Maybelline Sky Tubes vs. Tarte Tubing Mascara: Is the Splurge Worth It?

This post may contain affiliate links. As always, these are my own opinions and experiences.

Tubing mascara may be one of my favorite beauty inventions for women over 45.

At this point, I want my mascara to stay on my eyelashes, come off without an archaeological excavation around my eyes, and make the lashes I still have look like there are considerably more of them. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently not, because tubing mascaras have gotten very, very good.

I’ve been comparing Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky Tubes Tubing Mascara with Tarte Tartelette Tubing Mascara, and while I think both have their place, I have a definite winner.

For me, it’s Tarte.

But considering the price difference, Maybelline makes a surprisingly convincing argument.

First, What Exactly Is Tubing Mascara?

Traditional mascara essentially coats your lashes. Tubing mascara uses film-forming polymers to create tiny flexible coverings, or “tubes,” around individual lashes. That’s why many tubing formulas are known for good wear and easier removal. [healthline.com]

When you’re ready to take it off, many tubing formulas loosen with warm water and gentle pressure rather than requiring a lot of rubbing and makeup remover.

That last part becomes increasingly appealing to me as I get older. I am actively trying not to spend every evening pulling, rubbing and tugging on the delicate skin around my eyes. And yes, I realize I’m also the woman who occasionally rubs her eyes while wearing mascara.

Doesn’t everyone though?

My Review: Tarte Tartelette Tubing Mascara

Tarte is the one I keep preferring because my lashes simply look thicker with it. That’s important to me now. Length is nice, but when your lash line isn’t quite what it was at 25, length without enough fullness can leave you with several very long, very lonely-looking eyelashes.

Tarte gives me more of that I have lashes! effect. The brand describes Tartelette as lengthening, volumizing and curling, with a 360-degree lash comb designed to separate and define the lashes. Tarte also says it removes with warm water.

What I like about Tarte:

• More noticeable thickness and volume on my lashes
• Good length
• Easy removal
• Less effort to get the finished look I want
• A more substantial lash look that I prefer at 45+

And here’s an interesting detail: Tarte’s own clinical claims are based on a study of 31 subjects, while its fuller-lash consumer claim is based on 36 subjects. Those are useful product tests, but they’re small studies and they’re supplied by the brand, so I wouldn’t treat them as independent scientific proof that Tarte is universally better.

The downside?

The price.

Tarte currently lists the full-size Tartelette Tubing Mascara at $28. That is a commitment for something we’re eventually washing down the bathroom sink.

My Review: Maybelline Sky Tubes

Now here’s where things get interesting.

Maybelline does something better than Tarte on my lashes: separation.

Sky Tubes really separates and defines my individual lashes beautifully. And that makes sense given its brush design. Maybelline describes the Tubing Extender Brush as having pyramid-shaped bristles and a sphere tip intended to grip and separate individual lashes.

If your priority is long, separated, defined lashes rather than immediately making them look thicker, Sky Tubes may actually be your winner. For me, however, I need several coats before I get the amount of thickness I want.

Maybelline actually recommends repeatedly coating the lashes while they’re still wet until you’ve reached the desired length. So apparently my “one more coat…okay, maybe ONE more” routine isn’t completely unreasonable.

What I like about Sky Tubes:

• Excellent lash separation
• Really nice definition
• Good length
• Much less expensive than Tarte
• Warm-water removal
• A particularly good option if you dislike clumpy lashes

What I don’t love:

It takes me a few coats to get the fullness that Tarte gives me more easily. I’ve also experienced more flaking with Sky Tubes if I rub my eyes. And before anyone writes to me…

Yes. I KNOW. We’re not supposed to rub our eyes. Neither are we supposed to go to bed without washing our faces, pick at our cuticles or stand in front of the refrigerator wondering why we’re there. Things happen.

It’s worth pointing out that Maybelline markets Sky Tubes as flake-proof and smudge-proof, so my flaking experience is exactly that: my personal experience, particularly when rubbing my eyes, rather than a claim that the mascara normally flakes.

The Price Difference Is Hard to Ignore

At the time I researched this post, Sky Tubes was listed at Target for about $11.99, while Tarte’s regular retail price was $28. Prices and promotions obviously change. That’s roughly a $16 difference.

That makes the decision more interesting. If Tarte were only a few dollars more, I’d tell you Tarte and move along. But for less than half of Tarte’s regular price, Maybelline Sky Tubes gives me terrific separation, pretty length and the warm-water removal that is one of my primary reasons for using tubing mascara in the first place.

