Finding your mascara match
With so many mascaras on the market, choosing one can be pretty overwhelming. However, February is the month of love so sit back, relax and allow us to be your mascara matchmaker and help you to find your true mascara soulmate.
Not being able to find ‘Mr Right’ in the mascara world was exactly our problem. I’ll admit, we did have high expectations; we wanted length, volume and an all-day curl without flakes, clumps or smudging. Oh and we wanted it in some super cool packaging that would really catch people’s eye.
After years of being disappointed by mascaras, we spent 2 years researching and developing our own.
Check out CODE VLM’s dating profile below to see if it could be a match for you 😉
CODE Beautiful Volumising, Lengthening Mascara (CODE VLM)
Brush type: Full bristle brush designed with dual length bristles to grab every lash.
Best for: Layering, coating hard-to-reach lashes and giving definition.
Magic ingredient: Nylon 6, super high quality fibres that strenghten your lashes and ensure they stay looking amazing all day with no flakes. You won't even notice they are there as they are mixed into the creamy formula!
Occasion: Every day.
Past lovers notes:
“I have been using this mascara for about 2 years now and can’t fault it. I have finally found the perfect mascara after looking for 30 years!! It’s easy to apply and stays on and my lashes look great. What more can a girl ask for?” – Charlotte Scott, CODE Beautiful customer.
“This mascara is just knock-out-amazing. I’ve been looking for the perfect mascara forever and a day. Tried all the big expensive names and even the cheap high street brands but never found the one that really rocked…until I tried CODE VLM. It’s absolutely amazing!! It lengthens, curls, thickens AND doesn’t smudge or flake during the day. If in doubt, check it out. You’ll never buy another mascara once you’ve tried this, it’s fantastic.” – Katherine Hahnenberger, CODE Beautiful customer.
Makeup & Wellbeing
People only wear makeup to cover up blemishes or make them look like someone else, it’s purely skin deep and can be pretty superficial, right? Wrong.
While there have been some wild and unrealistic portrayals of ‘perfect beauty’ in the media over time, there are actually so many positive mental health benefits of putting on makeup that you probably never even realised.
Research has shown that women experience huge emotional and psychological benefits when wearing makeup. This isn’t to say that they feel ‘ugly’ without it or feel forced to wear it, it’s actually the complete opposite.
Makeup can make you feel more positive and strong, it’s more than skin deep, it’s part of who we are as a person and our own wellbeing. We’ve been using makeup to define ourselves for over 30,000 years, so why is it now suddenly being shamed?
Feeling good about your looks can of course give you confidence but beauty routines can lead to so much more than that. Studies have shown the actual ritual of applying makeup can help soothe anxiety, but even makeup itself provides a creative and fun outlet for self-expression that can lift you up during rough times.
Whether you want to apply a full face of makeup or just a swipe of mascara that’ll make you feel like you can tackle the day ahead – that’s okay. Beauty for us, is all about feeling like the best version of you you possibly can.
Whether you use makeup to take back some control, to treat yourself or just to get out of your own head for a bit. It’s such a powerful tool that can help you express your identity and enhance what makes you unique.
Whether you’re a makeup artist or a makeup novice, our products are made for everyone. After all, the way you do, or even don’t do your makeup is one way to help you feel more like yourself in the morning.
The History of Makeup
In 6,000BC the Egyptians were one of the earliest societies to use makeup and would use natural substances such as ground nuts and minerals mixed with animal fat to create products they could apply to their face.
The next movement was the ‘less is more’ approach by the ancient Greeks and Romans, makeup was worn but it was frowned upon so tended to be applied in private. Similarly in the 15th century, there was a huge association with makeup and deception which I guess we could call the ultimate ‘less is more’
Things started to loosen up in the 16th century when Venice became the fashion capital of the world and heavy, bold makeup started to be celebrated rather than frowned upon.
We took a step back in the 19th century when Queen Victoria announced that makeup was vulgar and shouldn’t be worn in public. (eeek!) We weren’t able to shake this view very quickly as in the early 20th century wearing lipstick in particular was still seen as ‘morally questionable’.
In 1913, red lipstick took it’s place as the symbol of strength, power and liberty when members of the Women’s Suffrage Parade wore it during their marches to demand to vote.
By the 1920s we saw the rise of Hollywood glamour and makeup started coming to the masses and ever since we have seen the beauty industry booming thanks to the digital world.
Celebrity and Corporate Backed Beauty Brands VS the Niche Indies
Beauty advertisements tend to follow a simple formula. Find a well-known celebrity prepared to endorse the product, a large sum of cash and a little airbrushing and place the result in a glossy magazine and on the telly. And why not? It works.
Or does it? Mass market beauty brands are still holding on to this tactic and some taking it even further by forming an alliance with celebrities to launch their own line but what does this mean for small, independent brands?
Consumers are always looking for something different, even if it’s just a name on the packaging that makes them feel closer to someone they admire or to make them think they have something in common.
The thing people don’t seem to realise though is, who is actually making all these products? Let’s face it, launching a beauty brand takes time, investment and active participation; 3 things a lot of high profile celebrities don’t have time for. More often than not, it’s the same few private label companies who create these brands with the idea in mind to launch products quickly and cheaply to create some instant cash.
While there are a high number of consumers that are happy to fill their makeup bags this way (Kylie Jenner selling out in minutes is proof of this), there are people out there who want more from their beauty routine.
Luxury consumers are motivated to look much deeper into brands, they aren’t just looking for the latest ‘trendy’ thing, they are on the quest for the perfect product. They want to know what’s in the formula, who’s behind the brand and how it can benefit them.
This is where small, independent, self-made brands come in to play.
Small beauty brands, often run by women, are trying to go up against the Goliaths of an industry that is worth billions with a very limited budget. But they are doing it with a backbone of 5 people versus 50.
It almost seems impossible right? Well it sometimes can be tricky being a ‘David’ in this industry, but we are winning and that’s hugely down to our loyal customer base who keep coming back to us for trusted quality and effortlessly effective products without the fairytales.
By selecting the product we want to formulate and most importantly, why we want to create this product, we’re able to spend the time making sure it’s perfect before we launch it for you. We select products that will solve ours and our friends problems, ones that will fix the challenges we all face in our daily beauty routine.
We might not be able to launch 50 foundation shades, or an entire makeup collection in 12 months, but we can promise you undeniably great formulas made with you in mind, always.
Being an independent brand means there is no pressure on us on how quickly we have to launch a product, or which product we have to launch next. We look at a problem that needs solving, i.e, never being able to find the perfect mascara, and spend as long as it takes researching and developing until we crack the code to that perfect product.
