My new favourite mascara's from... The Body Shop!

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in my house following the crushing disappointment that was Phenomen'Eyes mascara. (And that was just the dog. He really gets very emotionally involved in these hunts for Holy Grail products, bless.) To add insult to injury, my stash of go-to mascaras somehow all curled up and dried at the one time. My trusty Lancome Virtuose, my beloved Diorshow, my YSL Faux Cils, my Clarins Wonder Length, even my No7 Lash 360 and my Benefit Bad Gal in Blue... turned to dust, every shagging last one of them.

Well, not quite to dust. That'd just be weird. They certainly dried up to the point of being entirely redundant, though, so they were about as much use to me as a pile of dust.

Now to really appreciate the enormity of the situation, you should know that I always, always wear mascara. Even on days when I've no plans to leave the house, haven't another scrap of make-up on and am in ancient, paint-spattered O'Neills tracksuit bottoms and a dodgy pink stripy rugby top that I think once belonged to my cousin, planning to paint the kitchen presses or hoover the curtains or whatever. So the loss of the head that The Unthinkable Mascara Tragedy inspired was truly epic.

Just as I was about to fling myself to the floor and assume the foetal position for a spot of keening, I espied what looked like a small tube of mascara peeping out from the depths of a bronze make-up bag that I'd already rummaged through. Hardly daring to hope, I reached in and... yes, SCORE! I'd found a non-Saharafied 2.5ml trial-sized Super Volume Mascara from The Body Shop.

And do you know what? I really like it! So much so that I actually haven't bothered repurchasing any of my other fancypants mascaras. It adds day-appropriate volume to lashes, lengthens, separates, and even manages to get a bit of a curl going too. All without even a hint of clumping, even when adding an extra coat post-work to rev things up a bit. It also gives a nicely glossy finish: it contains community trade marula oil and organic beeswax to condition lashes, both of which are ethically sourced in northern Namibia and Zambia and harvested using traditional methods, providing women in marginalised, rural communities with the opportunity for regular work.

And at €15.40, it's kind to your pocket too.