Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Only Thing I Want to Put On in XXL


I think we may have a winner!


For those who haven't been following my internal Goldilocks-esque monologue about my search for the perfect mascara, I'll sum it up for you: nothing has been that great, even the expensive ones.


Yeah, that about covers my feelings about mascaras I've tried this year.


I was lamenting to a co-worker not two weeks ago about the trials and tribulations I go through to get my lashes to look good, most recently involving plunking down enough money to cover dinner for two (well, not in DC, but maybe somewhere) and having it look like Tammy Faye revisited.


She heartily endorsed her mascara of choice, Maybelline XXL Volume + Length. She even pulled out the tube to show me.


I hightailed it to Target when I got the chance and picked up a tube. The basic premise is that you coat your lashes with the white primer first, which adds visible length to the lashes in a very Twiggy-mod way. Then you coat on the regular black mascara. It's even labeled Step 1 and Step 2 for dummies like me.


I got long slender dark lashes. They reach practically to my eyebrows! Plus, one coat of Step 2 is pretty for day and two coats of the black makes it dark enough for nighttime sexy eyes.


My first reservation was that how could it not be clumpy when you put that much stuff on your lashes? But it isn't! Zero clumps. That is impressive stuff, Jack.


My second was, as a contact lens wearer, won't this make me go blind? But it didn't! Can still see and everything. Righteous.


And third, will it comes off when I need it to? Well, that's where things took a little turn for the worse. My trusty Almay pads wipe away most of it, but it still leaves a little ring for the next morning.


So it's not perfect. Not like, buy out all the stock in the store and somehow convince someone introduce legislation requiring Maybelline to continue making it perfect. (These are, by the way, things I would totally do if I found The One and Only Mascara For Me)


But good enough that I would buy it again. Maybe even more than once. And still be able to grab a latte.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have the l'oreal version of this and it's pretty clumpy. i'll have to try this one soon...right now deficils is doing a pretty good job for me

Barbi said...

ever tried MaryKay's mascara?

Jess said...

I LOVE Mary Kay's ultimate mascara - that is some amazing stuff!

Anonymous said...

Have you tried Maybelline Full & Soft, or their Lash Discovery, or Origins Fringe Benefits? + a coat of Clarins Fix'Mascara on top for waterproofing? A tube of the Fix lasts a good 6 months; the Origins lasts about 3; the Maybelline more like 6 weeks. That's used quite heavily every day. For YBB lashes, that are soft and supple, quite long and quite thick, and with no clumps, blobs, flakes, smudges, etc.
Good luck... may the force of the mascaras be with you...

julie said...

Be careful with this mascara. I went through a lazy phase and didn't remove my eye makeup every night. My eyelashes broke off. Maybe that would happen with any masacara but I quit using it after that. I loved how it made my lashes look, before they broke off.

Kristi said...

Maybelline mascaras made my half my eye lashed break off. This hasn't happened before or since.
I avoid Maybelline like the eye lashing breaking plague.

Anonymous said...

Go to Sephora and get:

Too Faced Lash Injection

It is AMAZING! No clumping, just need some warm water and a wash cloth to get off and your eyelashes look so long, they're fake. Fahmazing really.

augnpot said...

My fave is lancome fatale - i braved through the initial scare of how strange it looks... and have never ever been as happy with any mascara before. Cleans off easy and doesn't smudge or clump. First two times don't count - you have to master it and then it is superb!

Alison Santighian said...

On your recommendation, I hit my local CVS. Today's the first day - lovely! feathery, not clumpy. Only complaint? a little awkward to apply, given how the brushes are positioned - I kept feeling like i was going to end up with a bar of mascara across my cheekbone from the wand

Robo said...

No one recommended Dior's DiorShow mascara? It's not cheap, but it is seriously the best mascara out there. One swipe is all it takes for luscious lashes. I've tried both regular and waterproof formulas, and the regular one goes on more easily. Stila's Major Lash Mascara is decent, too, but DiorShow is hands down my favourite.
This is the first time I've read your blog, btw, but it's a very fun read =] I especially like the PR commentary -- hilarious! And yes, Ricky needs to stop crying already. I think I actually yelled at him/the TV last week to stop crying.

I'll definitely be stopping by your blog now!