Holy Grail Beautyy . . .

• Cruelty Free YES
• Fragrance Free YES
• Natural bristle brush
• Cheap 

This is my first mascara from Wet 'n' Wild.

Beauty Guru

This mascara is very cheap and had good reviews; I was specifically looking for a cruelty free and inexpensive mascara.  Wet 'n' Wild is not sold in department stores in Australia so I purchased it from Beautybay, unfortunately its not that great and I 'll tell you why below.  I have been using it for nearly two months and I feel I know how it performs for me very well now.

The brush is slim as the name suggests and the brush is a natural bristle.  It's a dry formula and it is not very volumising, lengthening, curling; it can be quite defining and if you have very thick natural lashes this might be interesting in terms of defining your lashes more; but overall it is very underwhelming as any definition or lift you do get will drop out quite quickly, but to be fair it does not claim to be anything other than a slim brush head mascara not a volumising, lengthening etc mascara. 

What it doesn't do that is good is that it doesn't flake or transfer and you can layer a fair bit as it doesn't clump really.

Overall I would not recommend this product.

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Image from wetnwild.com
Wet 'n' Wild

• CRUELTY FREE YES
• FRAGRANCE FREE YES
• Natural bristle wand
• High end pricing $35 AUD
• One colour available black

This is my first mascara from Stila.

Beauty Guru

This mascara is excellent at lifting, defining, giving length and non clumpy lashes!  The formula is not too wet and not too dry its just right!

The curl/lift does drop after a while but not as bad as some mascaras and the pigment is good but I would prefer even blacker.  The wand reminds me a lot of Better than Sex and Lash Paradise with the hourglass kind of shape and the packaging is in a gold tube.



Now the downside.  Pretty quickly I found I would get a ring of black pigment like a shadow of the mascara under my eyes.  Whether I do a lot of activity or nothing much this occurs.  Its not dark black but its definitely there.  Which sucks because it doesn't transfer up top, it doesn't flake but it does seem to bleed pigment.  Now it is summertime here in Australia and maybe in cold weather it would perform better in this regard.



The two photos above illustrate the lower lid smudging that occurs just in a few hours wear!

Otherwise I would definitely recommend this mascara but with the caveat of watch out for The Ring!

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Product image from Sephora.comeye images by me of me.
Stila

• Cruelty Free YES (Owned by Coty which still tests on animals)
• Fragrance Free YES
• Three shades available, Brown, Black and Very Black
• Inexpensive $20 AUD 0.4 fl.oz
• Removes with soap and water
• Opthamologist tested
• Plastic bristles

I previously reviewed the original The Super Sizer mascara before so when I saw this version I had to try it!  You can read the first review here.




Beauty Guru

This mascara has a different wand to the original Super Sizer.  It's a big plastic bristle wand with a curve in it.  It's a volumising mascara not lengthening so you might be disappointed if you are wanting a lengthening product.  However, this mascara definitely can curl your lashes and define them in a pretty way.  I am still getting used to how to use the wand even though I have had it for at least a month. You can build up your lashes pretty well too with minimal clumping.



I have worn this all day at least 8 hours and I will say that the curl does drop out.  Perhaps if you curl your lashes first it might work better.  If its a hot environment, profuse sweating can cause product to cause a black shadow under your lower lash line its not obvious but it happens.  The product doesn't flake, or transfer.  I think it's a good mascara but I still prefer the original The Super Sizer.

I do recommend this product if you know what to expect.

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Image via Covergirl.com.au
Covergirl

• Cruelty Free NO
• Fragrance Free YES
• Inexpensive $23.95 AUD
• 6 month expiry
• Olive oil formula

This is my first mascara from Revlon.  I have reviewed other products from Revlon you can read in the product review index.

Beauty Guru

I feel that this mascara is Revlon's offering to compete with Too Faced's Better than Sex and L'oreal's Lash Paradise, which of course, is the drugstore version of Better than Sex.  The Volumazing
brush wand is similar in appearance to both mascaras, but the result is different.



This formula is more defining, and gives a nice lift.  It gives some volume but not to an amazing degree.  It gives some length but not a lot.  I do like this mascara but I feel its more of a defining mascara overall not a volumising one.  I did not experience any flaking or smudging which is great.

I do recommend this mascara but I feel its not living up to its name.

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Image from ebay.com.au and myself.
Revlon

• Inexpensive
• Cruelty free NO
• Fragrance free YES
• Natural Bristle brush
• No smearing, flaking or transfer
• Waterproof

This is my first product from the brand of Sephora.  I also purchased the green version of the mascara.

Beauty Guru

This mascara is a volumising mascara with bright pink pigment.  The brush appears to be natural bristles and is quite large with no fragrance.



The pigment remains mainly unchanged when the product dries down.  Being a volumising formula the more coats you apply you will get clumping but not heaps of it if you apply carefully.  I applied it to my lashes and then I put false lashes on and applied it to them as well which worked well.

I wore the mascara with the lashes coated with it out and I did not see any smearing, flaking, transfer it stayed where I applied it.


