REVIEW: Bourjois Volumizer Mascara

This is the coolest little contraption! At first glance it appears there are TWO brush wands inside this little tube, but upon further investigation, you realize that the same wand is pushed through a thicker hollow wand on the inside.

Check out the pics:

You have the mascara tube with TWO twist off tops. The first option is to screw off just "Step 1", the second option being to screw off "Step 2".

Step 1 gives you black eyelashes, long, full, feathery, natural. Did I say long and thick? but definitely more on the NATURAL side (if you consider big huge fluffy feathery mascara that makes your eyelashesh look like they've multiplied, "natural") :o)

Step 2 gives you big bad black eyelashes. The kind you wear out to a bar. Or a make-up counter, if you're a make-up artist. Or to work, if you loooooove big bad eyelashes.

When you pull the "Step 1" wand out, it goes through the extra tube that's attached to the "Step 2" lid, so the brush gets an extra-thorough "cleaning" of excess product. You get a super clean mascara wand, that deposits JUST the right amount of mascara, and NEVER with clumps.

I'm amazed that no one thought of this before!

"Step 2" gives you big thick eyelashes, but I've discovered a couple of things:

a) You can get crazy thick, but natural-looking eyelashes if you apply TWO coats of "Step 1"

b) You can get crazy thick, but natural-looking eyelashes if you apply "Step 2" first, and then comb it through with "Step 1" next.

c) Even though they guarantee "No Clumps", "Step 2" might still be too much for some people. I still like to wipe the mascara wand on the lip of the tube to remove excess product.

d) This is not for the demure...it only comes in BLACK. No brown available.

For a "prestige product" this mascara has an AMAZING price-point of $20. It competes with Dior's best mascaras ($31-$35), blows Lancome's classics out of the water ($31-$35) and is just a few bucks more than the great mascaras you can get from even L'Oreal ($13-$18).

It's only available exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart and Murale in Canada, so I HIGHLY recommend you try this stuff!!! You'll love it!

Goddess Jewelry on ETSY

REVIEW: Almay One Coat dial up Mascara

I was running low on mascara...which is unheard of in this household. And I legitimately needed a new tube. Again, very strange as there's usually AT LEAST 2 or 3 tubes of mascara on-the-go.

I figured I might as well try a new mascara.

I remembered seeing the ads (and commercials) for a new mascara from Almay where you can turn the tube to adjust how big you want your lashes to go. I immediately figured that the tighter you wound the tube (to the 1), the tighter the excess wiper piece inside the rim would be wound; therby removing more of the mascara from the brush. If you turn it to 2 or 3, then the excess wiper inside would be opened up a bit more; allowing more of the mascara onto the tube.

It turned out I was right! That's exactly how the mascara works.

That's all I knew about the mascara, but I picked it up to try anyway. I didn't realize that it comes with a plastic-bristled brush. Personally I prefer the traditional metal-bristled mascaras (1 exception: CoverGirl's Lashblast Volume [the one in the orange tube] love that stuff!)

The first time I used it, I set the tube to "1" for my right eye, and "3" for my left eye. You could definitely see the difference! It wasn't pleasant though.

As far as plastic bristled brushes go, it wasn't the best. I definitely spent more time than usual per eye, combing the formula through as it went on a bit thickly. It took a good 2 minutes to get it nicely onto my right eye.

But once I set the tube to "3", it really went on clumpy. It took another 2 minutes to comb the formula through my eyelashes, but the end result wasn't pretty. The eyelashes were thickly coated in a style reminiscent of spider legs coming up out of my eyes. My lashes were fully clumped together. yikes. Very Tammy Faye Baker.

Also, it was difficult to wash off. The formula wasn't waterproof, but it required make up remover to get it off, which is one of my biggest pet peeves! Mascara should wash off easily with lots of splashings of water and your face cleanser...unless it's waterproof.

Despite this all, I used it again the next day. I left it at level "1" and still wasn't impressed with it. My last few forays into less expensive mascaras included Maybelline's le volume express (which was AWESOME), L'Oreal's Extra Volume Collagen (also awesome), and CoverGirl's LashBlast Volume (fantastic!).

I give Almay two-thumbs-up for a fantastic marketing venture and two-thumbs-down for the mascara!

This one, is going back to the store for a refund.