1) Chantecaille Faux Cils Mascara - When I first took the brush out of container, I backed up. It's huge - Ron Jeremy huge. In fact, I was actually afraid to use the wand, but I did... very carefully. And wow, did myeyes pop afterward! I wear glasses, so it's important to me to use eyeliner and mascara so my eyes don't get lost. This is a wonderful product. Scary wonderful. And uber expensive, too.
The brush effectively separates lashes, coating each with just the right amount of mascara. My lashes have never looked this good before. I will be really sad when this product is gone - as I mentioned before, it's super expensive: $42 dollars a tube, in fact.
2) stila forever your curl mascara - This was my new favorite mascara before receiving the Chantecaille Faux Cils Mascara. The brush is much smaller than the Chantecaille, and also smaller than Maybelline's Great Lash (to give you an example of size) - however, it gets the job done.
The promise of this mascara is this: "Curls your lashes instantly, this innovative formula perms your lashes the more you wear it." I wore it for one week straight, and yes, at the end of the week I felt that my lashes were curled more than without it. At $22 per tube, it's a better deal than the Chantecaille - and yet still a bit out of my price range. Still... I believe this is one product that is worth a splurge if you have the money!
3) Benecos Maximum Volume Mascara - I received this from the July 2012 Goodebox. Eco-friendly ingredients, with the inclusion of jojoba oil to "create a silky smooth, non-clumping formula." I liked the way it went on, but this mascara does NOT last. I put it on around 7 a.m. in the morning. By 10 a.m. I had raccoon eyes.
I used a paper towel in the ladies' bathroom to wipe away the gunk underneath my eyes. By noon it was back. I was unsure as to whether it was the mascara or my eyeliner - both of which were new to me. So, for two days after, I used a tried and true eyeliner along with the Benecos mascara.
Most definitely the mascara - not the eyeliner. So as much as I wanted to like this, I did not. It simply does not last.
4) Maybelline Great Lash® Washable Curved Brush Mascara - Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this has been discontinued! What the eff? I've been using this mascara for years - oh I don't even think I can count the years - at least not without giving my age away! Luckily I still have some, because I lucked into it at Grocery Outlet.
For the price, this has been my absolute favorite mascara for years. The curved brush gave my lashes an extra oomph. Maybelline suggests I use Great Lash® Washable Mascara instead. Well, NO! Reason one: it's washable. Reason two: it does NOT have a curved brush. So, while I just gave this mascara a rave review, the fact is it's not available any longer so I might have to buy a more spendy mascara to get the same effect I got from the $5 Maybelline product I used for years.
5) Clinique High Impact Mascara - This has been a favorite bonus item from Clinique on and off for a while now. At $16, it's considered a moderately priced upscale product. Quite honestly, though, I have not been impressed.
Don't get me wrong: the product works. There doesn't appear to be any raccooning with its use, and it does have staying power. Still, it didn't out perform my tried and true Maybelline, so I could not justify spending more money on a product that basically performed the same as Maybelline Great Lash.
VERDICT: If you have the money, spring for the Chantecaille. Sure the brush size is a tad scary - so what? If you're an adult woman, you've had bigger things close to your eyes before (wink, wink).
What else have we learned? That Maybelline sucks for discontinuing an old favorite. Boo hiss! Send them some hate mail. Who knows? Maybe you'll get a coupon!
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