Mascara dupes: Lancôme formulas under the L'Oréal label
L'Oréal owns Lancôme, and the labels show it: Lash Idôle and Voluminous Panorama open with the same fifteen ingredients in the same order, Monsieur Big and Lash Paradise with the same fourteen.
What are the best drugstore dupes for Lancôme, Too Faced and Hourglass mascaras?
L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara Primer, about $10.97 ($40.55 / fl oz), against the $30 Lancôme Cils Booster XL Enhancing Lash Primer, 78% less. Same kind of primer, from the company that owns Lancôme: a soft white base of beeswax and carnauba wax with panthenol and acacia gum that coats lashes before the mascara goes on. Lancôme adds rice bran and candelilla waxes and rayon fibers for extra length, while L'Oréal uses a wavy brush with over 200 bristles and adds chamomile extract. About a quarter of the price per ounce.
| Dupe | Instead of | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Lancôme Cils Booster XL, $30 | $10.97 $13.99−78% per oz | Buy |
 | Lancôme Définicils, $34 | $11.97 $14.99−71% per oz | Buy |
 | Lancôme Lash Idôle, $30 | $12.97 $15.99−64% per oz | Buy |
 | Lancôme Hypnôse Drama, $32 | $11.99−61% per oz | Buy |
 | Hourglass Unlocked Mascara, $34 | $13.97−59% per oz | Buy |
 | Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, $25.41 | $10.82 $13.99−53% per oz | Buy |
 | Lancôme Monsieur Big, $30 | $10.97 $13.99−51% per oz | Buy |
 | Tarte Tubing Mascara, $21.81 | $10.82 $13.99−42% per oz | Buy |
1. L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara Primer
for Lancôme Cils Booster XL Enhancing Lash Primer
$10.97 $13.99vs $30−78% per oz
Same kind of primer, from the company that owns Lancôme: a soft white base of beeswax and carnauba wax with panthenol and acacia gum that coats lashes before the mascara goes on.
What it does worse: Lancôme adds rice bran and candelilla waxes and rayon fibers for extra length, while L'Oréal uses a wavy brush with over 200 bristles and adds chamomile extract.
2. L'Oréal Paris Telescopic Original Lengthening Mascara – Blackest Black
for Lancôme Définicils Defining & Lengthening Mascara
$11.97 $14.99vs $34−71% per oz
#3 in Mascara on Amazon
The same lengthening formula from the same group: paraffin, beeswax, carnauba wax and acacia senegal gum held in a stearic and palmitic acid emulsion with triethanolamine, and nine of the first ten ingredients on the two lists are shared, panthenol included further down.
What it does worse: Définicils carries more of the stearic acid and uses a grooved-bristle brush; Telescopic's brush is flexible, with a flat side to lengthen and a comb side to separate, and it adds a film former.
3. L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Panorama Mascara
for Lancôme Lash Idôle
$12.97 $15.99vs $30−64% per oz
#6 in Mascara on Amazon
One formula from one group, L'Oréal, which owns Lancôme: the first fifteen ingredients of both are the same fifteen in the same order, water, propylene glycol, the styrene/acrylates/ammonium methacrylate and polyurethane-35 film formers, beeswax, synthetic fluorphlogopite, glyceryl stearate, cetyl alcohol, PEG-200 glyceryl stearate, the dimer dilinoleate copolymer, carnauba, stearic and palmitic acids, ethylene/VA copolymer and alcohol.
What it does worse: Lancôme adds white tea extract and puts it on a curved wand of 250 micro-bristles that lifts; L'Oréal adds rayon fibers and bamboo extract on a multi-level brush that fans lashes out rather than up.
4. L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Original Mascara – Carbon Black
for Lancôme Hypnôse Drama Extreme Volumizing Mascara
$11.99vs $32−61% per oz
#4 in Mascara on Amazon
Before its 2024 relaunch, Lancôme's published list for Hypnôse Drama started with the same eight ingredients, in the same order, as the US label of Voluminous Original: water, paraffin, potassium cetyl phosphate, beeswax, carnauba wax, acacia senegal gum, cetyl alcohol and glycerin, a wax base both brands take from L'Oréal.
What it does worse: The relaunched version Amazon sells adds a "2% bonding complex" whose full list Lancôme hasn't published where we could read it, and keeps the S-shaped brush, while Voluminous adds silica and fatty alcohols to the base.
5. Milani Highly Rated Lash Extensions Tubing Mascara – Black
for Hourglass Unlocked Instant Extensions Tubing Mascara
$13.97vs $34−59% per oz
The same tubing formula with a few lines swapped: water, the acrylates/ethylhexyl acrylate copolymer that sets into tubes around each lash, glyceryl stearate, glycerin, alcohol, dimethicone, VP/eicosene copolymer, carnauba wax and stearic acid make up nine of the first ten ingredients on both lists, with castor oil and shea butter further down.
What it does worse: Hourglass uses a molded brush, and Milani adds jojoba esters, sunflower and acacia waxes and niacinamide.
6. Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara
for Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
$10.82 $13.99vs $25.41 $29−53% per oz
#1 in Mascara on Amazon
It focuses more on length than on volume.
What it does worse: Two coats give a comparable full-lash look with less clumping. Flexible brush reaches the inner corners.
7. L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara
for Lancôme Monsieur Big Volumizing Mascara
$10.97 $13.99vs $30−51% per oz
#9 in Mascara on Amazon
The same mascara as far as the labels go, both from L'Oréal: the first fourteen ingredients match in order, paraffin, potassium cetyl phosphate, carnauba wax, beeswax and the two film-forming copolymers among them, and every ingredient on Lash Paradise's US label is also on Monsieur Big's.
What it does worse: Monsieur Big adds a silicone, a second film former and two more emulsifiers, and its brush is bigger, with wavy fibers where Lash Paradise uses soft bristles in an hourglass.
8. Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubes Tubing Mascara
for Tarte tartelette tubing mascara
$10.82 $13.99vs $21.81 $28−42% per oz
#10 in Mascara on Amazon
Same technology and the same two conditioners: acrylate film-formers wrap each lash in a tube that won't smudge and comes off in warm water, with shea butter and castor oil on both labels.
What it does worse: Tarte thickens its formula with carnauba wax and stearic acid, while Maybelline is a lighter, wax-free film that lengthens more than it thickens.
How this list was made
The tubing mascaras match on the acrylate film-former that wraps each lash in a tube and comes off in warm water. Better Than Sex is the exception, matched to Sky High on the look rather than the label, and each comparison says which kind of match it is and what the cheaper wand does differently.
