I bought some colored mascaras back in the... 1970s, i think, or maybe early 80s. Those were the days when nearly every brand of mascara made my eyes burn, except for Clinique which had only normal colors. I wore each once or twice, and then tossed them because the fun colors were literally not worth the pain.
I am so thrilled that now i can wear many brands of mascara. Clearly something in the formulas has changed for the better.
I bought two of the colored mascaras from the Beth Ditto collection - Plum Reserve is violet (true blue-violet and not what MAC calls violet, which is fuchsia) and New Hue is plum - notice MAC's usual naming genius. The same year Guerlain had a collaboration with Emilio Pucci, and i got the Blue mascara.
I have brown hair (with white sidewalls) and brown eyebrows and lashes. I use MAC Omega matte eyeshadow in my brows (it's a medium cool taupe, and perfect for my coloring), and I normally wear dark brown or brown-black mascara.
The colored mascaras do show up on me. They are not exceedingly bright, but those mascaras aren't too bright anyway (not like that lime green that's coming). I think it helps to coordinate what is on the eyes with the mascaras to make the color show up more.
Sadly, Wet 'n' Wild eye products still make my eyes feel like they're on fire, which reminds me of the bad old makeup days of the 60s and 70s when i'd buy eye products and throw them away after one or two uses.