Maybelline Sky High Mascara Review: 3 Months In

I bought my first tube of Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High mascara on a whim at a CVS checkout line, mostly because I was out of my usual $27 tube and didn't want to drive across town for it. That was three months ago. I have not repurchased the expensive one since.

I'm not someone who does a full face every day. Most mornings it's tinted moisturizer, brows, and mascara, out the door in under ten minutes. So when a mascara claims it can add length without turning into a spidery mess by 2pm, I take that personally. I wore Sky High almost every single day for three months, through a Florida summer, a friend's outdoor wedding, three gym sessions a week, and one sobbing session during a Pixar movie I will not name. This is what actually happened.

How I Tested It

I wore Sky High five to six days a week for three months, applying it the same way each time: two coats on top, one thin coat on the bottom, using the tapered wand to catch the inner corner lashes I usually skip. No lash primer, no falsies stacked on top, because I wanted to know what the mascara alone could do, not what it could do propped up by three other products.

I tracked three things every few weeks: how long my lashes looked right after application, how the formula held up by the end of a 10 to 12 hour day, and how it came off at night. I also wore it through specific stress tests on purpose, a 90 degree outdoor wedding, hot yoga, and a two-hour movie where I cried more than I'd like to admit.

By week six I had a good baseline. By week twelve I knew whether this was a mascara I'd actually keep buying or one I'd quietly go back to my old prestige brand for. Spoiler: I kept buying it, and I went through two full tubes over the course of the test, replacing the first one right around the eight-week mark like you're supposed to.

The Wand Is Doing Most of the Work

The first thing I noticed wasn't the formula, it was the brush. Sky High uses a slim, slightly curved plastic wand instead of a fat fluffy one. It looks almost too skinny when you pull it out of the tube, like it's not going to grab enough product. But that shape is exactly what lets it get into the inner corners and the tiny lashes near my tear duct that most wands just skip over entirely.

On my top lash line, one swipe from root to tip coats everything without dragging. On my bottom lashes, which are short and sparse, the tip of the wand lets me tap on just the tips without smudging under my eye, which used to be my biggest complaint with fatter brushes.

The one adjustment I had to make was speed. This formula dries fast, faster than the $27 one I switched from, so if I dawdled between the left eye and the right eye, I'd get a slightly uneven finish. Once I got used to working quickly, that stopped being an issue, and now it's second nature, load the wand, do the left eye, do the right eye, done in under a minute.

Length and Volume, Three Months In

The claim on the box is fiber-like length without clumping, and for the first six weeks that held up almost exactly as advertised. My lashes, which are naturally straight and on the shorter side, looked noticeably longer within one coat, and two coats gave me the kind of definition I used to only get from a lash curler plus mascara combo.

By month two I did notice something worth mentioning: the fibers that create that lengthened look can flake slightly by hour eight or nine if I rub my eyes, which I do more than I should during allergy season. It's not dramatic, a light dusting under the eye rather than raccoon smudges, but it's there. Switching to a slightly thinner second coat instead of a heavy one mostly solved it, and by the ten-week mark I'd basically dialed in the right amount of product for a full day without any flaking at all.

Volume-wise, this isn't a dramatic falsies-in-a-tube mascara, and I don't think it's trying to be. It builds naturally. Two coats gave me a full, done look without looking like I was wearing strip lashes to the grocery store. Three coats, which I tried once for a night out, started to edge toward clumpy, so I don't go past two anymore.

How It Held Up at the Wedding and in Hot Yoga

The real test was my friend Casey's outdoor wedding in July, ceremony at 4pm, reception until 10pm, heat index somewhere around 95. I applied Sky High at noon before hair and makeup and didn't touch it up once. By the time we were dancing, it had softened slightly at the outer corners but hadn't smudged under my eyes or transferred onto my cheeks, even with sweat. That's a real win for a drugstore formula in Florida humidity, and it's the single test that convinced me this mascara could handle real life, not just a controlled bathroom mirror.

