Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Don't bat those clumpy lashes at ME!

I have fallen victim once more.

Don't deny that the same hasn't happened to you. You click a link or read a comparison in a magazine and suddenly you feel the need to trash your old, faithful, standby product and go out and get this newer, fancier one that promises to make lashes longer and darker, lips plumper and softer, skin completely devoid of enlarged pores and freckles, and is THE BEST according to whoever was paid to say it.

* I will never believe makeup commercials that use models under the age of 24 for their fine-line reduction creams. Bite me bitches.

So this time it was my mascara. Every few years I cave and go out and buy something that is supposed to make them look just FABULOUS with the wave of, literally, a wand. And every time I am let down and go back to my old standby.

Let me explain something: when I was younger and not allowed to wear more than some concealer and maybe a tinted lip balm, I was allowed to wear mascara. And it made me feel lovely. Even behind my glasses, if I has mascara on, I felt pretty. So, I put a lot of stock in which one I use now.

But, this time I was lured by a written comparison and "user reactions" and not one of those celebrity commercials that make me SO ANGRY because not only are they wearing false eyelashes in the commercials, they are probably also computer-edited to make them seem even glossier. A person would have glare in their eyes constantly if they actually had lashes like that! Not to mention limiting your range of sight.
So, I stopped at the Walgreens on my way home and picked up a tube of Rimmel London Sexy Curves Waterproof.
I should have known better.
The new trend of plastic applicators (instead of the older bristles) boggles me because everything clumps and goes on funky, and this one was worse because it's pathetic excuse for plastic bristles were so short they didn't even begin to wrap around my lashes, let alone find them all. Now I just have to wait out the day to see if it also adds the insult of flaking onto my face as well.
Also, it smelled kind of odd, tho that dissipated after a minute or two.

Since I know you're dying to know, my personal go-to mascara is Maybelline's Full & Soft in waterproof. (The non-waterproof does flake little black dots on your cheeks during the course of a day, so be sure to buy the silver tube, not the navy.) It stays on, and more importantly to me (esp when I was wearing contacts) it kept my lashes soft and supple, and I didn't tear them out of my eyes trying to remove the stuff.

But like a cat that hasn't realized a candle will singe its whiskers every time it investigates, I am asking for suggestions one last time, since this tube is clearly going in the trash, and I need to go back out and buy some new stuff anyway...
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MASCARA? And why?

*Note: yes, I use an eyelash curler every day, so even when I don't slap on mascara, I have that much going for me. I swear by that as my #1 beauty necessity along with a pale moisturizing lip gloss.
Continue your thoughts...

5 comments:

Rachel said...

I had a similar thing happen recently! I was seduced by the packaging for Lash Stiletto. Because, well, I like stilettos. Bad idea. Major clumpiness. My old faithful is Big Tease mascara from bare minerals. It is all natural so it doesn't bother my contacts, even when I fall asleep in it. The other awesome thing is that half the brush is really short so you can wiggle it at the bottom and make your lashes look really full, and then the other side is long bristles, which separate them. It doesn't clump and doesn't flake. I always vowed I wouldn't get expensive mascara because Great Last worked well enough for me, but I just love this stuff too much. A tube lasts about 6-8 months.

Joanna Hennessy said...

I have been using Maybelline's Full & Soft Mascara after seeing how amazing it made your lashes look - as if you had very thick lashes w/ a light coat of clear mascara. I've worn it for the past two years because I saw it on you! My sister saw how fab it looked on me, and is now also a convert.
Our trick is to use the non-waterproof (navy blue tube) as a first coat, then wait at least 30 seconds and apply a second coat of the waterproof formula (silver tube)..and va-va-voom. Full lashes that look soft - not spidery.

