Too many open mascaras…

After a long night of dreaming about Nepal (and a quite dashing young gentleman (see my Instagram for more details on that one) – and not really getting much sleep, doing a post that requires close-up photos of my eyes probably isn’t the best idea, but still, here it goes. As you may already know, I have quite a hoarding problem when it comes to mascaras and I’ve gone through my pile to see what I need to talk about and discard and what I can keep using for a few more months.

This is what I came up with – six mascaras in total. Don’t judge.


Needless to say, not all of them are great, so let’s do it the same way we did the other time – from worst to best. By the way, all photos of lashes are one coat without any curling.

I generally adore Maybelline mascaras, but the Great Lash mascara did absolutely nothing for me at all.

Maybelline Great Lash
It won several Allure’s “best of” titles and I was so sure that this really was the holy grail mascara I picked it up the second I saw it. Well, I wish that I would have checked the wand before I did that, because now that I know what to look for, it seems obvious that the bristles are set so far apart that they will each hug a bunch of lashes at the same time and just create these thick spidery lashes.

Now, some of you may enjoy this effect, but I really hate it. It’s also a very wet mascara which transfers like crazy on my eyelids and under my waterline. I would not recommend it, not at all. View Post

Too many opened mascaras…

Fact #1 – I love mascaras. Fact #2 – when I buy a mascara, I really, really want to open and try it straight away. And fact #3 – this means that I always have at least 3 mascaras opened at the same time, consequently waisting them. Oh well, I’ll do better in the future.

These past 2 months have been particularly bad in this sense – I have no less than 5 mascaras that I have been using and most of them I need to get rid of because they’ve gone dry. But before throwing them away I can do a quick post about them. I will go from the worst to the best one by my personal opinion. The fact is that the likeability of mascara depends on what you want from it. I personally have quite long lashes to start with and am consequently looking for mascara that will add volume. So it really is a personal preference all around, as it is with most mascaras. There are two photos for you – one with the product closed and one with them opened so you can see each of the wands.

#5 : GREAT LASH by MAYBELLINE

You know, how drier mascaras have the tendency to flake? Well this mascara is so wet that I can feel this wetness for several minutes after applying it, but it still somehow manages to leave my undereye area looking like the Halloween came early It clumps the lashes into long, spider like legs. I’m not a fan of either the wand shape or the packaging itself – it really looks quite juvenile. Even though it’s drugstore, it could still be a bit classier.

If you’re looking for length, are willing to comb through your lashes and you don’t mind the panda look, go for it. Otherwise, run away as fast as you can. Would I repurhcase: no way!


#4 : BETTER THAN SEX by TOO FACED

I’m usually a fan of Too Faced products, but this one left me cold. Thankfully I didn’t purchase the whole size but got a deluxe sample in one of their trial kits. Also, what’s with the name? I know that Too Faced isn’t exactly a PG rated brand, but let me just say that this statement is not true 😉

Anyhow, when I opened this mascara I was expecting a hell of a lot from it. The wand has super dense fibers of different lenghts which looked like they will hug every single lash and give it length and volume. Well, the mascara is not bad, but it’s not great either. Completely opposite of the Great Lash it has a very dense formula which tends to flake a lot. So while it does give you long and bold lashes, especially if you apply more than one coat of it, you will have to check under your eyes every hour or so. Would I repurchase: no – it costs more than $20 and I think there are better mascaras out there for that price.



#3 –Voluminous Waterproof mascara by L’OREAL

This again is a mascara with quite wet formula but it dries much faster than the Great Lash so it’s not too much of a problem. It has a very standard wand which many of us have probably used with this or that mascara so that’s not really what’s appealing. But trust me – go out and buy it, if you can. It leaves you with long and dense lashes, it doesn’t clump, smudge or flake and it holds to its promises. I’m putting it in 3rd place only because I bought the Waterproof version which is such a pain to remove that I have to brace myself before starting the process every evening. Would I repurchase: yes, but the regular one, not the waterproof.

#2 – Volum’ Express Colossal Cat Eyes – MAYBELLINE

Probably the mascara with the longest name out there 🙂 It wasn’t an instant love affair with me and this mascara – I had a hard time getting used to the curved wand and I didn’t find it that impressive. But when I took my time and really tried out what different parts of the wand to to the eyelashes, I fell inlove. When using this mascara I don’t even curl my eyelashes before – the wand does the trick by itself. So it curls, lengthens (to the point when I need to stop applying it because my lashes are touching my browbone and leaving tiny black dots) and adds volume when adding one or two layers to the primary one. Would I repurchase: absolutely, especially for this price. View Post