From voluminous to well-defined, here’s an insight into the complex world of mascaras.

Don’t stick to one tube – build up a mascara wardrobe with every lash look you could desire. Sarah-Jane Corfield-Smith shows you how

Finding the perfect mascara can be a little like finding true love. It can lead you to some seriously undesirables that have been the biggest waste of time, but once you find ‘the one’, you feel as though life – and your make-up regime – will never be the same again.

And it’s not only an emotional quest. We’re prepared to invest some serious cash into seeking out our dream lash enhancer. A 2013 survey by US website Mint revealed that mascara is the make-up product we are prepared to spend the most amount of money on year after year. They found that the average US woman splashed out $3,770 (Dh13,835) on mascara in their lifetime. That’s compared to $2,750 on eyeshadow and $1,780 on lipstick. Annually, it’s estimated that a billion mascaras are sold globally. So yes, when it comes to mascaras, there is a lot of business to be had as brands are clocking onto the fact that we’re all on a desperate hunt, are prepared to try out quite a few different types along the way but with the main hope that once we have sourced our dream mascara, we will purchase, re-purchase and never look back.

Which leads to the most important question of all: What makes the perfect mascara? Of course, the formulation is key. You need a fairly fluid consistency so that it can glide through lashes, but it needs to be able to dry fairly quickly so it stays put without smudging – but not so drying that it flakes and crumbles down your cheeks. See? This is why it’s not easy finding the perfect mascara. However, there are limited varieties of mascara ‘juice’ that brands can play around with.

Really, it all comes down to the brush and the bristles on it. This is where brands spend most of their mascara R&D (research and development) money. Chanel spent over five years perfecting the bristle placement, size and shape before launching their first volumising mascara in 2016. And brands have been known to not reveal the exact ergonomics to the whole design team for fear of it being leaked. This is cloak-anddagger stuff indeed.

However, when it comes to the regular consumer, what it means is that different positioning and pattern of bristles will create and determine exactly what type of effect you can achieve. Everyone will always have their personal mascara favourite because our lashes are all different – great news for beauty brands, because it means that at any given time, there will always be a swarm of women still on the hunt for a better mascara than their last.

Read on to discover which brush you need for every look – plus our pick of the best mascaras on the block right now.

Brands have been known to not reveal the brush ergonomics to their whole design team for fear of it being leaked