Review: My Current Highend Mascaras – Better than Sex, Passion Eyes, Iconic Overcurl, They’re Real!

July 27, 2014

REVIEW: MY CURRENT HIGHEND MASCARAS – 07.27.2014 – Review on Better than Sex, Passion Eyes, Iconic Overcurl, They’re Real!

Hey everyone! So I recently have been asked about my opinions on a few of the mascaras I’m using, so I figured I would just show you all my current highend mascara collection and tell you my thoughts on each mascara separately. As a bit of a disclaimer, I am an extremely tough critic when it comes to mascara. I mean really tough, so I might be a little harsh. Also, the kind of mascara I like is very specific: separating yet volumizing, curling and lengthening, clump free and flake free, stays on all day, and looks natural. So yes, I want a mascara that pretty much does it all, and is still easy to get off at the end of the day. Some would say it is impossible to find such a mascara, but that won’t stop me from finding the perfect one!

You will also notice that the majority of them are sample sized, which I prefer because a lot of the time you can get them for free or in a set with a bunch of other makeup, and it allows you to try out many different mascaras without having to pay. Most of the time I get mascaras using my points at Sephora, or you can often find them in the Weekly Specials section of the Sephora website: something that I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t know about as I feel like Sephora almost purposely hides on their website. Anyways, going to begin telling you my opinions on the mascaras in the order of left to right as presented in the above photo, as well as a photo of each mascara in full length with the brush head displayed, and claims on what the mascara is supposed to do according to Sephora, as well as my rating on the mascara.

1. Better Than Sex Mascara – Too Faced (Rating: 4/4 – least favorite)

Claims: “An intensely black, volumizing mascara with an hourglass-shaped brush that separates, coats, and curls each lash to voluptuous perfection.”

My opinion: I know this mascara has been getting a lot of attention in the beauty community as of late as being an amazing mascara, but I have to say that this is my least favorite out of the bunch. For one, I find it is very clumpy. If you look carefully at the bristles on the brush, they even look clumpy in my opinion. Sometimes I can deal with a little clumping, but I often just find my eyelashes to look unflattering due to the clumps. It still looks natural I suppose, just very heavy. The mascara also feels very heavy on my lashes and thus uncomfortable (and I only apply about one or two light coats). I also find it flakes during the day excessively. Also, I hear people raving about the brush shape. To that I have two opinions: for one, I find the brush is just way too big to get into your lashes. Two: I do not like this hourglass shape, and I can’t understand why anyone would! The shape implies that my eyelashes closest to my nose should be longer than the eyelashes in the center of my eye. Why would I want that? This is not a very flattering look in my opinion. In general, not a fan and I am glad I got this in a set for just $20 to at least try it out (with Too Faced’s Chocolate Soleil bronzer and Shadow Insurance Eye Primer – both of which I am extremely pleased with and would recommend highly). I would never purchase this in the full-size for the $23 price tag. So is this mascara really “better than sex” like it claims? To that I have to say just one thing to say: it is is definitely not better than any of my other mascaras, so you fill in the rest.

2. Passion Eyes Mascara – Dolce & Gabbana (Rating: 2/4)

Claims: “A long-wearing mascara that instantly transforms lashes by adding curl and spectacular volume.”

My opinion: I am not going to lie to you all, this would maybe be my number 1 favorite (at the moment) if not for the very steep price of $32. I got this mascara by a stroke of luck for free through seeing it on the Weekly Specials of Sephora quite a while ago, and when I first used it I remember not liking it: probably because I did not understand the brush and how to use it. Now I realize that this brush helps make your lashes so long and curled and separated and voluminous yet still natural: everything I described in what kind of mascara I like! I adore the formula and find it very anti-clumping, no flaking, and very long-wearing. I also love love love this thing for bottom lashes (I’m even more particular about my bottom lash mascara than top lash mascara, if you can believe that’s possible). I think it this is just a beautiful product and I also really like the very chic packaging. The one (very minor) complaint (other than the price) would be I feel like it isn’t that black. Unfortunately I have had this mascara for probably about 6 months now – I try to only use it for special occasions to make it last longer – but it is clearly pretty dried up now and on it’s way out. RIP Passion Eyes mascara, I’ll miss you. But is it worth the $32 price to replace it? Maybe, but I honestly don’t think so.

3. Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara – Dior (Rating: 1/4 – my current favorite)

Claims: “A revolutionary mascara with a curved brush that offers spectacular volume and curling power.”

My opinion: This is my current favorite mascara mainly because I feel like it accomplishes everything I want a mascara to do as I’ve listed a few times already. I also find it very black and long-wearing: I can also always count on this mascara to stay on and not smudge, which is not something I can say about every other one of my mascaras. I do use this mascara as my every day mascara just because of how reliable this thing is. It has the staying power of a waterproof mascara almost but it is pretty easy to remove. It also takes so little time to apply and I really don’t feel like I have to play around with my eyelashes much to make them both whispy and voluminous. I also feel as though this brush really helps my eyes have a cateye shape, which any woman would love as it is a very pretty look. If you wipe off your brush, you can use this mascara and make your eyelashes very beautiful without it looking heavy or fake at all, you could probably even get away with looking like you aren’t wearing mascara with this. So why do I like it over Passion Eyes by D&G more? Even though this Dior mascara is almost just as expensive at $28.50, I feel like this is just so easy and reliable. But I feel like this thing isn’t perfect and thus I can still find a better one someway. I also feel like this just pears up beautifully with the Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum, which I use daily to protect, grow, and lengthen my lashes (I will not be talking more about this serum in this review just because it is a permanent item in my collection and also not a mascara).

4. They’re Real! Mascara – Benefit (Rating: 3/4)

Claims: “A jet-black mascara that lengthens, curls, volumizes, lifts, and separates lashes for a spectacular ‘out-to-here’ look.” – Sephora

My opinion: Similar to Better than Sex by TF, this mascara also receives tons and tons of attention in the beauty community, and I also am not a fan. I’ll start out with the two pros I have with this mascara: it is extremely black and nice to use as a second mascara to intensify the lashes. Other than that, I also feel like this mascara is extraordinarily clumpy. Sephora’s claim about the “out-to-here” look is definitely accurate as it really lengthens your lashes, but I feel like to the point where it just looks so fake and weird. This mascara is extremely unvolumizing in my opinion and just creates such a spiderly, unflattering look. I genuinely feel like this mascara was named “They’re Real!” because when you wear it someone will ask you “are you wearing false eyelashes?” (in a bad way), and you go “no, they’re real!” I think that you could probably even find falsies that look more natural than this. The only time I really think this mascara would be appropriate is for going out. I have tried out this mascara so so many times over the years and every time I just don’t like it. Another problem: so so hard to remove. I got this current one as a free sample using points, but the full-sized price is $23. Skip it: even if you think my review is wrong and still want to try it out (which I commend, I feel like everyone should try out mascaras on their own as everyone has different lashes and wants something different), you can get this mascara for free so often from Sephora that it would be a waste to actually pay for it, especially upon your first use. Just wait patiently until it is a free sample yet again, I’m sure it won’t take long!

I know that was incredibly long, so I am not going to discuss Clinique’s Bottom Lash Mascara in depth at the moment. This is a permanent piece in my collection and thus I will do a separate review on it in the near future. I do think I am going to review my mascaras once every 3-4 months similarly to this as a chronicle of my search for the perfect mascara. Oh, and although I haven’t used it in a while, I still think that Tarte’s Lights, Cameras, Lashes mascara might be my all-time favorite. Hope you all enjoyed this review and thank you for reading, also if you have any questions about these mascaras I would be more than happy to answer them!