Fara Homidi is diving into a new category.
Developed over four years and housed in an acid-yellow vessel, Pool Slick Lash Lacquer, $48, is the brand’s first mascara. Available now at farahomidi.com and sephora.com, the product is offered in two shades — Absolu (glossy black) and Cabana (walnut brown) — and boasts the barrier benefits of tubing mascara but with a sleek, damp-like finish.
The eponymous founder said she was inspired by the women who swam and sunbathed by the pool at her apartment complex when she was a kid. “I just remember when they would come out of the water, their eyelashes would be water-sheened and a little bit darker, and glistening and so beautiful, almost like they were wearing mascara without it being mascara,” she recalled.
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While the formula consists of plankton extract, pink pepper and pomegranate seed oil to stimulate the hair follicles, hydrate and darken the lashes, the star feature is the precision-curved wand. Made with solid brush fibers, the applicator combs and controls the placement of the product so the finish is clump-free. And like most other innovations in the brand’s assortment, the formula is buildable, designed to be layered from day to night.
“This particular formula is going to be different than probably anything you’ve ever tried,” Homidi claimed. “There’s a way for you to manipulate it, to make it yours, to customize it, so you’re not just locked into one thing.”
Launched in 2023, the brand opened with lips and has since entered complexion and eye with products like the Essential Blonzer, Essential Bronzer and Essential Eye. Because each innovation was formulated from the ground up and at the mercy of Homidi’s “exacting eye,” the launch cadence has been slow but intentional.
“It is sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy that we are a slow beauty brand because I have really high standards and nothing is put out until I’m 1,000 percent that it’s exactly what I envisioned. I’ve definitely paused projects from launch because I felt like I could do better,” she said.
Homidi likened the development of the new lash lacquer to a science project, calling mascara one of the toughest categories to enter but arguing the reward would be worth it. “A lot of people who are loyal to their mascara brand are also more open to try more of that brand’s products. It’s kind of like a new world to step into when you create a mascara,” she said, adding that she took a gamble with calling hers a “lash lacquer.”
The brand declined to provide estimates for the launch, but predicts it will one of its most profitable and sustainable stock keeping units, considering the success of its eye collection, which outperformed its bronzer launch by 30 percent.
The product drop comes over a year after Fara Homidi expanded its digital footprint, debuting in the U.K., and less than a year after it inked its first big department store, Selfridges. Now the brand is available at Violet Grey, FWRD, Dover Street Parfums Market, Moda Operandi, Niche Beauty, Mecca and Sephora U.S., in addition to its partners over the pond. Its largest market across wholesale and direct-to-consumer is the U.S., followed by Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.
