The New Ciaté Triple Shot Mascara Is A Lash-Boosting Shot Caller

In the realm of fantasy fiction and film, magic rarely transpires without the deft waving of a powerful wand. Cinderella’s fairy godmother relied on a magical wand she activated with the phrase “Bibbidy-Bobbidy-Boo,” thereby outfitting the future princess with her famous carriage, ballroom dress, and glass slippers. Professor Albus Dumbledore wielded the Elder Wand during his time as the headmaster of Hogwarts. The Blue Fairy transformed Pinocchio into a real-life boy with the help of her handy wand. Even villains turned to wands to serve their own sinister purposes: Loki had the mind-controlling Chitauri Scepter, with its ominous blue gem tucked in between lethal-looking blades, while the raven-loving Maleficent had a scepter tipped with a golden orb.

In the world of beauty, wands are also quite powerful instruments — especially when it comes to mascara. And, if, as they say in Harry Potter, “the wand chooses the wizard,” then I dare say that the wand in the Ciaté Triple Shot Mascara ($22 at Sephora.com) has selected me — or, at least, the wand in my particular tube seeing as there are millions of these mascaras tucked inside women’s makeup bags and vanity tables, with a new tube being purchased every two minutes at a Sephora store around the globe.

So what’s so spellbinding about this mascara? Well, it manages to multi-task effectively, so that it lifts, curls, plumps, lengthens, separates, and intensifies lashes all in one fell swoop. The mascara’s wand and— most importantly, its brush —can be credited with this feat. First, the brush features comb-like bristles rather than fibers and these allow for grater precision when applying the jet black pigment to lashes. Second, the brush head has a subtle domed shape, with the base of the brush being significantly wider than the tip. Third, and most importantly, the rows of comb-like bristles are placed in a starfish-like formation along the perimeter of the brush, and there are significantly less of these firm prongs on the brush’s surface than you’d find in most brushes. Why bet on fewer bristles? Well, because this design allows for any excess formula to seep into the crevices in between bristles, thereby allowing the color to transfer onto lashes with greater ease.

The key to using this mascara (and, frankly, this is a useful tip when using any mascara!) is to align the wand with your lashes, then press the wand against the roots of your lashes, wiggling the wand ever so gently to ensure that the color between those bristles transfers completely to your hairs, then gently gliding the wand upwards to distribute the color from the roots of lashes to the tips. With one coat, you’ll notice a remarkable difference — with two coats, you’ll feel as fierce as if you were wearing false lashes!

I’m normally weary of mascaras that make too many promises, but this one really does deliver on all fronts. Because of the comb-like configuration of the bristles and their ingenious placement, it’s also easy to keep applying coats without any clumping ensuing.

Check out some photos of my lashes before applying the Ciaté Triple Shot Mascara:

And now, behold the transformation after applying the mascara:

Insane, right? I’m officially declaring this my go-to mascara for Summer 2015. The Ciaté Triple Shot Mascara, then, is a lash-transforming sure shot!