L'Oréal False Lash Superstar

 After 3 visits to the pc repair shop, I now seem to be back in the land of blogging & all is well *touches wood!*

So, back to normality & here I have a new mascara for you.  You know I'm a complete mascara addict so couldn't resist this one when it was on offer in Superdrug, L'Oréal False Lash Superstar.  It's now full price at £10.99 but is on 3 for 2.

This is a two-step mascara, something I've not really got on with in the past & I only tried it because it's by L'Oréal, but I have to tell you, I'll not be rushing out to repurchase it!  Unfortunately, this is the first L'Oréal mascara I've not liked & I'm really quite shocked!  I love the brushes & there's absolutely no dispute in that it gives phenomenal lashes, but my god, does it smudge!  It's also a bit reminiscent of Benefit They're Real in that it's a bit of a sod to remove without seriously scrubbing your lashes - and we don't want to do that, thank you very much!

The first step uses an hourglass shaped brush & is a white thickening lash primer.  I applied this & then after leaving it to dry slightly, applied the second step fibre rich formula with the curved brush & the photos show just one coat of each.  I absolutely loved the immediate volumising effect, it was just a few hours later that I became disappointed.

I don't know if it's because I have oilier eyelids or something but after 3 or 4 hours of wear, it was all over them & smudged underneath my eyes, not good IMO.  As I said, I've never had this trouble with L'Oréal mascaras before & their False Lash Telescopic is my HG mascara but this one just didn't float my boat I'm afraid.  I'd only bother using it if I was going out for 2 or 3 hours & wanted some va-va-voom on my lashes, rather than an all-day mascara.

What do you think, have you tried this one?

Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara

So it's no secret that I like a bit of oomph from my mascaras & I loved the sample of Roller Lash by Benefit that I had in last month's Elle magazine (reviewed here.) but I'll be honest, I don't like forking out nearly £20 on one!  I kept reading online that the new-ish Maybelline Lash Sensational was a very good dupe for the Roller Lash, I though I'd give it a shot for £7.99.

It's the familiar Maybelline bullet shaped packaging, which I'm not that fond of as I find them too bulky & has a similar curved wand with much shorter plastic bristles on the inner curve.  Whilst I find the wand grips the lashes really well, it's probably not quite as good as the Roller Lash wand but it still does a fantastic job!  It just takes a bit of practise to learn which side of the brush is best for what.

This is a side-by-side comparison to the roller Lash wand.  Maybelline is on the left & as you can see, is quite a bit fatter so there is a tendancy for a bit of smudging on the lids - nothing a cotton bud can't sort out though!  You can see the results below.....

This was just with one coat so it's pretty impressive & is my mascara of the moment I think - well, until I crack open my Lancôme Hypnôse that I have stashed away for my holiday!  My daughter loves this mascara too & it's getting great reviews online.  It doesn't smudge during the day & removes easily without next-day-panda-eyes *punches the air!*

Have you tried Lash Sensational yet?

Benefit ~ Roller Lash Super-curling & Lifting mascara

Unless you've been living under a rock these past few weeks, you will/may have noticed the huge amount of press for the newest release from Benefit, the 'super-curling & lifting' Roller Lash mascara.  This is not yet available to buy but you can however, grab a freebie mini version with the March edition of Elle magazine right now!

Now, I wasn't overly impressed by the blogger favourite They're Real mascara by Benefit (read my post here) so I was pleasantly surprised to find I much prefer this one.  The plastic curved wand is styled on velcro rollers with tiny wee hooks that grab, lift & curl the lashes.  I can't comment on the curling effect as my lashes are naturally curled but I will agree that the brush grabs & lifts the lashes with ease.

Unlike the They're Real wand though, the bristles aren't sharp & spiky so it's very comfortable to use & although the formula is quite wet, it's very light-weight & doesn't spread all over the eyelid - result!  It visibly lengthened my lashes but didn't offer a huge deal of volume as you'll see by the following photos but it is super-black.  I've taken shots before, with one coat & with 2 coats so you can see the difference for yourselves!

The burning question is, would I buy the full-sized version when it's released?  To be honest, probably not which is bizarre seeing as I think it's a pretty darned great mascara.  I think someone with straighter lashes would benefit (sorry!!) more from this as I can get the same results from a mascara half the price (L'Oréal False Lash Telescopic, in case you're wondering!)  I will say though that the formula does last 12 hours as it promises, it doesn't flake or smudge & hoo-bloody-ray, it removes very easily, which was my biggest bugbear with They're Real!

Roller Lash will launch in March & will cost £19.50.  Will you be trying it?