She and I are TERRIBLE influences on each other and if there's no-one else there to stop us encouraging each other to spend, we'll both end up with empty purses at the end of the day. Grandma spends her money on cagoules and other bits and bobs, whereas I spend all my money on makeup, clothes, books and a pile of other stuff I don't really need...
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| It's really hard to get mascara to balance like this, you know? |
So I was in Debenhams with Grandma and she egged me on. Honest.
I spent £19.50 on this mascara. I might be in the minority here, but I tried Bad Gal lash about five years ago and wasn't that impressed. Bad Gal smudged under my eyes. It also seemed a bit too natural and subtle for my taste. I was a BIG fan of the spidery-lash-look... So it did make me more reluctant to try another Benefit mascara.
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| Benefit They're Real! |
I have extremely picky criteria when it comes to mascara. Seriously:
- They need to be easy to wash off; so they don't aggravate my eczema,
- They need to be relatively cheap; so I don't bankrupt myself,
- They need to not smudge under my eyes. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. I must have droopy eyelashes or something, because loads of mascaras do this to me, even if I use eyelash curlers...
- They need to make my eyelashes look extravagant; because I'm a diva...?
- They need to stay on all day without flaking off and leaving tiny black bits all over my cheeks.
So, as you can see, I don't ask for much.
I'll be honest. I do like this mascara. I like it, but I'm not sure if it's something I'd buy repeatedly. Why? Because it smudges. It's expensive. And it's an absolute NIGHTMARE to wash off.
I cannot stress how much of an ordeal it is to try and wash this mascara off at the end of the day. I've used face wipes, face wash, micellar water and eye makeup remover and none of them are particularly adept at removing this beast alone. I have heard that Benefit are releasing an eye makeup remover to compliment this mascara and the eyeliner that goes with it, because it's just utterly stubborn when you're trying to remove it. It takes several minutes of gently teasing the product off with myriad removal products to get it off completely, which is not great if you're in a rush.
That could be classed as a good thing, couldn't it? That it's got super staying power. However, I'm a bit weird and I have eczema on my eyelids, so scrubbing repeatedly with different products to get this mascara off is something I'd prefer to avoid totally.
One aspect of this mascara that I adore is the brush. It's made of plastic and it has what I can only describe as a ball of 'spikes' on the end, which makes it wonderfully easy to apply the product to your outer lashes. It really does make them look like false lashes, without making them look tacky.
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| The Brush: Which I'm tempted to wash and re-use in the future |
I understand the hype about it because it's Benefit and everybody knows that they're a good brand. They've a fantastic reputation and that's because of the high quality of their products. I much prefer this to Bad Gal but it's still not my favourite, mainly because of the difficulty in washing it off.
I would recommend this to people who can set aside a good few mins to remove their makeup and the end of day and also to those who want a dramatic effect on their lashes.
So, to round up...
Advantages:
- Dramatic effect,
- Long-lasting,
- Brilliant brush,
- Benefit's a brand with a great reputation.
Disadvantages:
- Expensive,
- Smudging under eyes (for me anyway...),
- Quite hard to remove,
- Results in spidery lashes if you apply too much.
Have you tried this mascara? Did you like it? Let me know below!
Thanks for reading!
Katie
Katie
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