So the real question becomes: Is thicker-looking mascara worth an extra $16 to you? For me? Quite possibly, yes. My lashes have entered their quality-over-quantity era.

Tubing vs. Regular Mascara After 45

There are a few reasons I think tubing mascara becomes particularly interesting as we get older.

Less rubbing during removal

Perhaps the biggest practical benefit is removal.

Both of these products are designed to come off with warm water. Maybelline specifically says its tubes slide off with warm water to minimize tugging and lash loss during removal, while Tarte similarly says its formula removes with warm water without rubbing or scrubbing. If you’re becoming more conscious about pulling at the skin around your eyes, that’s a genuinely appealing feature.

Better definition for sparse lashes

Tubing formulas tend to be particularly good at creating length and definition because each lash gets individually coated. Healthline notes that tubing mascara may not give the same volumizing effect as some traditional formulas. [healthline.com]

That lines up with my Sky Tubes experience.Beautiful separation? Yes. Immediate lush thickness? Not quite. (Always good to have some backup on the subject).

Less potential for the dreaded under-eye mascara situation

The polymer film is designed to stay intact rather than dissolve and migrate the way some conventional mascara formulas can. That’s one of the reasons tubing mascara has become so popular among people looking for smudge resistance. ( I do find the migration of some mascaras to be my archnemesis. I loved the thickness of MaxFactor. By the end of the day it was always under my eyes).

I have tried a few mascaras over the year and these by far are not all of them:

Okay, back to. the eye mess, if you have hooded or increasingly hooded eyes, that’s worth paying attention to.

But Does Tubing Mascara Dry Out Your Lashes?

This was the question I wanted to investigate. And here’s where beauty marketing gets ahead of science.

I could not find strong independent clinical research showing that tubing mascara, as a category, dries eyelashes out less than regular mascara.

The available consumer health literature is little. That means I would be very careful about saying: “Tubing mascara is healthier for aging lashes.” We simply don’t have enough independent evidence to make that blanket claim. Individual formulas matter tremendously.

For example, Tarte’s formula includes shea butter and castor oil, ingredients the company describes as moisturizing or conditioning. Maybelline’s Sky Tubes formula also includes shea butter and castor oil and is marketed as leaving lashes feeling conditioned.

That’s nice to see in the ingredient lists, but a conditioning ingredient isn’t the same thing as clinical proof that mascara prevents lash dryness or breakage over the long term. And that’s an important distinction.

The potential advantage I find more convincing isn’t necessarily that tubing mascara itself “moisturizes” your lashes. It’s that easy removal may mean less mechanical pulling and rubbing. Especially for those of us who spent several decades attacking waterproof mascara with whatever makeup remover happened to be nearby.

And What About the Studies?

There is some research involving polymers used in mascara, but research specifically comparing long-term lash dryness, breakage or health between tubing and conventional mascara appears quite limited.

Tarte has conducted product testing showing cosmetic effects such as fullness, length and volume, but again, those are small brand-reported studies measuring the performance of a specific product, not long-term eyelash health. 

So if you’re seeing claims online that tubing mascara has been scientifically proven to make aging lashes healthier, less brittle or more hydrated, I’d take those claims with a grain of salt. The science just isn’t that definitive yet.

So Which One Would I Buy Again?

Tarte. There. I said it.

It’s considerably more expensive, but I simply prefer what it does for my lashes. I get the thicker, fuller appearance I’m looking for without having to work quite as hard at building it. But Maybelline Sky Tubes is absolutely not a loser here.

In fact, if your priorities are separation, definition, length and price, I’d try Sky Tubes first. At around $12 versus Tarte’s $28 regular price, that’s a substantial savings. 

My final suggestions:

Welcome. Sit next to me. We’re apparently testing the real-world flake resistance.

As for ELF tubing mascara? It’s not invited to this comparison. I tried it. I didn’t like it. Life is short and there are too many mascaras to spend 800 words discussing one I have no intention of buying again.

For my over-45 lashes, Tarte wins for fullness. Sky Tubes wins for separation and value. And tubing mascara itself wins because anything that lets me spend less time tugging at my eye area at the end of the night has earned permanent shelf space in my bathroom. (Although a lot of things have a spot on my shelf and you may have seen that if you saw my post on my beauty wonderland. That doesn’t mean that they all get to stay).