If you are after an inexpensive coloured mascara this is one that is good to try out.  There is more colours in the range but they were unavailable at the time of purchase.  This product is a great segway into coloured eye makeup experimentation.

I definitely recommend.

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Images of my eye and the product by me.
Sephora

• Inexpensive
• Plastic bristles
• Fragrance Free YES
• Cruelty Free NO
• Coloured YES

This is my first coloured mascara apart from brown and black.

Beauty Guru

This mascara is quite volumising and a little lengthening but too many coats can create lashes that clump together. The blue shade is highly pigmented until it dries and the brush is plastic bristled.  When it dries, the pigment fades to a dark shade where it is not totally noticeable as a bright blue mascara.  Below is my eye with the mascara freshly applied so you can see the blue pigment.  The brush can give you pigment where you don't want it to as illustrated below.  I have also got it on my eyelid even after applying very carefully.


As you can see on the bottom photo after the mascara dried down, the pigment disappears.  If you are after a pigmented blue mascara this is not for you.  Applying bright blue eye-shadow while the mascara is wet gives a better result. 

This mascara is average at best.

I do not recommend.



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Images taken by me of me.
Cover Girl

• Cruelty Free NO
• Fragrance Free YES
• 6.4 mls
• $23.95 AUD 
• Lengthening, volumising with definition
• Natural bristle brush
• Does dry out fast

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the mascara formula goes dry and very clumpy within a month or so.  On the other hand, you should not keep using a mascara for longer than three months so there is that to take in consideration also.

In Australia it can take so long for us to get regular drugstore products that other countries have had for so much longer.  This mascara caught my eye, and I snatched it up! Having heard it compared to the Too Faced Better than Sex mascara it was a must buy!

Beauty Guru

The packaging is a direct rip of the Better Than Sex packaging but instead of pink L'Oreal uses rose gold.  This mascara has a bristle brush and the rose gold tube component is lovely.  The brush head is very similar to the Too Faced Better than Sex wand and the formula result is so much the same but I have to say that Lash Paradise is just that much better! I have heard that this formula may dry out quicker than most so will have to monitor how soon that happens.  The formula is that perfect not too wet not too dry, but just right goldilocks style! I love this mascara as much as I love wearing false lashes and I think both product types have their place.





This is a legit winner! Holy grail status!


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Images by me.
L'Oreal

• Cruelty Free NO
• Inexpensive 
• Plastic bristles

This is my second Cover Girl mascara product, I don't really associate great mascaras with Cover Girl as much as I do with Maybelline who have had a lot of success with their mascaras, although a few of their recent offerings have left a lot to be desired.

Beauty Guru

The Super Sizer mascara is housed in a turquoise tube with neon yellow type.  The colour is very black.  It has the distinctive 'mascara' smell which isn't perfume like just mascara ingredient smell.  It doesn't bother my nose.

At first, I wasn't sold on this mascara, I wore it a few times and left it for awhile.  I picked it up again and it looked a whole lot better than last time! That does happen with mascaras as I am sure you have found for yourself; the formula gets better once exposed to oxygen.

The formula is more dry then wet, so you don't have to wipe off excess unless you want to on the wand.  The wand is plastic bristles and some people don't like those and prefer natural bristles.  The wand has a twisty three sided design and if you roll your wand a certain way it is meant to help with the look of application.

I have poked my eye a few times when trying to get into the inner corner of my eyes so please be aware of that.

What it did for my lashes was separate them and define them which looks very nice.  It is not volumising and gives a little bit of lengthening.  The colour is good but as I have blonde brown lashes I always want mascara to be deeper in pigment.


Cover Girl is a drug store brand, but in Australia the prices are around $15 - $21 dollars for mascaras from brands like Cover Girl, Maybelline, Rimmel etc.

I definitely recommend this mascara, if you aren't loving it in the beginning then let it alone for a few weeks and try it again and you may be pleasantly surprised!

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Images by me.
Cover Girl

• Cruelty free NO
• Plastic Bristles
• Fragrance NO
• Inexpensive in USA

I have never had much luck with Cover Girl products so here is their latest mascara offering; Total Tease in Very Black.

Beauty Guru

Total Tease is housed in black and pink topped tube and is quite a dry formula.  I tend to think wet formulas that dry out a little are the best, but when they are already dry it doesn't bode well.





The bristles are unusual on the wand, you have widely spaced bristles (which are plastic) the other side has more compact bristles, then there is a little section on the top that has some eye poking bristles that I imagine you are meant to use to 'tease out' the hairs.  Well, I have used this twice now and twice I have poked my eye even when being careful.




Being perfectly honest, as I always am, this mascara is bad, no bueno bad.  It did nothing for my lashes except clump them, provided no length, no volume, no thickness no nothing.  Total failure.  Luckily I got it on sale but it was still $10 AUD as drug store products are very expensive in Australia.  I hate the wand and don't know what they were thinking with this mascara.

This mascara is going straight into the bin, I am afraid.

I do not recommend.

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Images by me.
Covergirl

Cruelty-free: NO
Waterproof: NO


Maybelline is well known for affordable mascaras that are good quality and I was looking forward to trying this out.

