There are two kinds of people in this world: those who have cried over mascara at an inopportune moment (a wedding, a job interview, mid-argument with a situationship), and those who are lying.
Let me paint you a scene. It’s 8:45 pm in Dubai. The humidity is currently waging war against my blow-dry. I’m at a dinner in DIFC, where the lighting is designed to make you look like a Renaissance painting – but only if your lashes are actually visible. I reach for my clutch, pull out the Bella Wanderlash, and apply it in the back of a taxi doing 120 down Sheikh Zayed Road.
Thirty seconds later, I look like I’ve just stepped out of a lash bar in SoHo. No mirror. No panic. No little spidery legs creeping towards my brow bone. Just lift. This, darling reader, is not just make-up. This is a micro-holiday for your eyes.
The Genius of “Good Enough”
I met Sabina Ranger – the mastermind behind Bella – at a launch last week, and she immediately struck me as the kind of woman who actually reads the ingredient list on a £9 lip balm. She spent years developing over 50 products in the fast-moving consumer goods sector before she grew bored of “fine”. You know “fine”. It’s the moisturiser that doesn’t break you out but also doesn’t spark joy. It’s the lipstick that fades after the first espresso. Sabina hates “fine”. So, in 2021, she launched Wanderlash.
Here is the plot twist: it’s made in Italy. It’s vegan. It has this curious, futuristic, waved-fibre brush that looks like something Dyson would invent – if Dyson made mascara. The fibres grip your lashes – not like a toxic boyfriend, but like a rock climber. Root to tip. And because this is Dubai, and we do not believe in doing things by halves, the brand also infuses some of its formulas with crushed diamond powder. Yes, diamond. Before you roll your eyes and mutter “influencer nonsense”, hear me out. It doesn’t make you sparkle like a Twilight vampire. It creates a soft glow. It’s the difference between a disco ball and candlelight.
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The Butterfly Effect (Not the Boring Kind)
What hooked me, though, wasn’t the shimmer. It was the ethos. Bella gives 1% of all sales to mental health initiatives via the Bella Fund. Because let’s be honest – how many of us are doom-scrolling at 2 am and buying mascara as a form of therapy? At least this way, the therapy gives something back.
There is a community called the Butterfly Squad. (Cute name, right? Very “main character energy”.) It’s for the girl who wants a luxurious texture but doesn’t want to spend 20 minutes blending her eyeshadow. It’s for the guy who wants a brow gel that stays put through a workout. It’s for anyone who has realised that the “clean girl aesthetic” actually just requires a mascara that doesn’t smudge. And now, the squad is going global. Bella is launching in H&M Beauty and Ulta. You can walk in, grab a liquid lipstick that actually survives a shawarma, and walk out without needing a second mortgage.
The Verdict
Look, I’m a journalist. I’m supposed to be sceptical. I’m supposed to ask, “Do we really need another mascara?” But then I think about the ritual of it. That 30 seconds in the taxi. That moment when you look in the rear-view mirror and think, Oh, there you are. You look awake. You look ready. Beauty isn’t about perfection. It’s about evolution. It’s about ditching heavy, sticky, complicated formulas that weigh you down – literally and metaphorically.
So, if you see me at Coucou later this week, batting my lashes like I have a secret – I do. It’s Italian, it’s diamond-dusted, and it sells two units per second. And for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel the need to filter it. Get the lift. Join the squad. Just try not to look too smug about it.
