I love coats of glossy black mascara. But this year I picked up a trick from Millie Bobbie Brown’s date night glam that has me questioning it all: Burgundy mascara. When the brown-eyed Brown (ha!) shared “I like the color it brings out in my eyes” about L’Oreal Paris’s Voluminous Original Mascara in Deep Burgundy, I was skeptical it would also work for the the green-eyed me. But I picked up a tube of Benefit Cosmetic’s recently launched Badgal Bang Volumizing Mascara in Wild Plum to put it to the test.
I painted my lashes in 2 layers of deep red waterproof mascara then called celebrity makeup artist Misha Shahzada, whose clients include Brown, Emma Stone, and Maya Rudolph, to better understand why my eyes were looking so sparkly in the new shade. “I’m a huge fan of burgundy mascara,” she said. “I find it very wearable as opposed to other colored mascaras such as blue, it feels just like an elevated brown mascara with a pop.”
And pop my eyes really did. People would remark how nice my makeup or eyes looked on burgundy mascara days without the classic “are you wearing colored mascara?!” that came along with when I wore shades of blue or green.
Janelle Mariss shared on TikTok that her favorite burgundy mascara is also the L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Original Mascara in Deep Burgundy. “Burgundy mascara on brown eyes makes them beam from a mile away,” she says. “If you feel like it’s too much, just do it on only the bottom lashes and it will still make the eyes pop.”
There’s some color theory behind the magic. “I would definitely consider it universal shade for the most part, with the exception of very cool undertones,” Shahzada says. “It compliments many eye colors and skin tones differently. The red undertones in burgundy mascara really help hazel and green eyes stand out, while the purple undertones add depth and richness for brown eyes.”
After wearing burgundy mascara paired with different beauty looks, I’ve concluded I prefer Mariss’s trick of coating just my bottom lashes with the shade—that way I could have the best of both mascara worlds.
