Refy’s Lash Sculpt Lengthen and Lift Mascara has beauty fans in a frenzy over its strange, curved, comb-like applicator. Although, contrary to popular belief this isn’t the first time a makeup brand has tried to reinvent the mascara wand. After nearly 15 years as a beauty editor, I’ve seen several semi-successful and ill-fated attempts. There was the mascara you pumped. The mascara shaped like a tiny rake. The wand that bent at a 90-degree angle, and another wand that looked like a miniature medieval weapon. Many of these novelties failed to catch on, reminding us that if it ain’t broke and it makes lashes look good, maybe don’t try to fix it. Sure, these companies had good intentions in wanting to make mascara easier to apply, but oftentimes their innovations just made it harder and sometimes even hazardous to your eyeball.
Refy is the most recent brand to try and reimagine the traditional mascara wand, and with thousands of videos and hundreds of thousands of likes on TikTok, its Lash Sculpt Mascara has captured makeup lovers’ attention in a major way. A massive mascara fan—I’ve probably tried a thousand at this point—I’m always up for trying something new and unusual, albeit with a healthy dose of skepticism. I’ve been disappointed by never-seen-before mascaras before. I also typically prefer fluffy wands and volumizing formulas with words like Climax! Drama! and Extreme! in the name.
When I got my hands on the Lash Sculpt Mascara, my first reaction was noticing how thick the tube is. It’s shorter and stockier than most mascaras, which was unexpected seeing as the wand itself is so slim. Also surprising is how little mascara is actually on the wand when you pull it out of the tube. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was completely free of product (I touched it, and unsurprisingly, it’s not). Looking at the wand for the first time, I was immediately reminded of one of my all-time favorite mascaras: Maybelline New York The Falsies Push Up Mascara (which doesn’t have a fluffy brush but does have a hyperbolic name). Launched in 2017, this wand was also shaped like a comb, albeit with longer bristles and a lot less curve to it. The Maybelline Push Up Mascara wand looked like a miniature hairbrush. Refy Lash Sculpt looks more like a lobster claw or a sickle hook. Or as one TikToker seemed to think, like the “Grim Reaper from The Sims”.
According to Refy cofounder Jess Hunt, development of the applicator was two years in the making. “I read every single DM and comment. I don’t think any other product has been requested as highly as this one,” she tells Allure. “The patent-pending applicator has been designed in-house by the Refy team to fit every eye shape and each bristle on the wand has been strategically placed to separate, lift, and lengthen the lashes.”