--- title: Lauren Conrad Reveals Real Story Behind Her Mascara Tears description: Lauren Conrad's infamous mascara tears during The Hills apparently weren't even mascara, according to a recent reveal. canonical: https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T18:50:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:34:56.305Z og:title: Here's The Real Story Behind Lauren Conrad's Mascara Tears og:description: Everything you thought you knew is a lie og:url: https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's The Real Story Behind Lauren Conrad's Mascara Tears twitter:description: Everything you thought you knew is a lie twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Everything You Thought You Knew About Lauren Conrad's Mascara Tears Is a Lie  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 29, 2016 6:50 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 29, 2016 6:50 PM UTC [Lauren Conrad’s](http://time.com/4349491/lauren-conrad-new-mtv-reality-show/) lone mascara-tinged tear dripping down her face after [a conflict with Audrina Partridge](http://time.com/4345753/the-hills-justin-bobby-name/) might be the most memorable image of [_The Hills_](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/13/lauren-conrad-is-engaged/)_._ In fact, so notorious is this image that the Internet, that a bastion of all things trending and meme-worthy, has crowned that drama-filled moment as the ultimate GIF for sad occasions. However, in an interview with [_MTV News_](http://www.mtv.com/news/2911804/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-eyeliner/) in preparation for the tenth anniversary special of the _The Hills_, Conrad revealed that everything we knew to be true about that single iconic tear is a lie. Apparently, that tear’s makeup-colored hue was not due to LC’s mascara, but her liquid eyeliner from her signature cat-eye. “I don’t think it was the mascara — I think it was the eyeliner that was running,” Conrad said. “I still wear the same mascara, and it doesn’t run like that.” Conrad also said that her mascara/eyeliner tears have reduced drastically since her days on _The Hills_, noting that “I rarely cry these days.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/"},"headline":"Everything You Thought You Knew About Lauren Conrad's Mascara Tears Is a Lie","datePublished":"2016-07-29T18:50:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:56.305Z","description":"The real story behind LC's infamous tears","url":"https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4431023/lauren-conrad-mascara-tears-the-hills/","name":"Everything You Thought You Knew About Lauren Conrad's Mascara Tears Is a Lie"}}]}] ```