Hey there! I thought I’d share with you some of the mascaras in my stash at the moment and what I think of them. The majority are drugstore mascaras because the only high end mascaras I purchase are tubing mascaras, and they’re not as convenient for me to get as drugstore mascaras. I also believe that the quality and range of drugstore mascaras is quite good, so I don’t mind purchasing them over high end mascaras for general use.
Here are my mini reviews and some close up pics:
L to R: Lacura Waterproof Mascara, Maybelline One By One Volume Express Mascara, Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara in Waterproof, Maybelline Clump Crusher Mascara, Maybelline Falsies in Waterproof and Kevyn Aucoin Volumising Mascara.
Lacura Waterproof Mascara
Ugh! What a waste of money. I decided to pick this up on a whim on a shopping trip to ALDI and sometimes their products in general can be hit and miss… unfortunately this one was a big MISS. The wand doesn’t pick up much product to begin with and the product itself barely shows up on my lashes when it does apply. The formula feels dry, but it mainly feels non existent which is the biggest problem! It took me approximately 5 coats before I even noticed anything on my lashes and when I took it out for a test drive, it was hardly waterproof, smudging all under my lower lash line within an hour or so. Mega fail, Lacura! Good thing this was super cheap, but it still didn’t feel worth the cash.
Maybelline One by One Volume Express Mascara
The formula of this mascara is slightly on the wetter side, which doesn’t bother me too much, unless my hand slips when I apply it and then it will end up all over your face (which is kind of obvious I know…). The tapered rubber brush is quite flexible and if you’re not careful, you can bend the head out of shape, but you should be able to bend it back into the original form too as it’s so rubbery. The head allows for easier application into the inner and outer lashes and it took 2 to 3 coats to appear full on my lashes and give ok average and length, but nothing spectacular. Maybelline produces other and better mascaras than this one.
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara in Waterproof
The mascara head is the traditional brush texture and it is quite big and clunky when I try to use it on my small eyes. The formula is dry but not overly so and it applies opaquely, giving good volume and length after 2 coats. It can clump a little with more coats but you can keep building this mascara to give more volume and a little more length. The waterproof factor is very good and I didn’t find this smudged or flaked until at least after the 5 hour mark, which is impressive to me because I have small eyes, short lashes and very oily eyelids. It eventually does transfer to underneath my lower lash line, but the lasting power is overall quite impressive, and it does give good volume and a nice look overall. Would recommend if you have oily lids and don’t mind spending the extra effort on removing the mascara at the end of the day (will take a waterproof eye makeup remover to remove).
Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara
I purchased this mascara in the regular formula and I was so up and down about this for a while – at first I really wasn’t impressed with it, it’s a rubber wand with a concave shape and average slightly wet formula and didn’t seem that much different from the Maybelline One by One Mascara (reviewed above). It took around 3 coats to get some noticeable volume and length and the first time I used this, I was underwhelmed. A few applications later though, I started to really enjoy this mascara, it applies easily and doesn’t clump (you can make it clump though but it takes a lot of coats) easily and the distribution of product is quite even across all my lashes. It gives me more length than it does volume, but it does last on my lashes for a decent amount of time before inevitably smearing (oily lids, you know?) but for the regular formula, I’m ok with this. It’s a nice mascara to try, not a HG by all means, but do give it a chance if you have an opportunity to.
Maybelline The Falsies in Waterproof
Hello Holy Grail mascara! No, you’re not perfect and yes, you do clump, but boy do you give good lash! I don’t know about giving me a false lash look, but this mascara gives great volume and adds a bit of length to boot. I have stumpy, short eyelashes and not many of them either, but when I apply this mascara (after I’ve curled my lashes – that yields the best results), my lashes look very volumised and lush after only 2 coats. This mascara is a wetter formula but dries out over time (not too dry though) and is very susceptible to clumping, so comb out lashes with a lash comb after applying if you do find clumps form (inevitably they will after a few coats). I think the clumping is only a small set back for me, because the waterproof version of this mascara lasts nearly all day with very minimal smearing or flaking on my lashes. Cheap and cheerful, I’ll always have this in my stash.
Kevyn Aucoin The Volume Mascara
Ok, now to talk about my only high end mascara on this list – this is a tubing mascara, which means that instead of painting your lashes with colour like a normal mascara, this applies polymer ‘tubes’ instead around the lashes, and will therefore not smear or smudge like a normal mascara will if you rub your eyes or accidentally touch your lashes. Instead, this mascara will flake off when water hits it (or if you rub it off), but it flakes off in big chunks and doesn’t smudge onto skin or around eyes. If that explanation seemed a little confusing, my apologies, please seek google’s advice on ‘Tubing Mascaras’ 🙂 Tubing mascaras work wonders on my lashes because if my eyelids get super oily during the day, the mascara does not smudge off due to the oil. Doesn’t go anywhere! Will only go somewhere if I wash my eyelashes with warm water, and even in that case it just flakes off and doesn’t smear. My only disappointment with this is that it doesn’t hold a curl. Yes, it will volumise with around 2 to 3 coats, but the formula must be too heavy to hold a curl, because despite curling my lashes prior to applying the mascara, it doesn’t hold the curl and instead can droop a bit with too many coats. Because of this, I apply this on my lower lashes only, and it’s perfect for that.
So that is the end of what I think of my little mascara stash for now! I do like to try new mascaras out but I don’t think I’m much of an early adopter over all as I do like my tried and tested favourites. My favourite mascara would be Maybelline’s The Falsies with the Kevyn Aucoin mascara coming a close second. The Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara comes third, then Covergirl’s Clump Crusher, followed by Maybelline’s One By One. The Lacura mascara is absolute rubbish in my opinion, and I’m going to dispose of it right now!
Till next time 🙂
Lizzie and Millie 