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the best mascara you've ever tried -- come on, tell all!
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for me, it Dior Maximeyes in brown. I have long but straight and fine eye lashes that need curling. i have found this to give the best volume of any mascara i've ever tried with minimal clumping in two coats. Flaking is minimal and the non water proof formula goes the distance of all day wear even in my hot climate.
sadly, it's getting hard to find except for e-bay and i'm not that excited about buy pre-owned mascara.
what is your experience? Inquiring minds want to know! :-)
cheryl 'faux' mccoy -
Gosh...I have used Mabelline Great Lash for years since they are always touting that they remain Allure Magazine's #1 pick. I'm neutral on the results but positive on the price. I recently tried another Mabelline choice...called Unstoppable. It is UNREMARKABLE.
I have very sparse lashes and could use something better but I just feel I don't have that much to work with so why spend more $$$ to apply stuff to the sparse lashes. -
I just started using DiorShow in Chestnut and I'm over the moon in love! I love that after a day of walking around in heat and humidity there's no flaking or raccoon eyes. Heck, I can even exercise for an hour (weights and elliptical machine) and it stays put. It's also easy to remove while washing my face (Olay face wash for a whopping $3.00 at WalMart or Boots No 7 4-in-1 facial towel). I can honestly say I'll never use any other mascara unless it's necessary.
If I'm using a drugstore brand it's L'oreal Voluminous. If it's on sale it's a steal! -
Maybelline just came out with a new mascara called Define-a-Lash that has a unique application brush that they have patented. I LOVE this mascara. It doesn't clump and I am not having the problems that I used to have with some of the color winding up under my eyes after a long day but is still easy to take off. It also comes in a cool apple-green colored tube so it's easy to find it at the store. Great price; great mascara!
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I have tried everything. Mascara is pretty much the most important makeup product for me; I feel like I look tired without. So, I've tried all kinds of brands always looking for something that will be even better. I've tried Dior, Clinique, Lancome, MAC, Stila, Too Faced, Urban Decay, and every drugstore brand. I always go back to Covergirl. I don't know what it is, but Covergirl thickening mascaras always work best for me. I used to use their generic thickening mascara (in the red tube) and now I use their Fantastic Lash (which seems like a replacement of the thickening mascara). It works better for me than anything else. Interestingly, I've never liked Maybelline Great Lash.
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I with you, pas71, I've tried just about everything and I am a mascara nut. It really is my "won't leave the house without it" item.
I'm a big fan of Sonya Kashuk Lashify and Maybelline Full n' Soft, both in dark brown. However, it's been such a gross hot summer, that now I'm on the hunt for a really good waterproof mascara. Has anyone found a good volumizing waterproof mascara? So far, I like the waterproof version of Full n' Soft alright, but it doesn't give me super lush lashes like regular mascara does, just mediocre lashes. It seems like every waterproof mascara I've tried has just been sticky and clumpy. Ugh! -
I decided to look through Paula Begoun's website for her reviews of mascaras from popular make-up lines. Here are the mascaras that she is VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about!
L'Oreal Lash Architect 3-D Dramatic Mascara
Prescriptives Eyelash Curler Shaping Mascara (although she says you still need to use an eyelash curler)
Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara
Sonia Kashuk's Lashify Mascara (available at Target for $6; Thought it was a great value)
You can check out her reviews for the specifics of each at her website (go to Product Reviews). There was no review of my favorite: Maybelline's new Define-a-Lash but I might give one of these a try next time and I'll post if I do. -
Oops!
fauxmccoy: Paula also liked your favorite, Christian Dior's Maximeyes One-Coat Mascara. Forgot to put that one on the list! -
I'm partial to this Shiseido mascara that my parents bought for me when I was 13, as it is the first mascara I've ever had and used. I don't know if it's necessarily the best mascara I've ever used, but in my mind, it will always be the best.
I tried the Kiss Me mascara from Blinc, the one that comes off like little tubes, and it worked great on me. My friends thought I had fake lashes on because it made my lashes look so long. However long, it looked quite spidery, so I didn't really like that. I did have a great time taking it off!
