Loose Powder

Previously, I reviewed the Eyeko Curvy Brush Mascara and I wasn’t super-impressed with the results. Well, I decided to give Eyeko another try and picked up a Fat Brush Mascara from Henri Bendel while I was in Manhattan in December.

The Fat Brush boats smudge free volume, so I had to give it a try on my short, fine eyelashes. Here’s a look at the packaging and the brush:

You can see the fibers on the brush in the last picture, which help in giving the lashes length and volume. I found the formula to be a good consistency – not too wet or goopy. also included is an Eyeko shield, which I still haven’t figured out how to use.

Here are some before and after photos:

As you can see from the photos, Fat Brush doesn’t add a ton of volume with the two coats I applied. It does add some length, though, and I can get a little more volume if I apply additional coats quickly before it dries. Lashes  don’t get crunchy once dry, so that was a plus.

There was no flaking during the day and the mascara looked as good at the end of the day as they did after application. Removal was easy with some warm water and light rubbing like you do with any fiber/tubing mascara.

I do like the Fat Brush mascara better than the Curly Brush mostly because of, well, the brush. I think the formulas are pretty similar. An Eyeko representative suggested that I might like the Skinny Brush mascara, so I might try that next.

Eyeko mascara is available online, at Asos, Harvey Nichols, and Henri Bendel.

Hey, guys! I’m still on the hunt for a mascara that I really like and next on my list is Maybelline’s Great Lash Lots of Lashes Mascara. I purchased this product in the non-waterproof blackest black.

The first thing you’ll notice is the teardrop shaped brush, which took some getting used to. I didn’t think it made application easier, but it did an okay job separating lashes and not sticking them together.

The formula is a bit wet, but wasn’t messy to apply. Actually, the wetness of the mascara meant that blinking got some product on my lower lashes which was convenient!

Here are some before and after photos:

While I wouldn’t say this mascara dramatically increases length or volume, this Lots of Lashes does add a nice bit of length and a little volume. It’s a good look for daytime or when I was something a bit more than my natural eyelashes.

Wear time on this was good. After 9 hours, there was no flaking nor did it leave black circles under my eyes. Once dry, my lashes did feel a bit crunchy. Removal was easy with my Philosophy Release Me makeup remover, but soap and water works just as well!

Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes mascara is available where Maybelline products are sold. I paid $4.50 for this tube at Target.

Yeah, I’m still on the hunt for a mascara I like that adds length and volume to my lashes! If that wasn’t enough, I’m also looking for something with fewer chemicals so when I saw this NatureLuxe Mascara, I had to give it a try!

CoverGirl describes this as a mousse mascara and says they have exchanged traditional synthetic polymers for natural beeswax to give your lashes volume. This mascara is also meant to be removed easily with soap and water.

Like some mascaras, this one is packaged with the product in a capped tube and the brush next to it so you can see what the brush looks like. I’m a fan of these fine bristled plastic-y brushes as they seem to work best with my lashes.

I applied this mascara to lashes that I curled with my heated eyelash curler. It was pretty easy to apply but was a little messy – the formula was wet, but not runny. It does add volume, but some of it is just from sticking the lashes together. I don’t think I got any noticeable length and the result is a little… chunky. At the end of the day, I had some flaking which wasn’t terrible, but was annoying.

Here are some before and after photos:

The heaviness of the formula (probably from the beeswax) weighs down the curl a little bit, but doesn’t totally flatten my eyelashes to their usual straight down position.

It’s an okay mascara, but I don’t love it. I’ve used it a few more times since originally trying it with similar results, though the third time the formula had dried a little and was a little less goopy to work with but still wasn’t anything that impressed me.

Please keep in mind that mascaras work differently on different people. What doesn’t work for me might work great for you!

NatureLuxe Mascara is available wherever you find CoverGirl products. Price will vary, but I paid $7.99 for this at Target.

I got this sample size of Stila‘s Forever Your Curl mascara with a Sephora order a couple months back.

It’s a very tiny tube, but certainly good for traveling. I wouldn’t have purchased a full size of this without trying, so the sample was great to get.

The brush has very short bristles – almost as short as the plastic type brushes I like. I found the formula rather dry, though that meant it didn’t weight down my curled lashes and also didn’t leave globs of mascara in them.

