It's hard to stick to using only one mascara these days when there are millions of others to pick from. There's always a better, prettier, new, improved design and formulation. I will keep buying and reviewing them, because I am really curious by nature. Charlotte Tilbury's Full Fat Lashes is my absolute favourite right now but it would be great to find a favourite that is kinder to my purse.
When I saw the new Baby Roll Mascara from L'oreal I was instantly lured in by the pretty packaging and here we are a few weeks later, I am ready for a review. It comes in Black, Bright Teal, Sweet Lilac, Indigo Gum and Black Waterproof, my choice was the Black one.
The packaging: unlike all the other L'oreal mascaras this has a different, vintage feel to it evoking the 1950s America with the pastel colours and the font type. It's hard not to think 'Grease' when you're looking at it. It all-around eye-catching, pretty and fun.
The wand: this is the unique bit - the bristles go round the wand in a spiral so they can grab and pull each individual lash upwards. It is great for lengthening, volumizing, curling and lifting and gives you quite a dramatic effect fast. It is a little bit on the large side for my tiny eyes, but I could still work with it.
The colour: this is the only thing that I liked less than the other features, it is not as intense a black as I was expecting after using my Full Fat Lashes from Charlotte Tilbury. I had to build it up quite a bit to get the intensity up.
How it worked: this mascara gives you a lot, it works really well in terms of length, volume and as I mentioned before, you can get a dramatic effect quite fast. It really lifted my lashes and didn't go clumpy at all. While wearing it my lashes dropped their length during the day a little but the colour seemed to stay the same and I didn't have problems with topping it up either because it didn't dry my lashes. All in all I think this is a great mascara if dramatic lashes are your cup of tea, the only feature where it sightly failed for me is the colour intensity. At the end of the day it can be easily removed with a balm or cream cleanser without much effort.
Here are the before and after pictures:
Value for money: excellent, it is only £7.99, available in Boots.
Ever since I worked for Mac I've been stuck in my ways and kept using their mascaras. They worked really well for me and I didn't think of using anything else. Only recently I started to venture out to a quite uncharted territory of using other brands. I've been loving Chanel's Inimitable Mascara... But I wanted to see what's available on more of a budget price. There's a lot of buzz around Rimmel at the moment so I picked 3 of their mascara (including two new releases) to compare their performance.
First things first: Scandaleyes Extreme
What they promise on the website: "The dual action brush captures lashes bringing them to their max. Curved side: Volumises and loads up lashes for xx-treme look. Flat side: Defines and lengthens lashes from root to tip. No clumps."
Packaging: bright pink chunky plastic tube, not the greatest looking thing.
Wand: this one has the most interesting looking wand out of the three. One side is straight for lengthening and the other is curved for volume.
The colour: intense black.
How it performed: I quite liked how this lengthened my lashes and did not go clumpy though I've found the wand slightly on the large size for my small eyes. The colour kept its intensity during the day. It's good but it's not great, it took me quite a few coats and careful navigating of the wand to get the desired effect. I've had ones that are quicker so I'm not sure I would get it again.
Price: £6.99, very reasonable.
Volume Shake
What they promise on the website: "Rimmel London Volume Shake Mascara features a first-to-market patented shaker system that refreshes the volumising formula whenever it’s needed. The volume defining brush gives you a beautiful fan of lashes with maximum separation from corner to corner.
-Breakthrough shaker technology
-Beautiful clump-free volume
-Stays fresh from first to last use"
Packaging: a bit heavier and chunkier than your average mascara because of this new 'shaker' technology, the colours are green and gold which doesn't really do much for me.
The wand: it looks like a typical volumizing wand, nice and thick, doesn't take out too much product from the tube. This one again is slightly on the large side for my tiny eyes.
The colour: intense black.
How it performed: I really wanted to love this one because I like the idea of a mascara that stays fresh for longer, but I've found the formula a tad bit too wet and despite normally being precise with application this was hard to navigate and it went on my upper lids as soon as I blinked. It puts on way too much product on the lashes, to me, it was hard to control. Ideally, I wouldn't want to wait that long for the product to dry either. I also felt that soon after application this formula weighed my lashes down and ended up not getting much of a result at all. The intensity of the colour was fading too during the day. After a few days of trying I felt I had to correct it with another mascara to get the desired effect. What a shame.
Price:£8.99 very reasonable.
Last but not least my favourite out of the bunch Volume Colourist.
Having struggled with very fair lashes forever I've found the idea of a lash tinting mascara intriguing, so there was no question I went for it.
What they promise on the website: "Reveal darker lashes with and without mascara!
• Darkens bare lashes in two weeks*
• In an instant, lashes appear fuller and longer.
• Tapered, lash-intensifying brush wraps every lash with blacker than black pigments"
Packaging: nice, thin, sleeker than the others, good colour combination too.
The wand: this is longer than the rest but still has the density of a volumizing formula. It is still a bit on the large size but this time I don't mind because I am way too intrigued by the tinting effect.
How it performed: I had to put fewer coats of this to get quite an intense effect, it lengthens and volumizes quite well. After using it for a week I am happy to see that my lashes started to darken a little and I experienced no irritation whatsoever. This one is a definite keeper and I will update you about the results.
Price:£7.99, very reasonable.
I hope you enjoyed this mini comparison post, I definitely did enjoy trying on these mascaras. Even if some are not for me it doesn't mean they are bad, they might work for other eye shapes and lash types. I am excited to do similar comparison post with other brands too.