Beauty Guru

This brush is only bristled on one side and the bristles are plastic, short and spiky, ranging from longer spikes to smaller ones.  The formula is a good mix of wet and dry.  The idea behind Push Up Angel mascara is that the lashes on the outer edge look fluttery.   It is difficult to get my lashes coated evenly irrespective of focusing on the outer edge lashes.




The mascara brush does not fit my eye ( I have almond shaped eyes) so I have to coat my lashes in two separate goes and repeat.  This means I can get mascara on my eyelid.  Whether I focus on the outer edge lashes or not I did not feel that this mascara was anything special. It does not lengthen or volumise but it is quite defining.  The black could be blacker as I have light brown blond tip lashes so the intensity of the black pigment is important to me. The packaging is fine no troublesome components.



As you can see I got mascara near the corner of my eye from trying to coat my lashes evenly.


I wish this mascara was better and I may have to use it a bit more and throw it out.

It is definitely a not recommended UNLESS you already have thick and long lashes, this will feather them out well I think.

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Images by me.
Maybelline

I have always wanted to try this mascara out; it promised big, bad lashes so I was intrigued and there was a sample size available which I purchased - find out below how this mascara performed!

Storytime

I was able to purchase a deluxe sample size for $11 AUD and was looking forward to how it would work on me.  I have not really heard any negative experiences from others so was expecting a good experience with this mascara.


The brush is a big bristle brush, as you can see below, the formula is on the dry side which is fine by me, I don't like when the formula is really wet as it is easy to get into really bad clumping and messy territory.

The third time I wore it it seemed to get worse in terms of giving good lash.  I don't think the claims that Urban Decay claim with Bigger, Blacker, Badder is not evident with this mascara and my lashes. 


Now that I have tried it out three times, for full 8 + hours, I can say that I didn't have any smudging, flaking, no fragrance, no transfer to the upper lid, but the actual claims it makes are not true for me.

It's an average mascara I would not recommend to purchase.

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Images by me.
Urban Decay

UPDATE!!: This mascara I have found has a flaw; which I found out after I wrote this review and that is that unfortunately, it does transfer to the upper part of your eyelid if moisture is in the environment.  This can be a deal-breaker and to be honest I now don't want to wear it to work because of how long I am there for i.e. all day as it is a full-time job.  If it was just a few hours it might be fine.  I still love it but be prepared when wearing it for black smudges.

Storytime

I loved the original Lash Sensational in the frosted mauve pink tube and saw that this second mascara had come out in the US.  I have had my eye peeled for this matte black tube with the frosted pink mauve trimmings.  Finally, its here!!

Beauty Guru

I love this mascara! Love at first brush through.  It defines, volumises and lengthens and its pigmented! I love inky black mascaras! There is no smell, no flaking, no nothing.  It is a joy to use.  Its around $21 dollars AUD.




I definitely recommend!

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Images by me.
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Maybelline

Storytime

Indecent Exposure

Always on the look out for a good mascara to use in between false lashes use, I bought the Smashbox travel size three mascara set with a bonus lash primer.  I have been testing them for a few months and have definite thoughts on them all.

 Beauty Guru

Here I am wearing the first mascara Indecent Exposure with the accompanying lash primer.  I think this is the best out of the trio.  It lengthens, pulls your lashes up and out, and volumises.  It can clump a little but if you go back and brush through it usually dispels it.  There is no smell.  The brush is smaller than the other two mascaras X Rated and Full Exposure.  Without the lash primer though the result is underwhelming.  So please make sure you buy both if you want to purchase it otherwise you will be disappointed.

I definitely recommend it with the lash primer.  I didn't experience flaking or any other undesirable effects from primer nor any of the mascaras in this post.
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Full Exposure Mascara


Beauty Guru

 Again you must use the lash primer for this to look as good as it possibly can; this mascara has a big bristle wand.  No smell, and gives a more fluttery, eye opening, lengthening with volume.  I really like this and i just wish it was a darker black.  It looks light, lashes are defined without looking clumpy.  It is quite lovely!


 ___________________________________________________________________________________

X Rated Mascara




Beauty Guru

This is slightly more intense than the Full Exposure mascara.  Again, I used it with the matching primer.  My only complaint would be the depth of the color.  This mascara formulation does have a ever so slight smell but it shouldn't bother you and as soon as you stop applying it, the smell dissipates.  Its really hard to choose which is the best, because I like them all for different reasons.  I recommend them all as long as you apply the lash primer first and then apply the mascara. Don't let it dry too long because then the mascara's will apply too dry and crunchy.
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Smashbox Photo Finish Lash Primer
 


The Smashbox Photo Finish Lash Primer is a plastic bristle brush with a cream colored primer of a mascara like consistency.  There is no discernible smell and I experienced no irritation.  My only tip is once you have applied this to your lashes, its best to apply your chosen mascara immediately.  If you don't the mascara will go on crunchy and dry and not nice basically. 

After wearing all of these mascaras for a few months as long as you get the primer then I recommend any of these mascaras for purchase.

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Images by me.

Smashbox