Beauty magazines have been crowded for decades with ads for pricey mascara, but Chatsworth cosmetics manufacturer Lifetech Resources Inc. is trying a more sophisticated approach to achieving fuller looking lashes.

Instead of promoting the traditional gobbed-on wax and pigment formula, it’s banking on a product called NeuLash, which contains peptides – short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

The company has not sought Food and Drug Administration approval to sell NeuLash on a prescription basis, so it is limited in the claims that can make about its product. Lifetech will only say in advertisements that recent clinical trials promise “up to 62% longer-looking natural lashes.”

In fact, peptides are widely used today in high-end cosmetics and are known to promote cell growth. Thus, Neulash appears to work by making eyelashes literally grow bigger and longer.

Richard A. Carieri, owner and chief executive of Lifetech, said that the product grew out of research by his company for a proprietary treatment for baldness. The formula his researchers hit upon didn’t work for the scalp, but they realized it could be used on eyelashes.

NeuLash is sold in a tube and is applied like eyeliner once a day. It contains a number of ingredients that nourish the hair follicle aside from peptides: a blend of B vitamins, pumpkin seed extract and other ingredients said to strengthen lashes. Carieri said that the compounds are processed into smaller molecules so that they’re more easily absorbed. One 6-milliliter tube, which retails for $150, lasts three to four months.

“NeuLash creates a healthy environment for lashes to achieve their best results,” is how Carieri puts it.

Waves of new competitors have followed since NeuLash entered the market in 2008 as one of the first eyelash enhancers.

Last year, Irvine-based pharmaceutical behemoth Allergan Inc. began selling the first FDA-approved treatment for growing longer eyelashes on a prescription basis.

Allergan even sued Lifetech and several other makers of eyelash enhancers for patent infringement. In January, a federal court judge ruled that Lifetech’s products didn’t infringe, though Allergan has preserved its right to appeal.

Despite the challenges, NeuLash’s sales are skyrocketing. More than $10 million of the cosmetic was sold in the past year, compared with $800,000 in its first year on the market. It now accounts for more than 70 percent of the company’s revenue and is being sold in Europe, with expansion into Asia planned.

Carieri has two explanations for the product’s success: First, “it works.” Second, it beat others into high-end stores. It launched in 2008 through an exclusive distribution deal with Saks Fifth Avenue, and since then has moved into Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales. Being associated with those retailers gave it immediate credibility and evened the playing field with larger companies with more marketing dollars.

“People expect the buyers at those high-end spaces to do their homework and not offer junk,” he said.

Carieri isn’t done. The company recently launched a line of eyebrow enhancers called NeuveauBrow. Also planned for the first quarter of next year is a skin-lightening product.

Carieri said there’s been a need for new skin-lightening products since safety concerns prompted the FDA to revoke over-the-counter sales of hydroquinone, a popular ingredient in such products.

He also plans to expand NeuLash into other retailers, including possibly Macy’s and Dillard’s, early next year.

“We know we have created a real science here,” he said. “People are willing to pay a lot of money for a product if it works.”

Lifetech Resources Inc.

Chatsworth

Founded: 1990

Focus: Skin, hair and body treatments

Lead Product: NeuLash eyelash enhancer