CoverGirl's Lash Exact is pretty awesome too. I like it so much more than the volumizing version. The volumizing version is quite clumpy IMO. -
I am going to enter another vote for the Kiss Me mascara. If you use a lash comb before it dries it looks less spidery. I love that at 2pm I don't have the dark smears under my eyes.
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DiorShow Black Out and CG lash exact are my choices
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I just fell for the coupon for Revlon's 3D whatever it's called mascara. The first time I applied I had to take it off...it was so gloppy. It has some funky kind of brush that I obviously am not clever enough to know HOW to use. I did a second application and it was better but since my lashes are sparse they still looked kinda spiky!
UPDATE: STILL am finding this stuff gloppy and lashes looking spiky. I might just have to go back to Mabelline which seemed more my speed!...Grrrrr. -
I just bought some covergirl Volume Exact in Brown the other day to try, and it seems to be an ok (not awesome) mascara. I think I need more practice with the spiky little rubber brush you apply it with to get it to look just right -- so far it's been a little clumpy. It's holding up pretty well, though -- no flakes or smears. I may give the regular Lash Exact a try, since it sounds like a few ladies here like it.
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Ozinn, the key with the CG mascara is to wiggle the brush at the base of your lash and then pull it straight up through to the tips to prevent clumping.
hope this helps :) -
I keep going back to Covergirl Professional (the one in the dark blue tube). It's cheap and goes on fantastic. I've found expensive mascaras to be too watery and they always end up over my entire eye socket rather than on my lashes! I use Dr Hauschka's at the moment as it's difficult to find Covergirl where I am. I'm lucky in that I don't need to wear much - one coat usually does the trick.
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I used to have the same problem trying to find the right mascara, until I started using Massive Lash by Intuit Beauty. Which I have to admit I represent, but if you could only see the before and after pics, you would be amazed at how my own lashes have lengthened, and thickened. I now use a Lash Perfection by Max Factor. Actually any mascara will do the trick these days with my lashes. I'm so happy with them and EVERYONE comments on my lashes. If anyone is interested in seeing some before and after pictures let me know.
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Another vote for Kiss me cream mascara! Black undereyes be gone! Every other I have tried has left me with the crusty no-sleep look.
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I've been using Volum'Expressby Maybelline in Blackest Black ever since it came out. It's still the only one that works for me. I have very long but straight lashes and like fauxmccoy they need curling. I don't know what it is but everytime I curl my lashes and coat them with mascara (other than Volum'Express) they just fall straight down and I'm left with poker straight lashes...
Familiar to anyone? -
OK...today I gave up on the Revlon 3-D junk and returned to boring Mabelline Great Lash. The Revlon stuff was just stressing me out...I couldn't apply it properly, then it would smudge, and then later in the day it would flake....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Because I bought it out of town I couldn't return it.
UPDATE: AH...Great Lash is still reliable...whew! -
I'm a big fan of Neutrogena's Clean Lash Tint. It darkens lashes without looking clumpy or unnatural, and it doesn't smudge but still washes off easily.
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If any of you Diorshow addicts are also Sephora Beauty Insiders you might want to place an order; I'm confident you can come up with something else that you really need. You get a free Diorshow sample mascara with "any order". I assume it's not full size but it's always nice to have a little tube to put in your purse.
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I am currently using Almay one coat nourshing mascara triple effect--Thickens, lengthens and curls! It's ok. The brush has two lengths. I'm not sure why maybe the longer side is for the upper lashes and the shorter side is for the lower lashes. But I think I am interested in this DiorShow that I keep hearing about.
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mama boo in the comments to the brain's article on Blinc Kiss me said that Lash Matrix by Prestige work in a similar fashion.
I went to CVS, bought a tube at 1/4 the cost of Kiss Me, and I LOVE IT!!!
