Admittedly, I treat mascaras the way that womanizers treat women. I am a mascara-izer. No matter what I'm using and how great it is, my head will turn at the sight of a new wand, formula, rumor, you get the idea. 'Check out the comb on that one! See you later, Great Lash.” (That is me, talking to my fellow beauty junkies in a Sephora.) Plus, mascaras expire really quickly (we're talking four months), which makes the whole constantly-buying-them thing a lot easier to justify. The good news is, this makes me excellent at recommending them; if you can buy it, chances are I've tried it.

So when Hurricane Sandy cracked her whip across Manhattan and it was time to get my Mayor Bloomberg-recommended “ Grab and Go Bag.” I hustled together all the usual important things:

-contact lenses

-my wallet and my passport in case I had to run for the border

-Flashlight, Mophie Juicepack (both on keychain)

-changes of clothes (i.e. weird amount of sweaters and not enough socks)

-4 books, laptop (ITG never sleeps!)

-the new issue of Self Service [Please note: I do not recommend bringing Self Service with you in an emergency situation. It is fantastic, but it also happens to weigh, like, seven pounds.]

-and, you know, mascaras

Plural. I brought three different mascaras. I cannot really defend this, other than saying that I am a girl who likes to have options (even in my makeup Ziploc). Emily made me feel better about the whole 'pack rat' scenario when I emailed her from my temporary abode (at my very generous friend's UES apartment, LOVE YOU MARIANA): “Right before I left my power-less apartment, I added this new Hourglass Film Noir Full Spectrum Mascara I'd never tried to my bag. The brush is flared at the bottom and at the top and skinny in the middle...so, true to the brand, in a vaguely 'hourglass' shape. It's kind of decadent, if you could describe mascara that way... The brush collects a lot of product, and the application is fairly intense, but the formula is silky, which means even though it really gunks up your lashes, they don't look like they've spun out of control. They're just plump and jet black. Plus, it wears pretty well throughout the day, but I don't worry much about smudging, etc. That's what Almay Makeup Eraser Sticks are for. It's makeup, not spray paint—it's going to move around at some point.”

See? Everybody wants to try out new mascaras, even on the fly. And YET: despite my going-for-broke with options in my Ziploc(s), there's only one this week that I keep reaching for: Lancôme's Hypnôse Doll Lashes (in So Black!). Even though I've been into rake-like combs for a while now—and Doll Lashes has a more traditional applicator wand—I can't get enough of it. The brush is cone-shaped, narrower at the tip and wider at the base (think: Christmas tree), and hits all your eyelashes (including the little ones in the inner corner) in one fell swoop with volumizing, lifting, lengthening goodness. Lancôme credits their 'FiberShine' formula for the glossy result, and it definitely loads your fringe with some weightless, serious reflectiveness. We're talking wide-eyed, gamine, Anna Karina “Who, me.” doll eyes, even while couch surfing the entire week: Sold. *

*At least, until my nearest Sephora reopens.

—Alessandra Codinha

Alessandra Codinha [1] wearing Doll Lashes; Doll Lashes in action [2, 3]. Photographed in New York on Nov 1st, 2012.