Sunday, February 20, 2011

Mascara Wars

Warning: This post contains explicit material about make-up and really girly things. Take heed male readers.

Even though I'd pronounced my favorite mascara here, I couldn't help but get sucked into marketing schemes and try a couple new mascaras. I mean, how could you not want to try a mascara called "Falsies." HA! So today we will be pitting the challenger, CoverGirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara against a couple contenders and see how it fares. Can it stay the ultimate mascara champion or will it crumble into a streaky black mess of failure? Let's find out...

CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Mascara

 
vs.


CoverGirl LashBlast Fusion Mascara


After declaring the CG LashBlast Volume Mascara as my favorite, CoverGirl came out with a new formula that was supposed to be both a volumizing and lengthening mascara. Well that's clearly better than just a volumizing mascara, right?


It took me a couple purchases of the Fusion mascara before I could really compare it to the Volume mascara. I accidentally bought the brown color of the Fusion my first time around, which I couldn't compare equally with the Volume because color can make a big difference in how the mascara looks. Still, the formula felt a little drier than the Volume. I thought it might be a fluke... maybe it'd been sitting on the shelf longer than normal because brown isn't as popular of a color. So I went back for a second tube and this time got my regular color: blackest black.

I immediately noticed the Fusion mascara formula was indeed drier than the Volume formula. I'm sure they did this to increase the length and volume, but it wasn't obviously more so than the Volume mascara. And because it started out drier, the tube didn't last as long. I saw little clumps on my lashes pretty early on. The Fusion mascara used the exact same wand as the Volume which I liked, but the one thing that sealed the deal on Volume being the winner was price. The Fusion mascara was more expensive than the Volume formula, by $.50 I think.

So the winner and remaining champ is.... CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Mascara!


Ready for the next fight? You got it...

Entering the ring we have our continuing champ: CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Mascara


And our new contender is.....Maybelline Volum' Express "the Falsies" Black Drama Mascara



I'll admit I bought this mascara just because of the name. Falsies? That name makes me think of these not these. My immediate opinion of the Falsies mascara was I didn't like the brush. It was too stubby and it looked like there was a lot of mascara loaded on the wand. Surprisingly it applied fairly well, not the gloppy mess I thought it would be. Still, I've come to love the plastic bristle brushes and this one was too bushy and not stiff enough. I also noticed there were a lot of hair-like fibers in the formula. I'm sure this is how they get the dramatic "false lash" look, but to me it just made the formula look dirty.

As far as performance goes, I didn't hate the look the Falsies gave. I did think this made my lashes look longer and fuller than the CG Volume mascara did, but not obviously so. However, the look with the Falsies was a bit clumpier than with the Volume mascara and it was tough to evenly cover my lower lashes without clumps and globs. The staying power of the Falsies mascara was comparable to CG Volume which was nice and I do think if you're looking for a super dramatic look you may like this mascara, but for everyday wear, I'm going to stick with my CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Mascara. Especially because I can add additional coats if I want the dramatic look the Falsies gave me. I have heard the original formula of Falsies (not the Black Drama formula) is a better everyday mascara, so I may end up trying that one in the future, just to see if I like it. But for our purposes today, I officially declare the winner to be:

CoverGirl Lashblast Volume Mascara!!



Have you tried any of these mascaras? Which did you like best and why? Do you use a completely different brand you think I'd like better?

2 comments:

Paul said...

Ok. You were right to post a warning. I was wrong not to heed your warning. However, it was all worth it because I clicked on the falsies link. Heh heh.

It's Me said...

I am glad someone is out there to give me a good idea of what to buy in the cosmetics isles. Too much to choose from! I'm glad you tried the Falsies. Too good of a name to at least try!