Pix of my eye are here: http://gloriayang.net/?p=172 -
I just looked at Gloria's pic (taiwanesegurl) and I'm impressed.....Impressed enough to jot down the name of this mascara to take with me when I go to Walgreens tomorrow and buy a tube for myself!
I just love making each other fabulous! :bigsmile: -
Recently on a tightened budget, I went with Loreal Voluminous mascara and I like it a lot. I've always been a designer brand mascara person (I was DYING to try Diorshow but it will have to wait). Lancome was what I used a lot. I would most definitely recc this Loreal product though - I accidentally got the waterproof and then went back and got the regular, so now I have both. And they're awesome. I rarely use waterproof, but this BLOWS AWAY any other waterproof I have ever tried. The only way I figured out it was, was when I couldn't get it off!!
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Argh argh argh! :angry:
I tried the LashMatrix by Prestige. It went on beautifully, looked fabulous, and I absolutely loved it... right up to the point about 90 seconds after application where it warmed up and I smelled it! :shocked: It came off in the cool little tubes as advertised, but come on Prestige! This is just silly! Why would a company would put something as potentially irritating - to anyone, not just me with my allergy - as fragrance in a product for use on the eyes?
Now I'm all heart broken. :brokenheart: Which beats being eye-swollen - or throat swollen! - but it is tremendously frustrating! :cry: -
awww..
yea, they do put some weird fragrance in it.. luckily i'm not bothered by it.. but that sucks that your allergic to it!!
my fellow trainee at my new job today had the most fantastic lashes, EVER!! i seriously thought she was wearing fake ones the entire day, because they curled so naturally and they were soo long! she told me she's wearing Volume Exact by CoverGirl.. thing is, i've used it before yet I could never get my lashes to look like that!
some girls are just lucky.. -
Mactans: Funny you should mention this! I bought LashMatrix by Prestige a week ago and am using it now. The smell hits me hard each time I pull the wand out of the tube. I wouldn't have called it a perfume. Every time I smell it, I think to myself that it's alcohol-based or something along those lines. Definitely a chemical smell to my nose. Because the formula is so unique (there are particles, or "polymer spirals" as they're called by the company, that add volume to your lashes), I've been assuming that this distinct odor was from a particular chemical or ingredient necessary to maintain the mascara's unique properties, consistency or purity.
I just looked on the ingredient list and I do see benzyl alcohol but maybe that's in all mascaras?
I agree with Gloria: This mascara is GREAT at building up lashes! That's one of the "pro"s in my mind. It also stays put! But the "con" is that you have to accept these particles coming off in pieces when you go to remove your eye makeup. It says on the box "Polymer spirals will release upon rinsing". I am not liking the way I have bits and pieces of it lingering in my eyes. I may reserve this mascara for when I want some "eye drama" for special occasions at night. I don't think I'd go so far as to put the strong smell as a "con". To me, it's just weird more than anything else.
But I am perplexed because I can't really ever remember smelling mascara before when I use it! I'm no chemist and my chemical engineer majoring son is away at college so I can't hand the list of ingredients to him to decipher so..... I think this is one for the Left of Right Brain to tackle.
LEFT BRAIN or RIGHT BRAIN: Can you please tell us what's up with this very strong smell and if we should be concerned? -
The package lists "fragrance."
I could not believe my nose... OK, I didn't want to believe my nose... so the first thing I did was turn the package over and read it. The second thing I did... make that third thing... was clean the mascara off. (Second thing involved a lot of unladylike language.)
Customer service note: I just now called Blinc and spoke to Natalie, who promptly emailed me an ingredient list so I could check for fragrance; no one was answering the 800 line at Prestige. I loathe non-existent customer service people.
