Not Black, Not Brown: The “Polarizing” Mascara Color Dua Lipa Inspired Me to Wear All Summer

When Dua Lipa breathes, I pay attention. So when she posts her trademark 20-slide Instagram dumps brimming with the coolest, most trend-inspiring camera roll snaps every week, my fellow editors and I are quick to inspect every detail.

One particular carousel that won’t leave my mind is a summery slideshow of the singer’s brief stay in Hamburg, Germany, which included a few up-close shots of her eyelashes coated in turquoise mascara with a sneaky YSL Beauty tag. Could this be an unreleased iteration of the brand’s lauded Lash Clash Extreme Volume Mascara in a new poolside hue? While I couldn’t find an exact match for the songstress’s mermaid shade on the brand’s site, I couldn’t wait until their mysterious launch to find a lookalike.

“Mascara is a daily staple in most people’s makeup bags and is the easiest step when it comes to eye makeup,” Donni Davy, co-founder of Half Magic and head makeup artist on Euphoria, tells Who What Wear. “Swapping your everyday black mascara with a colored one is literally the easiest way you can experiment with color on your eyes,” she adds. Though Davy doesn’t believe in rules regarding colorplay, she thinks that teal and blue hues look “especially beautiful” on brown eyes, and that turquoise mascara pops the most against deeper skin tones.

Ahead, 6 turquoise mascaras for a pop princess-approved look, plus a few other oceanic shades that feel all too perfect for summer.

The Best Turquoise Mascaras, at a Glance

• Best Overall: Half Magic Eyelectric Extreme Lengthening Mascara
• Best Budget: Colourpop BFF Mascara
• Best Blue: YSL Beauty Lash Clash Extreme Volume Mascara
• Best Volume: Shiseido Controlled Chaos Mascara Ink
• Best Application: Kiko Milano Maxi Mod Colour Mascara

Best Overall: Half Magic Eyelectric Extreme Lengthening Mascara

Best Budget: Colourpop BFF Mascara

Best Blue: YSL Beauty Lash Clash Extreme Volume Mascara

Best Blue, Less Expensive: L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Original Volume-Building Mascara

Best Volume: Shiseido Controlled Chaos Mascara Ink

Best Application: Kiko Milano Maxi Mod Colour Mascara

What to Look For

• Shade: As shown above, there are many different iterations of turquoise mascaras available on the market today. While we wait for Lipa’s shade of choice to see the light of day, you can try teal or turquoise hues like the Colourpop BFF Mascara in Swell Season or opt for a brighter, truer blue with colors like YSL Beauty’s Electric Blue. With the options available, there’s a handful of shades to play around with until you find your preferred color of choice.
• Formula: Just like there are many different color options, each formula brings its own set of benefits to the table. Where some are more pigmented and offer a brighter hue, others are more wearable in everyday life thanks to a natural-looking tint (ahem, the easy-to-wear Half Magic Eyelectric Mascara). Almost every formula above is smudge- and flake-proof, but some are better at holding curl than others (hi, tubing mascaras!). If brighter color is more important to you than 10-hour wear (or vice versa), you can find your perfect match above.
• Price: One of the last, but arguably most important things to keep in mind when shopping for a new mascara, is price. This retro shade finds itself in all corners, with L’Oréal options starting at $9 and Shiseido picks climbing their way to $25. Though these mascaras may lie on either side of the scale, you can rest assured that we’ve picked the best quality formulas from each price range—so no matter your budget, you can experiment with beauty without breaking the bank.

Who Should Wear Turquoise Mascara?

As mentioned before, anyone can wear turquoise mascara—the right hair color, eye color, and skin tone combo does not exist. However, Davy likes the idea of turquoise mascara against deeper eye and skin tones to allow the color to pop.

Another perk regarding colorful mascara is that it might be the simplest way to make your makeup look elevated and interesting. “You don’t have to have precision eyeliner skills or any blending ability whatsoever… you just coat those lashes and go,” Davy quips. “I am all about fun makeup being easy.”

What to Wear with Turquoise Mascara?

If the thought of any sort of blue mascara gives you pause, Davy has a few suggestions for making this statement eye look a bit more subtle (or not—choose your own adventure). “Personally, my favorite way to wear color mascara is to let it really stand out against the other eye makeup that I’m wearing,” she starts. Davy suggests using this mascara with a shifting duo-chrome eye shadow like Half Magic’s Blushing Lizard to draw even more attention to the eye, or to double-down on the turquoise color by adding on swipe of of teal eyeliner or using a matching eye shadow. “I also love how effortless yet striking teal eyeshadow looks when I pair it with glowy skin and literally no other eye makeup,” she adds.

How We Chose

I evaluated the best turquoise mascaras on the market by testing samples of several popular shades and brands myself, wearing the formulas for hours on end in hot and humid conditions to see which provided the best color payoff, staying power, and could effectively hold a curl. Using a discerning eye, I evaluated several other popular turquoise and teal mascara options on the market—researching the formulas, weighing benefits and ingredients, and taking shopper reviews into consideration. I shaped the above list based on real-time testing and research and made sure to include the very same formula Lipa is suspected to be using, just in a different shade, to offer a robust list of options for the colorful mascara-curious.

Why Trust Us

At Who What Wear, we know that beauty isn’t one-size-fits-all. Over the years, our editors have tested thousands of products—including skincare, makeup, haircare, and nails—while also working closely with trusted experts, like renowned dermatologists, celebrity makeup artists, and other leading industry insiders. Together, this ensures every guide is well-researched, inclusive, and relevant to you.

We focus on formulas that deliver, whether they’re affordable favorites or luxury investments. Our product selection is based on tangible results, ingredient know-how, and what we’d truly recommend to our closest friends and family members.