Here are a few before and after sets:

The results are pretty subtle… I might as well not be wearing mascara at all. It definitely doesn’t give me noticeable length or volume. It did hold the curl better than some other mascaras, but i think that’s due to the drier formula that doesn’t weight the lashes down.

This is not a waterproof mascara, so it was easy to wash off with soap & water or eye makeup remover.

There was no flaking with this mascara and it wore all right, but the lackluster results are not worth $22 in my opinion. The mascara hunt continues!

Hey, guys! Here’s a super-quick review of Essence Stays On and On and On! mascara. I picked this up at Ulta for $3.99. The tube advertises a smudge and smear-proof mascara that adds volume but is easy removed with warm water.

The brush has shorter bristles than most of the mascaras I’ve tried so far. The formula is also rather dry.  Because I had so much trouble getting the mascara on, it ended up being a little messy, which you’ll see in the photos since I didn’t clean it up that well.

There is noticeable volume and some length, but I found the application a little clumpy. I think it works all right for a $4 mascara, but it certainly isn’t one of my favorites.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to use the rest of the tube, but it seems to dry out more with each subsequent use. Not a good thing!

Imju Fiberwig is the top selling mascara in Japan. Saff sent me a tube of this from South Korea and I was eager to try it out….except a bunch of other items got in the way first. Whoops!

Fiberwig is a tubing mascara with tiny fibers that are supposed to help add length, which is good because it certainly doesn’t add any volume. The plus of a tubing mascara is that it’s easily removed with warm water and just gently rubbing your eyelashes.

Here’s a look at the tube and brush:

The brush is a pretty standard shape, but up close you can see the tiny fibers on the brush.

From doing searches, there are a few of these fiberwig mascaras that come in similar red tubes with different designs printed on them. I’m not sure if they are all the same or different knock-offs. As far as I know, Imju is the first one, or at least the best selling one.

I applied two coats of this mascara after curling my eyelashes. It gives a very natural look and if I’m careful, it adds length without sticking my already sparse eyelashes together.

Before and after photos:

Again, you’ll see from the photos that the mascara gives a very natural look and adds a fair amount of length. I do like this a lot for an every day look and will probably alternate between this one and the Buxom mascara.

imju Fiberwig can be found on eBay, but be careful what sellers you purchase from. I had ordered one before and never got it. It should cost you less than $15.

My eyelashes are pretty sparse, so I’m definitely interested in any mascara that promises lots of volume! Up next in my series of mascara reviews: Rimmel Volume Accelerator Mascara.

Okay, I admit that I was drawn in by the advertisements with Zooey Deschanel even though I know that they’re always wearing falsies in those ads. I bought it at Target and paid $8 for it, I think.

The bold yellow and black packaging claims this mascara will make my lashes look 12x fuller immediately and that the lash growth complex would make my lashes look more numerous after 30 days.

I do like the design of the tube – it’s a clear plastic vessel around a black inner chamber that holds the mascara. The brush itself is flat on one side and a half teardrop on the other. I’m still not sure if the brush designs make a huge difference for me with these spooled brushes, but it’s hard to say for sure.

Here are some before and after photos:

This is actually pretty impressive. Volume Accelerator added a lot of length and volume! You can see it very well in the second set of photos – lots of length and volume! Okay, well, the volume is partly that the mascara is sticking lashes together and then coating them, but still the result is fantastic.

I did find this mascara a little tricky to work with – it was a bit wetter than some others, but the consistency will probably thicken up after exposure to air. The runny formula made a bit of a mess that I was able to clean up with a cotton swab – you can see it in the first “after” photo though.

Because of the runny consistency of the mascara, any curl I was able to get with a normal eyelash curler disappeared quickly. Thankfully, using my new heater eyelash curler (I’ll be reviewing it soon), I was able to curl my lashes without breaking any lashes or ruining the mascara application.

Once dry, my lashes aren’t crunchy even though it adds such length and volume. The mascara has great wear with no flaking after 8 hours. Even though this isn’t a waterproof mascara, I found that I still needed to use my regular makeup remover to get it all off. It wasn’t that big of a deal, though, and I’m pretty happy with the performance overall.

I can’t speak too much on the long term lash growth effect, but from what I’ve read, growth serums that are applied to the lash itself aren’t really useful since those are just dead cells that aren’t growing. From other articles, it seems that any kind of lash growth serum should be applied where you would apply eyeliner. That makes sense since that’s closest to where the root of the hairs are.