Like you, I am sucker for all the new gimmicky mascaras, but I always wind up going back to Maybelline's Full & Soft. The latest tube to get one use and get tossed in the make-up drawer is L'Oreal's Telescopic Explosion Mascara. It comes in a red tube with a balck wand, which, in a stroke of marketing genius, is packaged with the cute, fuzzy, tiny burr-like applicator showing. The tube is capped separately so the wand can be seen.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q38/PrettySneakySis/Mascara.jpg

It look like a fuzzy little burr but it is, in fact, a plastic applicator! A little ball with tiny plastic spikes all around it. And you are right - unlike bristled applicators, these new plastic applicators glob the stuff on. They are not designed to comb the mascara through evenly but tend to glob on in the corners. It takes a while to make your eyes look "neat". As one website reviewer wrote: it took "about 5 minutes to get my eyelashes looking like they do with one sweep of Voluminous."

I had high hopes because L'Oreal first revolutionized mascaras w/ the "teddy bear brush" with Lashout (which was my go-to mascara in high school)

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q38/PrettySneakySis/Mascara2.jpg

Then L'Oreal created Voluminous, which is is like Lashout Mega. It still a very popular brand, but I have noticed that they may have changed its formulation, as it does not go on as well as it used to, producing very Tammy Faye-ish results.

After using Voluminous for years, I switched to Maybelline's Full & Soft. So far it is the best.
(You should send Maybelline Marketing this link so they could send us a case of the stuff!)

P.S. My mascara tricks:
Trick #1 - always pick the darkest carbon black or blackest black - not brown or black-brown. You may think it looks more natural in the lighter shade, but you generally wind up putting more of the stuff on to achieve the desired effect. With the blackest black mascaras, you can wear one coat for a softer look or add more coats for more dramatic impact. But, because you are wearing less mascara yet have darker lashes, THAT is truly the trick for more natural lashes.
Needless to say, blue & green mascaras, are for Halloween and for teens in Debbie Gibson videos.

Trick #2 - Apply any base first (concealer, foundation, powder, blush), eye color shadows second, then eye liner, and then mascara, with lips last, in between mascara coats. If using a powder, very lightly dab or dust some on bare lashes, as you powder your face, before applying any eye-makeup. A tiny bit of powder will cling to each lash - and I mean tiny - you shouldn't look like an albino when you open your eyes - and, once you apply mascara, your lashes will appear fuller.

Trick # 3 - waterproof/resistant black liquid liner. A very thin line, as close to the upper lashline as possible, in the outer corner of each eye, nor more than 1/4 or 5/8 of an inch in (a good guide is to line a little bit past the iris of your eye but not past the pupil) lends an effect of bigger eyes, and fuller lashes in the corners. You can experiment w/ the thickness of the liquid liner. (Note: lining the entire upper lid is best for the 1940's look paired w/ red lipstick.)

RocknRollGourmet said...

First off - even tho the applicator sucks, the Rimmel Sexy Curves Waterproof did not flake onto my face or eyelids at the end of the day, and came off super easily with my usual makeup remover. So at least the formula is good, if the brush is awful.

Secondly, Joanna, Thank You! I actually remember waaaaaay back talking to you about mascara and I thank you again for the compliment and also glad my fav has worked out so well for you!
- I'm with you on avoiding anything but Very Black
- I apply my makeup the way you described except I do liner before shadow so I can smudge it
- I am physically incapable of using liquid liner because my hands are so unsteady. I'm lucky I can apply mascara without stabbing myself in the eye!

Unknown said...

I think I am going to have to try Full and Soft next. I've yet to find a mascara that makes me perfectly happy, and even the ones that don't flake visibly onto your face frequently drop teeny tiny little bits into your eyes to irritate contact lenses. Whichever brand has the mascara that forms tubes on the lashes was good and came off very nicely, but was sadly not waterproof.

Alyssa said...

After years f searching fr something that last through the days and doesn't fake into my sensitive eyes I found a winning combo. I use Clinic's white primer, don't fear its not like those 2 in 1 pieces of crap it actually loses the white tint and hides perfectly under mascara, & Clinic's naturally glossy mascara. It is fiber free and wont send debris into my eyes.