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Method
How we test
One panel, one protocol, one score sheet. Nothing on this site is scored from a press kit or a brand's own before-and-after gallery.
01The panel
Twenty-four volunteers across Britain, aged 22 to 58, recruited without reference to any brand. Each was assigned one serum and used it nightly for twelve weeks — a full lash cycle — without being told which product they had.
02The photographs
Macro photographs at week zero, four, eight and twelve, shot at a fixed distance under the same lighting. Every growth rating on this site is judged from those frames side by side, not self-reported by the tester.
03The diaries
A daily entry covering stinging, redness, watering, lid dryness and any change in lid or iris colour. Two missed nights in a week invalidated that week for the tester.
04The purchase
Every unit was bought at UK retail with our own money — Boots, Superdrug, Cult Beauty, LookFantastic, Amazon UK or direct. No brand supplied product, saw the results early, or was told it was being tested.
The score sheet
Four columns
| Column | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | 50% | Change in length and density between week zero and week twelve, judged from the fixed photographs. |
| Formula | 20% | The full INCI list. Prostaglandin analogues cap this column; peptide, biotin and panthenol complexes are scored on concentration and support. |
| Tolerance | 20% | Reported irritation across the twelve weeks. A withdrawal for irritation costs a product more than a poor growth figure does. |
| Cost | 10% | Pounds per month based on how long a tube actually lasted in daily use — not the shelf price. |
A twelve-week panel of twenty-four people is not a clinical trial and we do not present it as one. It is a consistent, repeatable comparison run under identical conditions, which is more than almost any brand publishes about its own product.
Independence
What we do not do
- We do not accept payment for a position, a badge, or a mention.
- We do not send rankings to brands before publication.
- We do not accept gifted product for anything that appears in a score.
- We do not change a score because a link earns a commission — the scores are set before any link is added.