I share a bathroom with my sister. It isn’t fun, but it has its advantages. For example, when I ran out of mascara and asked if I could borrow hers. She said yes and immediately launched into a rant about how her mascara is amazing and I’m going to love it. I mentally rolled my eyes.
I take my skepticism back. Diorshow waterproof mascara is my favorite to this day. It 
lengthens. It volumizes. It’s magic.
The brush is thick and straight, which I find easier to maneuver than curved brushes, and it narrows at the tip so you can get the lashes at the corners of your eyes without blotting mascara everywhere. It’s $24 (at Sephora) and worth every cent.
It’s bold and full, and I mention it first because it’s the standard to which I hold all other mascaras. Why am I even looking? I love trying new things, and maybe I can find something good at a better price in the process. Sometimes all I need is a quick fix but all I can find is a drugstore. And not everyone wants to pay $24 for mascara — thus my search for a more frugal substitute begins.
This week I tried Maybelline’s Waterproof Define-A-Lash Lengthening Mascara in Brownish Black, which is supposed to define and lengthen. It looks okay, but it doesn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat or anything. I kept applying more, waiting for the length to show up. I felt like my shorter lashes got lumped together with my longer lashes, which certainly makes them stand out, but that’s not really defining each lash — and it comes at the price of volume.
Maybe it was the awful brush. I didn’t pay attention to the packaging when I bought it, but the brush is “flexible” and “shaped to the lash,” which I translate to cheap, flimsy and oddly-shaped. Honestly, the shape might not be so bad if it stayed in place, 
but I could feel it bending while applying it to my lashes and I don’t understand how this is a good thing. That is a smudge waiting to happen while you’re in a rush, already running late for work. Not that I would know…
Pros: $8.29 and it really is waterproof. I went to the gym, sweated like a hothouse tomato and still had great eye makeup when my workout was over. No raccoon eyes for me.
Cons: The lengthening effect was unsatisfactory. My lashes don’t look any longer than they do with any non-lengthening mascara. Hooray for returns policies.
I’m not ready to give up on Maybelline yet, though. They make like 20 different mascaras. This morning I tried their Waterproof Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Mascara in Very Black, which is supposed to give your lashes length and volume. I’m happy to report it does both.
The brush is, thankfully, not flexible, though they’re still doing something fancy with the shape. This had me worried. I always think that if a product is good, it doesn’t need gimmicky selling points like a loop-de-loop brush that glows in the dark and 
doubles as a vibrator. Curvy shapes get in my way more than actually helping. I think it’s because I know where the straight brush is going to go, whereas the curve of a brush might not end up where I think it will, and that is how I end up poking my eye…like I did this morning.
But it looks pretty good. You get length and some volume, and my lashes don’t feel stuck together. It’s not quite as full a look as I would like, but for $8.49 I don’t expect miracles. I would say you definitely get your money’s worth. Lash Stiletto is a good drugstore brand choice that gets the job done.
Pros: It’s a good look for the price, length + volume.
Cons: Brush is unnecessarily curvy, but some people like that.