Mascara Monday | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Arbonne Mascara Review

I have a new favorite mascara! I truly love this one! But unfortunately it isn’t the easiest to get. Arbonne is a Swedish multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells skin care products and cosmetics. I have seen folks rave about Arbonne. I have also seen some criticisms. In any event, I always wanted to do an Arbonne review, but never tried them because, frankly, I hate having to call a consultant and put up with the sales pitches just to buy a few cosmetics. As a customer, I simply am not a MLM fan. But then I found some Arbonne products online at Amazon.com (see link below) so I decided to give them a shot.

OK, so with that background, ARBONNE Virtual Illusion Dual Volume Mascara is a seriously great mascara! The mascara has two ends. One end is a seemingly standard mascara. The brush size is average, but the bristles are a bit further apart than seen with many brushes. It kind of reminds me of Maybelline Lash Stilletto, but I like the look from the Arbonne mascara better. The other end is a clear gel that is applied with a smaller rubberized brush. This plays nicely off of an old, but good, mascara application tip—apply one coat of one type of mascara, let dry, and then a second coat of another kind for the best look. Below are my lashes after application:

I found that the Arbonne mascara itself gave great length, gave some curl (something that I rarely find in a mascara, even the ones that claim to be curling), and was a lovely deep black (much blacker than the picture indicates). The only downside is that the mascara does come out a bit thick on the brush, so careful wiping to avoid clumps is an absolute necessity. Then, when the gel was applied, the color was enhanced, the lashes were better defined, and it lasted all day without changing in appearance and without a single smudge or flake, yet it removed very easily with plain old soap and water. Overall, my lashes look better with this mascara than they do with most others. I truly love this Arbonne mascara. Now I just hope it stays available on Amazon.com!

I also purchased a set of Arbonne skin care samples and some Arbonne hair care items at Amazon, and I will be reviewing them soon.

Popularity: 1% [?]

DuWop Lash Venom Mascara

I am a fan of DuWop Original Lip Venom which is a nice basic clear lip plumper that has a good amount of tingle, and hence a bit of actual plumping to it (don’t expect miracles though, it simply is a good gloss that plumps a little, where most don’t plump at all). Anyway, DuWop Lash Venom Mascara was not to mascara what lip venom is to lip gloss. Instead, it was rather disappointing for me.

This rather standard mascara, with a bit smaller than normal brush (something I normally like) didn’t really measure up for me on all levels. I didn’t get a whole lot of length from this mascara. I would say it was definitely under average. Then, while it wasn’t a clump fest, it did clump slightly for me. Mostly though, it smudged. I had fairly bad raccoon eyes within a couple of hours. Just to be sure that I wasn’t having a bad mascara day, I tried it on two other days, with the same results. So the upshot with this one is that I say stick with the lip venom, but skip the lash venom.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mascara Monday: Smashbox Bionic Mascara

I was quite happy with Smashbox Bionic Mascara. In fact, it was one of the better mascaras I have tried in a while.

At first blush, Smashbox Bionic Mascara looks pretty standard. Standard black tube, fairly standard bristle brush, etc. But the brush has a bit of a different shape to the bristles, and I got really nice length from it. So much so, that I was rather surprised! I don’t normally get such length with a standard bristle brush. I also had no clumping or other issues. Definition was also nice, with a really natural look. So look to this one for length with definition, no so much for volume.

The Beauty.com link I gave does include a bad review of it though. That person reported smudging. I didn’t have any such problems though and have worn it all day several times now.

Shop for more Smashbox Cosmetics

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mascara Monday: Benefit BadGal Lash

Benefit BadGal Mascara BADgal lash mascara advertises itself this way: “With a big, bad brush and a rich, black formula, its like wearing a set of false eyelashes without the glue.” That is pretty accurate. The brush on Benefit BadGal is big and fat. That isn’t usually my favorite type of brush, but I was fine with it in the BadGal formula. Unlike with some big brush mascaras, I didn’t end up with lots of clumping from this one.

The formula allows for good length and a fair amount of volume. I had no issues with flaking or smudging, and the mascara removed just fine. Overall, if you like big brush mascaras, this is a good one!

Note too that benefit also makes there BadGal lash available in dark blue. Personally, I love blue mascara. It really brightens the eyes!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mascara Monday: L’Oreal Voluminous Naturale Mascara

Ulta.com L’Oreal Voluminous Naturale Mascara is a very nice thin rubber brush mascara that provides good length and definition. I tend to prefer the smaller rubber brushes because they provide better definition without clumping issues.

The formula for Vouminous Natural is light, yet it provides very good length. I loved the look that I got with this mascara and it wore very well for me. Removal was also fine. The one downside is that the brush handle was a bit flexible, and I once smeared the mascara onto my hand when putting it back in the tube because the brush bent back and snapped out instead of sliding in. I had the same problem/complaint with Maybelline Define-a-Lash—a mascara that overall is nearly identical to this one.

Overall: a very good mascara, but be careful when putting the brush back in the tube.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mascara Monday: Stila Multi-Effect Mascara

Stila Multi-Effect Mascara provided a very pleasant surprise for me—it actually can curl! It seems that so many mascaras claim that they can curl the lashes, and then they really don’t measure up. Curling is either minimal, or it doesn’t last. Stila’s mascara actually does what it promises.

Stila Multi-Effect seems like a pretty standard formulation, with a standard curved brush. Lengthening and volume were good with it. Nothing extreme, or outstanding, but perfectly acceptable. I had no issues with clumping, but be sure to wipe the brush well with this one first—I did have quite a bit of extra mascara hanging on mine when I first took it out of the tube. Where it shines is the curling, one swipe with the curved brush pulls the lashes into a pretty decent curl. It also holds well. I normally advocate just using an eyelash curler, but for something that is good to go when you don’t have one available, this is a great mascara!

Multi-Effect also wore well for me. No issues with flaking, and it removed easily. I give this one a thumbs up!
Comparison shop for Stila cosmetics

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mascara Monday Review: L’Oreal Telescopic Explosion

Total Beauty sent me a sample of the not yet released L’Oreal Telescopic Explosion Mascara. The mascara will be on the market in November, 2009. I had very mixed feelings about it the first time I used it, but with use, I warmed up to it.

It seems like mascaras are always looking for a new gimmick in order to get people to keep buying. I suppose I can see why that is. It is not like eyeshadow or lipstick where a company can put out limited edition shades to keep the buyer coming back. The gimmick with L’Oreal Telescopic Explosion is a little round brush. It basically looks like a little ball on the end of a rather long wand. If you are familiar with Givenchy’s Phenomen’Eyes, it is very similar.

On the good side, the brush made getting into the corner of the eye easy, and I kind of liked it for lower lashes. It is meant to be used from any angle, and it indeed works well for that. I also got some incredible length from the formula, but, at least the first time that I used it, it came with price—thick clumping on some lashes. At first I thought I hadn’t wiped the brush well enough so I tried again—still more clumps. It also takes some work to coat all of the lashes with the tiny brush. I worked from one side to the other, but would occasionally accidentally overlap an area which, of course, led to even more clumping.

The second time I used it, I fared better. I thoroughly wiped every bit of excess from the brush and was careful not to overlap any areas. When applied with caution, I got a very nice clump-free look from it, with very nice length. I think the little round brush takes some getting used to. The overall look from this one, applied with extreme caution to avoid clumpage, is very long spiky and well define lashes. I found the look to be very similar to that of Maybelline’s Lash Stiletto.

The mascara also wears well. No smudging or flaking, yet it removes very easily.