Disposable Mascara

If you hang onto your mascara until it’s old and clumpy, then 20 lashings for you. Not only is old mascara unsightly and unmanageable, it’s also unhealthy (bacteria breed and cause eye infections).

But don’t cry your eyes out: Disposable mascara just might be the solution to your dilemma. Now, your razor’s not the only thing you can toss into the trash can after a few uses.

Coty’s new Thick ‘n’ Healthy Disposable Mascara includes four plastic mini-mascaras that are interlocked in a package. When one of the mini-mascaras has had it, you slide a fresh one off. A four-pack costs $4.95.

Linda Pena, a sales clerk at Montgomery Ward in Canoga Park, said the product has surprised and delighted customers. Pena uses the product herself. “I always wear mascara, even when I’m at home,” she said. “You know how some mascara is kind of gummy? This isn’t like that. It doesn’t stick, it doesn’t smear, and it stays on longer.

“Sometimes,” Pena said, “I forget to take my mascara off at night because I’m too tired, and when I wake up in the morning it’s still there! And it’s not smeared or anything.”

That may be, but disposable mascara has already triggered feelings of guilt in some women. A Studio City accounts analyst who bought the product because she was leery of makeup-induced eye infections, now complains: “But I can never throw anything away!”