Anyone who uses mascara hopes for deep black and voluminous eyelashes. Do the products do what they promise? Stiftung Warentest took a close look at 14 mascaras. The testers discovered prohibited ingredients in four.
For many women, mascara has become an integral part of their daily make-up routine, and some men also use it to make their eyelashes appear darker. The price differences are huge: some inks can be bought for a few euros, while others cost many times as much. But how good are the individual products? Do they actually provide more volume and length and is it worth using the more expensive mascara?
Stiftung Warentest took a close look at 14 black volume mascaras. The prices range from 2.04 euros per ten milliliters – up to 58.50 euros. Three inks in the test are waterproof.
Every second mascara does well
The good news: every second mascara scores well in the test, including both cheap and expensive branded products. The cheapest and barely “good” (test score 2.5) is the mascara from “Essence” (I Love Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara). This makes it the price-performance winner in the test.
The waterproof inks, on the other hand, are less convincing. None of them achieve a good test result. Two of the three inks are not really waterproof, as a practical test shows. The third one passes the water test, but delivers rather mediocre make-up results and promises more volume. than she can hold.
Critical substances in four mascaras
Four inks are negative in terms of ingredients. The examiners find prohibited substances in it. Affected are the products “dm Trend it up N ° 1 Mascara” and “Sante Naturkosmetik Classic Volume Black Mascara”. According to the product test, they contain the carcinogenic heavy metal arsenic. In the waterproof inks “Catrice Cosmetics Glam & Doll Volume Mascara Waterproof” and “Essence Volume Hero Mascara Waterproof”, the testers discovered the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon naphthalene, which is suspected of being carcinogenic.
It is possible that the substances got into the inks through contaminated raw materials such as black color pigments.
No health hazard
Traces of these substances are tolerated in cosmetics by the EU Cosmetics Regulation. There are also guide values for arsenic which should not be exceeded. “The arsenic content we have proven was higher,” said study director Thomas Koppmann from Warentest. “We also found more than just traces of naphthalene.”
Since mascara is only applied to the eyelashes and hardly comes into contact with the skin, there is no health risk for users according to the product test. This also ensures that the four mascaras do not fail the test. Warentest rated it as “sufficient”.
