Business Notes Cosmetics

It's an eye for an eye, or at least an eyelash, in the running mascara battle between industry leaders Maybelline and Noxell, maker of the Cover Girl brand. The rivals are locked in a legal dispute over Noxell's claim that its new Cover Girl Clean Lash mascara is waterproof.

Maybelline contends that shower and swimming-pool tests of several hundred women conducted for it by a research laboratory showed that Clean Lash is not waterproof. Charging false advertising, Maybelline won a federal district court order halting shipments and ads for its rival's mascara. Last week Noxell persuaded an appeals court to issue a temporary stay of the lower court's order, and the company resumed its sales. Maybelline did not even blink before heading back to court for the next round.