BTW, here's the ingredients for Blinc's mascara:
Water (Aqua), Ammonium Acrylates Copolymer, Propylene Glycol, Acrylates Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Isopropyl Alcohol, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben. [May Contain (+/-): Iron Oxides, Ultramarines, Mica, Titanium Dioxide]
Here is the ingredient list for Prestige LashMatrix:
Water (Aqua), Polyurethane-2, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate, Glyceryl Stearate, Methyl Pyrrolidone, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Dimethylimidazolidinone Rice Starch, PEG-6 Beeswax, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Alcohol Denat., Sorbitol, Diethylhexyl Sebacate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Laureth-2 Benzoate, Butylene Glycol, VP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Fragrance (Parfum), Tocopherol, Polybutene, Dimethicone PEG-8 Polyacrylate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Isopropylparaben, Geraniol, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Methylparaben, Hydroxypropylcellulose, Sodioum Lauryl sulfate, Dipropylene Glycol, Laureth-23, Citronellol, Linalool, Limonene. May Contain [+/-]: Iron Oxides Cl 77491/Cl 77492/Cl 77499, Ultramarines Cl 77007, Chromium Hydroxide Green Cl 77289, chromium Oxide Greens Cl 77288, Carmine Cl 75470, Titanium Dioxide Cl 77891, Mica Cl 77019.
Wow... now I'm curious as to how many of those extra ingredients do anything particularly useful? -
More "ramblings" about LashMatrix by Prestige:
I just can't reconcile my feelings of using a fantastic mascara that makes my eyes absolutely POP (lots of compliments when I wear it!) with my concern over the funky smell. I know, Mactans, it says "Fragrance" on the list of ingredients but that can't possibly explain this peculiar odor before it dries.
Just for the heck of it, I decided to ask people to smell it, without being able to see that it was mascara, and then tell me what they smelled (seven people total, three were men). I told them absolutely nothing to influence them one way or the other.
Everyone answered "Something chemical..." with interesting additional responses like, "Vinyl", "Blacktop sealant", "BAD new car smell", and my favorite, "Burnt Silly Putty". I know: not terribly scientific but now I'm certain we're not just smelling fragrance here!
I e-mailed the ingredient list to my son for some analysis (he's a Chemical Engineering major and is taking a Material Science class this semester). He said polyurethane may be the culprit and interestingly, it's a "dimethicone polymer" that's related to the main ingredient in Silly Putty. He also said Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate is related to a compound that makes spoiled dairy products smell bad.
Geez! No wonder this stuff smells funky! Of course, the next question that begs to be asked is, "Is all this safe to put in a mascara?"
HELP LEFT BRAIN & RIGHT BRAIN!
I'm hoping this catches their attention. Otherwise, I might submit this as a formal question. I just don't want to give up this mascara... :cry: -
My favorite has always been Lancome's Definicils mascara. Since I've decided to sell Arbonne, I bit the bullet and ordered their mascara to try. I actually like it. It has great coverage and definition but it leaves my eyelashes really soft. Sometimes at night I can't remember if I've taken my makeup off or not. I'll feel my eyelashes to see if I have mascara and I can't feel it. So, I have to actually look in a mirror to see if I've removed it.
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The best mascara I used was this clear formula that came out in the 80's. I guess it didn't sell well. I can't remember what the name or the ingredients, but I liked it because I didn't get the racoon eyes and it defined my lashes. I sometimes used Vaseline on a mustache comb that worked well.
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I really like the thick, dramatic lashes (though not necessarily long) effect, and for me, L'Oreal's HIP mascara works wonders for this - I also really love MaxFactor's Volume Couture. Incidentally, I actually DON'T like the supposed #1 mascara - Mabelline's Great Lash. However, that may be because I prefer the dramatic look, and this one is not made to acheive that effect.
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I'm so glad I didn't check this thread before I headed off to target, or else I'd have bought 5 different mascaras. =P
I like Max Factor's Volume Couture too! It's one that I reach for quite often. -
Have any of you tried DiorShow or Maximeyes? If so, how do you think they compare to some of our drugstore favorites? Worth the extra money or not really?
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I've used Maximeyes before and I do like it. I think the best part about that macara is the brush. However, I still prefer Covergirl Fantastic Lash to any other mascara. I'm not sure why, but that mascara just works so well for me. I think it might be the way that I layer my mascara to make my lashes really thick, dark and dramatic. The Covergirl mascaras seem to let me do that without getting super clumpy.
