Fantastic Affordable Mascara

Soon to Come: Companion Tutorial Video: "Beautiful Bat Wings; Get the most out of your lashes"

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome 2012!!!

My first love of cosmetics is that of Mascara. Over the years, I have tried a veritable smorgasbord of brands, formulas, brushes and price points. There are some really great products out there and honestly each brand works differently for everyone.  I, however,  happen to be a lifelong fan of Maybelline New York. More specifically and current, The Volume Express Line. I not only keep this line of lash lengthners and volumizers in my professional kit, this is also the line I carry in my personal makeup bag and use daily.


For the past few years I have really loved The COLOSSAL collection (part of The Volume Express Line) which is an instant Volumizing formulation. This collection comes in a few great colors including Classic Brown, Classic Black and Glam Black (which is a blacker more glossy version of the Classic Black)...and all colors come in both Washable and Waterproof formulations. It also has a fantastic shaped brush with actual nylon bristles which I believe is best for maximum application.

My most recent LOVE has been the invention of The Falsies and The Falsies Flaired Line ( also part of The Volume Express Line) This line combines the best of the COLOSSAL Volumizing with the amazing lengthening look of FALSE LASHES!! This collection also comes in a handful of great colors including Classic Brown, Classic Black and Glam Black (which is a blacker more glossy version of the Classic Black) and the addition of Black Drama (an extremely black, matte finish mascara)...and all colors come in both Washable and Waterproof formulations.

 It also has a fantastic brush with actual nylon bristles (which I believe is best for maximum application) and the wand stick has a bit of flexibility to assist in easier application. The brush itself is slim,  sans bushy bristles with a spoon style curve downward. The curve of the brush makes it very easy to fit across your lash line and lift lashes upwards and out allowing the mascara to provide nice curl, decent volume, and a fair bit of length.

Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express Mascara is a kera-fiber mascara that instantly builds lashes up to 8x’s the volume to give a false lash look. This has quite a nice inky black pigmentation which pairs up great with both subtle and smoky eyes. Color pay off is very dramatic and it makes my lashes look incredibly dark and mysterious! Yay!

Something to keep in mind when using this mascara. It is incredibly juicy and can be a bit tricky to master if you try to apply it too fast or with haste. This is a mascara which needs to be applied methodically and evenly. Another thing to think about is that this formulation dries faster than most mascaras on the market.

Another thing to keep in mind is that any mascara has a use by date (weather its printed on the package or not)...most should be replaced between 4-8 weeks. YES...2 months MAX! That may seem like a short amount of time but think about it! Every time you pull the wand out of the tube and re-insert it you are trapping air in the tube...and... not only are you drying it out but trapping microbes, dust particles and other eye germs inside when you screw down the cap. Put aside the ick factor of old mascara, when a mascara is too old, the formulation will not work as well thus giving more of a chance for clumping and dis-satisfaction for the product.

Over all I give this product a 4 star rating!!! It will run you about $8 and is well worth it! 

Fact:  Maybelline New York is owned by L'Oreal, the second largest collector, owner and distributor of the worlds cosmetic brands....the first is Estee Lauder.