Women have been coming up with ways to darken their eyelashes for thousands of years, but sometimes there still doesn’t seem to be a decent basic mascara on the market. Clumpy, flaky, itch-provoking mascaras exist at all price points, from drugstore to prestige (yes, I’m looking at you, Hourglass and Tarte Cosmetics!). I already have fairly long, dark lashes, but I still have trouble finding a simple solution to my quest for increased (yet not over-the-top) length and definition.

LUSH Eyes Right is one product that has met my (very basic!) specifications, and ZuZu Luxe Mascara is another.

ZuZu Luxe is the sister collection to Gabriel Cosmetics; both all-natural makeup lines are available at places like Whole Foods. ZuZu’s mascara, like the rest of the brand’s prodcuts, is cruelty-free, vegan, and Leaping Bunny-certified. It has simple, streamlined packaging and a traditional bristle brush (another preference of mine!), and it’s available in Onyx, Espresso, and Navy. Espresso, my pick, is a deep, neutral brown.

I’ve found Zuzu’s mascara very easy to apply; there’s minimal clumping and very little need for combing-through afterwards. It’s fragrance-free and it doesn’t cause any itching or little clogged pores at the lash-line (yes, this can happen; Blinc, this time I’m looking at you!). It lasts through my day, as long as I don’t burst into tears or rub my eyes. If I do rub my eyes at all, I end up with a little bit of mascara-dust drifting onto my under-eye area, but it’s nothing that can’t be removed easily.

As I said in my review for LUSH Eyes Right, this doesn’t give me MEGA-LASHES with 1000-WATT VOLUME and TELESCOPING LENGTH or what-have-you, but I’m neither a burlesque performer nor a Kardashian, so a mascara that just enhances my eyes in a natural-but-flattering way is fine with me.

Ingredients: Aqua (infusion of aloe barbadensis leaf juice), cellulose gum, sorbitol, stearic acid, cetearyl alcohol, lecithin, panthenol, sea fennel extract, tocopheryl acetate, eyebright extract, xanthan gum, iron oxides, hectorite, titanium dioxide, and potassium sorbate.

ZuZu Luxe Mascara costs about $16. I purchased mine at Whole Foods; you can also find it through LuckyVitamin or the ZuZu Luxe website.