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.

Biotherm Aquasource Skin Perfection

Now I don't know if it's because I'm just coming off a 7-day all-natural skincare regiment...but this stuff felt like silicone on my skin. They claim it's a "granita-like texture"...I thought it felt like primer!

The texture upon applying it on a freshly washed face felt "ricey". You know that feeling you get when you put too much primer on? That dimethiconey feel? The synthetic silicone texture. Yah...that's the one.

It's fragranced. I'm not one for fragrance, but I gotta say this is a lovely light scent and I wouldn't mind it, except...

The good folks at Biotherm say it's for all skin types, and I'm slightly on the dehydrated side and I needed to put a second coat of this on because my skin felt too taut after the first application. The second application was not enough, so I put a rich night cream on over top. This is DEFINITELY NOT for all skin types - definitely the more "normal to combination-oily" crowd. My BF loves this cream and he's on the oilier side. Definitely not rich enough for me.

Apparently Aquasource Skin Perfection is supposed to drop the temperature of your skin by 2 degrees upon application. I felt no such cooling sensation.

It's $48 CDN, so while it's not expensive, it's certainly not cheap. I would save the extra $4 and stick with one of the two original Aquasource moisturizers.

Have any of you tried it yet? What did you think?