Overall, I did like the performance of this mascara. Of the ones I’ve tried so far, Volume Accelerator has given me the best volume so far!

Still doing a tour of all my mascaras and the next one I’ve been trying out is the Buxom Lash Mascara. This one is apparently exclusive to Sephora stores, though, and isn’t sold in Bare Escentuals boutiques.

I’ve gotten a couple sample sizes of this mascara with my Beauty Insider points, so I have yet to pay for a full tube, but I think I might be doing so after those run out!

I like this brush a lot. The plastic brushes are my favorite and work better for me than the traditional spooly brushes. My eyelashes are kind of sparse, so the load of individual teeth on this brush work really well to coat each eyelash without clumping them together so I get a more natural look.

On that note, this mascara only adds a bit of length and volume, but nothing amazing. It makes a great every day mascara though.

Here are some before and after photos:

This mascara washes off easily with soap and warm water, which is great if you’re traveling and want to reduce the number of items you’re packing.

The one thing I can’t figure out is if this mascara is leaving dark smudges under my eyes. Sometimes it seems to and sometimes it doesn’t. It kind of varies and doesn’t seem to matter if I’m wearing primer or eyeliner or not. So, I’m still trying to work that one out. Otherwise, I do love this eyeliner and will probably keep using it.

Buxom Lash Mascara is available exclusively at Sephora and retails for $19.

Next stop on my mascara tour is Benefit‘s BADgal Lash mascara!

This mascara is advertised as one that will give you full, voluminous lashes. I don’t know if this mascara is waterproof – I can’t find anything on the site that says it is, so I’ll assume it’s not.

I like the printed text on the tube – the pink scripted text on the gloss black tube looks great! One thing I dislike is the giant brush. I’m a big fan of the plastic brushes as I feel they work better for my lashes. This brush is way too big for me and it’s difficult to get an even coat.

For me, this mascara was a bit messy to apply. You’ll see the smudges on my eye lids in the photos below. It did add a fair but of length and some volume, but my lashes also got kind of spidery and clumpy. It wasn’t terrible, though, so I’d be okay going out with this look.

Here are before and after photos from a few angles:

I had applied three coats and once they were dried, my eyelashes were kind of stiff. There was a little flaking but nothing serious and it still looked good after 8 hours. Removal was pretty easy with my regular makeup remover (philosophy’s release me). For me, this was average performance and I might end up using the rest of the tube, but I probably won’t repurchase.

Benefit BADgal lash mascara retails for $19 and is available at many retailers including Sephora and Ulta.

Still on my search for a mascara, here’s a look at blinc, a popular brand of tubing mascara. I got this sample sized mascara in my October Birchbox.

The mascara came in a metal tube with a screw on cap – nice presentation but seems like a waste of materials.

If you’re not familiar, a tubing mascara is different from traditional mascaras in that it doesn’t use waxes to coat your lashes. Instead, it’s a flexible polymer that coats and dries around your lashes. You build length with multiple coats, best added once the previous coat has dried. These mascaras add length, but generally not volume.

I found blinc’s formula really runny, but that might change after a couple uses with exposure to air. First use was a bit difficult though and I had some lashes sticking together. There’s little added volume, of course, because it doesn’t contain any fibers. I didn’t get any flaking or running after 8 hours of wear – which is typical of this kind of mascara. Removal was easy with warm water and gentle rubbing.

If you’ve never used a tubing mascara, it’s a little scary when you remove it! Bits of black that look like they might be eyelashes seem like they’re coming off – but don’t worry! It’s just the tubes.

Here are some before and after photos. (Sorry about the iffy quality!)

It’s definitely a more natural look – you’re enhancing your eyelashes rather than giving a falsie look. I’m okay with that though, and it’s very easy to remove without a waterproof makeup cleaner. Blinc was a little difficult to work with – sometimes my  lashes would look nice and separated and sometimes lashes would stick together. Once dried, your lashes stay flexible (not crunchy like others), but if your lashes are clumped together, you do feel a weird tugging feeling. It’s not painful, just slightly uncomfortable and the feeling goes away in a little bit.

Overall, I’d say this was an okay mascara, but it’s kind of expensive ($24 at Sephora) so I might stick with other options like imju fiberwig, which I’ll review later on.