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funny nobody mentioned Lacome
I think they make the best mascaras, definicils is definitely my number one choice
I've been meaning to try DiorShow.
But I usually do not use mascara, because at the end of the day, I teach at the gym, and no mascara can't resist the workout
except definicils waterproof, which is great, but hard to get off, however I am impressed with it, It survived my whole wedding, crying and all without smudging
on the other hand, I feel bad spending too much money on them, since you are supposed to throw them away every 3 months
(everybody is doing this right?)
so I've been using samples for the last year
the last one I've been using is estee lauder "more than mascara" , and is pretty good
so that's second place after definicils, maybe I'll buy a tube if I do not get another free sample
sephora is giving diorshow samples away? I guess is my time ot try it -
Do any of you ladies have a recommendation for someone who wants length, thickness, and curl but has sensitive eyes? I have tried CG Lash Exact and hated it, I had issues with flaking. I've switched to a sensitive eye solution remover, but flakes still irritate my eyes something fierce.
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This month's People Style Watch magazine tested CoverGirl's new polymer mascara called LashBlast. Here's what they said:
What it claims: CoverGirl's LashBlast Mascara promises majorly plumped-up lashes, thanks to spherical wax particles that create tiny spaces between the lashes.
What we thought: It works! The extra-large, easy-to-operate flexible-bristle brush ensures every lash is well coated, and it doesn't get clumpy at all.
A bonus: You don't need to apply more than one coat.
The CVS price is $7.49. I think I will buy a tube to compare it to Prestige's polymer mascara which is my absolute favorite mascara right now. (Thank you, Gloria! :smile: ) -
Cover Girl Lash Exact has worked the best for me. I have had no issues with flaking off. The brush is the best ever. I will get this for my daughter for her stocking and see if she likes it. She is a mascara junkie!
buenos dias,
Lynnette -
I've never found any drugstore mascara to be remarkable.
I really like Benefit's BadGal Blue and Imju's Fiberwig at the moment. I've tried DiorShow and was unimpressed for the price. -
Periodically I try a new mascara but I always come back to Cargo. I tried it originally because it's one of the only purple mascaras out there. I liked it so much that I went back and bought it in black too. I noticed that whenever the bloggers review mascaras they never like the Cargo but I've got fairly good lashes so I just need a little bit of thickening and of course the color. It goes on nicely, comes off easily but stays put during the day. And it comes in purple!
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Oh PurpleRules: How I envy you! I love the purple hues on my hazel eyes and I used to wear a lot of the lavender/heather shades but I've developed such an atrocious allergic reaction to anything with the red dyes in it that I can't wear it anymore. I bet that mascara you're describing is gorgeous!
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Hi
I've been meaning to try the Imju one, is it hard to get off?
my mascara always smudges, but I hate waterproof ones, unless it's for special events -
Fitness Brain: Have you tried any of the new polymer spiral mascaras? I have no problem with smudging. I like Prestige's version but Cover Girl has a new one and one of the "department store" brands has one, too. Anyone remember whose it is?
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Karen- is it Blinc Kiss Me?
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Cate: I think you're right - that's one of them but I think Prescriptives makes one, too. Maybe Lash Envy?
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I am supposed to be reviewing Prescriptives False Eyelashes Plush mascara...I wisi it would arrive :wink:
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I heard about Blin Kiss Me as well,
which one should I try, Imju or Kiss me?
the only thing I do not want is to spend hours trying to remove it -
Karen, you can't wear red dyes at all? I could live with black mascara and eyeliner but I don't think I own an eyeshadow that doesn't have some red in it.
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PurpleRules: No, I can't. It's awful! Every make-up artist confirms what a dermatologist told me, though. I'm allergic to the red dyes and they are in soooooo many colors. The MAC MA said there are many other people, just like me. They know exactly which colors I can and can't wear so I'll appreciate their good advice when I go back for more! :tongue:
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