Emergency. I left my new purse at work, with my mascara in it.

So I need a cheap tube to get me through the weekend. I have tom work tonight and tomorrow, and I can't POSSIBLY work and go out without mascara.

No, really. I look like a startled Child of the Damned.

Try Jane Hi-Fibre.

Good to know. My regular is a new tube of Lancome, which I haven't been able to afford in a while, so I'm kind of cosmetically irked.

I'm glad the subject of mascara has come up. I've never been able to find a mascara I liked; I've got reasonably long but very sparse eyelashes, so I need something more with the thickening and not so much with the lengthening. Mascara is my OTCosmetic, so I'm willing to shell out the dough if necessary. Something not tested on animals is pretty much my only non-negotiable point.

I've never been able to find a mascara I liked; I've got reasonably long but very sparse eyelashes, so I need something more with the thickening and not so much with the lengthening.

What all have you tried, to narrow things down? Sadly, the Tony & Tina stuff I adored went away when the brand did. Vincent Longo The Curl is pretty good, but I haven't checked its cruelty status, because I suck.

I've gone from L'Oreal super-pricey stuff to Wet'n'Wild with equal dissatisfaction.

I haven't tried department-store cosmetic department stuff, though, because I'm never sure where to start. Clinique? MAC? I have no idea.

Jen, is there a Sephora you can get to? Because they'd find you the perfect mascara in a heartbeat.

Bobbi Brown mascara sucks. I don't know anyone who loves Clinique, I've never tried MAC.

I usually go for lengthening, so not sure about thickening. I didn't love Clarins mascara; I've heard good things about Chanel and Shiseido.

Shiseido was the worst mascara I ever used.

MAC varies. Some is good, some sucks.

I bought Bobbi Brown's waterproof for an outdoor wedding. It was AWFUL. Thick and sticky and clumpy.