Mascara Monday | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Dec 14, 2009

Arbonne Mascara Review

December 14, 2009 By Carleenp 4 Comments

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.

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page

Filed Under: Makeup, Mascara Tagged With: Arbonne, Mascara, Mascara Monday

Nov 9, 2009

DuWop Lash Venom Mascara

November 9, 2009 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Makeup, Mascara Tagged With: DuWop, Mascara, Mascara Monday

Nov 2, 2009

Mascara Monday: Smashbox Bionic Mascara

November 2, 2009 By Carleenp 1 Comment

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