Hot yoga was a tougher test. After a 75-minute class with heavy sweating, I did get some minor flaking at the lash tips, visible if you looked closely, not visible from a normal conversational distance. It wasn't waterproof, and Maybelline doesn't market it as such, so this tracked with expectations rather than disappointing me. If you're someone who works out daily and wants zero touch-ups, this is the one spot where a waterproof formula would serve you better.

The movie-theater cry test, for what it's worth, went fine. A few tears didn't budge it. It took an actual hand-to-eye rub during the credits to smudge it, which is more than I can say for some mascaras that give up at the first sniffle.

Alternatives I Considered (and Why I Kept Coming Back)

Before Sky High, my go-to was a $27 tube from a prestige brand that I'd been loyal to for almost two years, plus I tried a mid-range $18 option from the drugstore during month one of this test, just to have a fair comparison on hand. Neither one outperformed Sky High enough to justify the price gap, and the $18 one actually clumped more on my second coat, which surprised me given the price.

The $27 prestige tube did hold curl slightly longer, maybe an extra hour or two by the end of a long day, and its formula felt a touch more conditioning on the lashes themselves. But the difference was small enough that I stopped noticing it after the first few weeks of switching, especially once I adjusted my application technique to work with Sky High's faster dry time.

What ultimately settled it for me was cost per wear. A $10 tube that performs at 90 percent of a $27 tube, replaced every three months like it should be, saves real money over a year without asking me to give up much of anything.

What's Actually in the Formula

Sky High is built around what Maybelline calls a fiber-infused formula, tiny plant-based fibers suspended in the mascara that latch onto your natural lashes and physically extend the tip. That's a different mechanism than a straight pigment-and-wax formula, which just coats and darkens what's already there. It's part of why the length looks so immediate, you're not imagining it, there's more lash there by volume, not just more color.

The formula also leans lightweight rather than waxy. I don't get that stiff, crunchy feel by midday that some drugstore mascaras leave, where you can practically hear your lashes when you blink. It stays flexible enough that I can still rub my eyes without feeling like I'm going to snap a lash off, which happened to me more than once with a heavier, waxier formula I used years ago.

Removal and What It Does to Your Lashes Over Time

This is not a waterproof formula, which means regular cleanser and warm water gets most of it off, though I still used a dedicated eye makeup remover most nights because I'm cautious about tugging at my lash line. It comes off without much resistance, no scrubbing required, which matters more than people think, since aggressive rubbing to remove stubborn mascara is a real cause of lash shedding over time.

After three months of near-daily wear, I didn't notice any extra lash breakage or thinning, which was one of my worries going in. My lash line looks the same as it did before I started, just with better mascara technique now, honestly.

It's not trying to be a $40 mascara. It's trying to be the best $10 mascara you can buy, and three months in, I think it actually is.

Who This Is For

If you have straight, shorter lashes and want visible length and separation without a ten-step lash routine, this is a strong everyday pick. It's also a smart choice if you're someone who wears mascara most days and doesn't want to keep replacing a $27 tube every couple months, since mascara should be swapped out roughly every three months anyway for hygiene reasons. At this price, that's an easy habit to keep up.

It's also a good option if you've been layering primer plus mascara plus a separate lengthening coat just to get definition. I stopped doing all of that and just use two coats of this, and my lashes look better, not worse. I also travel a fair amount for work, and a $10 tube means I don't think twice about tossing a half-used one in a hotel trash can if TSA flags my liquids bag, versus feeling like I need to baby a $27 tube through three connecting flights.

Who Should Skip It

If you need a waterproof formula for swimming, intense workouts, or a job that has you crying or sweating for hours at a time, this isn't it, and Maybelline sells a waterproof version of Sky High separately if that's the priority. If you have naturally very long or curly lashes already and just want a light coat of definition, you may find this formula a bit much, it's built for people who want their lashes to do more, not less. And if you're prone to under-eye oiliness by midday regardless of what mascara you wear, know that this formula will show it a little sooner than a waxier, more resistant one would, simply because it's not designed to be heat and oil proof in the first place.