. I like that more than having to purchase the two products separately, and efffectively "throwing out" $17 at the end of the year. I don't know if other cosmetic manufacturers sell something similar; but I use this daily and really like the results.
• Warm it up: Before you apply your mascara, warm up the tube. Place the mascara tube in your pocket - or someplace else it will be close to your body heat - while you go through the rest of your morning routine. When you're ready to apply the mascara, it won't come out of the tube cold, congealed, and clumpy...it will apply smoother. I originally saw this in a tip on Mineral Madness, before they smothered posting about brands other than BE. It's obvious once you think it through...but that's not something that we often do with our makeup routines. I tried this trick with two mascaras that I had almost given up on, because even with the supercalifragilistic magical wonder brush I was still getting clumpy application. This worked a treat. So before you go out and get a new mascara with the Greatest Applicator of All Time...try just warming your mascara before using it. You may save yourself some money. I actually think that while the proper mascara applicator is important, it's only half the equation. Consistency is the other half; and we can control that to a certain extent.)
• Keep it clean(ish): Mascara is a closed, warm, damp environment...bacterial heaven. Every time you use your mascara, you're letting bacteria get into the tube. Even if your eyes are always healthy, microscopic bacteria live on our lashes; plus there's bacteria in the surrounding air. These are both facts of life on planet Earth. (And a hundred germophobes throw out their mascara and reach for the Lysol.) Don't pump the mascara wand into the tube, because that forces more air into the tube. Make sure your tube is always tightly closed, because that both keeps the product from drying out AND prevents more bacteria from getting in. And throw your mascara out after one year minimum, even if you've only opened it once.
• Build it out: You can use a "powder" to thicken your lashes. Just apply your base coat of mascara and before it's totally dry, lightly dust on some mineral veil/mineral skin finish/finishing powder - different companies call it different things, but essentially it's a neutral- or colorless low-shimmer powder, usually with an ingredient like cornstarch. This coat of powder thickens and slightly lengthens your individual lashes. Wait for this layer of mascara-and-powder to dry completely, make sure there's not a whole lot of loose powder on this layer, and apply a second coat of mascara right over it. Instant volume, using something you already had!! (If you've bought more than four Bare Escentuals kits in the last two years...it uses something you probably already had a bit too much of.) You could probably get away with using flour or cornstarch for this, if you don't have jars of mineral veil sitting around.
• Remove it properly: If you use waterproof mascara, remove it at the end of each day. Don't sleep in it, even if you're dead exhausted. Leaving waterproof mascara on your lashes for long periods of time can dry out your lashes and cause breakage - which makes them look thinner, which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve by applying mascara in the first place. Waterproof mascara is definitely good if you live in humid or wet climates...but it is harsh on your lashes. Use a product (like Almay's eye makeup remover) to gently remove your mascara, condition your lashes, and re-set your lashes for the next day's application.
• Know when to say good-bye: Mascara is a bacteria breeding ground, especially tube-mascara. Every time you open your mascara, give a quick sniff and throw it out if it smells bad. Even if there's no bad smell, mascara should be thrown out 6 to 12 months after the first time it's opened - even if you only opened it to test it on the back of your hand. Cake mascara can pick up bacteria from an improperly-cleaned applicator, or from an applicator that's put back onto the cake after touching the lashes. If you use cake mascara, you should probably replace it after 12 to 24 months of the first use. This is perhaps my strongest argument against spending $50 on a tube of mascara unless you know for sure that you will use it all in a year's time: that's a **heck** of a waste of money.

Special Effects

• Colored mascara can be fun...but if you only use it once a month, it can get costly to keep buying (my personal favorite) Urban Decay's Big Fatty colored mascara at $17 a tube, only to use it seven times before throwing it out. Look around for less costly colored mascara, have fun with the surprising colors, and throw out the tubes one year after the date you first opened them.
• There's a trick to applying colored mascara and having it show up well: apply it over a base coat of black mascara. The color will show up much better for being on a dark even base; and you can do things like only applying the color to the tips of your mascara and still have longer, thicker lashes all the way to the lid-line.
• Colored mascara is not the only way to add a little bit of color to your lashes. You can use gel liners, cream shadow bases, even mineral makeup powders. The downside is that you have to figure out a new application method or two. The upside is that, since these color-additives don't have a bacteria-covered applicator reinserted after each use, they can last far longer than the one year's keep time for tube-mascaras. This can mean that while you initially pay $16 to $22 for a pot of brightly-colored cream, you keep it for a much longer period of time. Make Up For Ever's Flash Color pots are particularly good - not only are they amazingly vibrant, they've got great staying power. The brighter gel liners (available from a variety of sources, including Coastal Scents) also make lovely lash-colors that apply easily. I apply these two products by loading the cream onto my index finger, placing the finger just under my lashes...and then blinking.
• Don't ignore the shimmer powders (eye quickies, pigment additives...different companies call them different things.) They're essentially irradiated mica powder, and they can add a subtle flash of brilliant iridescents to your lashes. You can get 1-ounce jars of different mica powders from Coastal Scents - that's a WHOLE LOT. Consider that most MMU pots contain 2% of that amount...and, yeah. That's a whole lot of SFX for less than $7.

This last tip is vitally important: any applicators that you use to apply anything to your lashes should either be the wand that's stored in the mascara tube (which will be thrown away after a year maximum), or should be cleaned after each use. It's possible to clean your MMU eyeshadow brushes only once a week and not have them turn into breeding grounds for bacteria, because they go over the skin of your eyelid and browbone, which are often drier (or at least, much less damp and thus not an attractive a breeding ground for bacteria.) But eyelashes evolved to keep the eyes free of dirt and bacteria. They're a "safety mesh" for your eyes, and so catch all sorts of stuff that can (and will) be fruitful and multiply, given half a chance. Clean any reusable applicators (dry makeup brushes, "brushless wands" or individual mascara wands, your finger) that touch the insides of your lashes after each use using actual brush cleaner. Don't just wipe them off on a damp tissue and call them "clean". Use something with alcohol, to kill any bacteria that may try and start a colony.

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