I'm all about trying out new mascara, especially drugstore mascara.  Brands like CoverGirl and L'Oreal makes great and affordable mascara that I won't feel guilty about tossing out.  While watching the previous season of ANTM, I saw this new mascara from CoverGirl.  It's suppose to make the color of your eyes look brighter with special colors in the mascara.  Now I'm all about making my eyes look brighter, bigger and more defined with mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, but what about colored mascara?

I picked up a tube from Target yesterday, but haven't tried it out yet.  Have any of you tried it?  Did you notice any difference in how bright your browns/greens/hazels/blues look??  I do wonder, what about the people with gray eyes??

CoverGirl Exact Eyelights Eye Brightening Mascara, Black Sapphire

$8.49 by Cover Girl at Walgreens

• For blue eyes.
• The unique eye brightening formula combined with the patented no clump brush technology brings out the color of your eyes an gives you gorgeous clump-free lashes!
• Hypoallergenic & suitable for contact lens wearers.
• Removes easily with soap and water.
• Ophthalmologically tested.
• Made in USA of US & imported parts.

It's no doubt that Maybelline's Great Lash Mascara is a favorite amongst all the beauty editors.  For some odd reason, they just love it!  Lindsay Price's character on Lipstick Jungle uses it!!  For some odder reason, I never purchased a tube until recently just so I could see what the fuss is about.

To put it short, people either LOVE it or HATE it!  There's no in betweens at all.  Some of the complaints include:

1. It does nothing to enhance the lashes
2. It clumps
3. It smudges and smears

Basically everything you don't want in a mascara.

But the people who love it say:

1. It never clumps or smudges
2. Their lashes has never been longer or more beautiful when using any other mascara
3. It's their holy grail!!

Obviously, very very different opinions.  For a while, I thought perhaps it was due to a lack of consistency between each tube, so some people got great ones, while others were on the bad receiving end.  Another time I read that makeup artists loves it because it goes on very well on top of false lashes, almost like a glossy black coat.  So I thought, perhaps if a person has naturally long lashes, then perhaps that's all they need!

But what about us normal gals with normal lashes?  I have very light colored black lashes (well, they are black, but they aren't very dark.. argh.. you'll see in the pictures later), medium length, with a lot of curl.  I don't use lash curlers and my lashes just curl.  My left lashes curls a lot more than my right, but my right ones are more feathered and uniform.  The left lashes do this weird tangly thing, so it looks ugly up close, but from a distance they look great.  Odd, I know.

So like I previously mentioned, I bought 2 tubes (1 package, 2 for the price of 1 from Target!) a while ago, and I absolutely hated it!  I applied it, and nothing.  If anything, my lashes were just sticking together.  The wand is so tiny, I feel like I'm not properly getting any mascara on it!  When I applied more, I felt like my lashes just looked shorter, stumpier, and like they were glued together.  I tried it a few more times, and results were the same.  It also did smudge while it was super hard to get off!

Then came along an message from Diana at AdoreBeauty, asking if I could send her some Great Lash to Singapore.  Apparently her and all her friends are crazy for it!!  I shot back a surprised reply, asking if she was in fact crazy since it's such a shitty mascara.  I told her I would do a review, take some pictures, and prove to her that it sucks!!

I grabbed my camera, applied concealer all over my eyes (so this way in the up close picture, my lids and bags don't look soo discolored and gross), and began snapping pictures of my naked lashes.  I dug out that tube of Great Lash mascara from my box of "everyday" makeup, and began applying it.  Wait, hold on, how come my lashes are looking so pretty?  No way, this cannot be the same mascara I tried just a while back?  It's the same tube!  It's not dried out or anything!  I applied more coats, and my lashes are just looking more pronounced and prettier.  I won't say it lengthens, nor did it really add much volume, but it made my lashes pretty!  It's like my own natural lashes, but better!  Glossier!  Darker!!  And at the same time, natural!

Then I got it.  I have an obsession with false lashes, and I love mascars that can give me that false lash look without actually wearing falsies.  But when i'm doing a natural no makeup look, super voluminized lashes won't work as well.  That's when you need a mascara like Great Lash, something that just transforms your lashes into a better, but still natural looking version of your lashes!  It does like a little long to dry (more than a minute), so wait a while before you put a shirt on so it won't smudge everywhere.  Take 10 minutes out to blow dry your hair then get dressed!  It does smudge a bit over the course of the day since it's not waterproof, so if you have oily lids and watery eyes like me, you might just want to use it for a night out (where you aren't sweating tons!).  Otherwise, it's really a pretty nice mascara. I think I'll give it 3.5 watermelons out of 5.

So what do you guys think about Maybelline's Great Lash Mascara?  Do you strongly love it or hate it?  Don't be shy and tell the truth!

*Sorry for the redness in my eyes.  I have seasonal allergies, so my eyes are constantly red and watery.  As you can see, it's not caused by the mascara.  Also, click on the pictures to view a larger version.

No mascara on:

With Great Lash Mascara

With black eyeliner as well:

If you love it and want to buy it, click on the picture below for the link!

I love browsing Avon.com.  It stemmed from browsing my mom's Avon catalogues when I wasn't really old enough to buy makeup.  Their products have great prices and great qualities.  I saw these 8 in 1 palettes beneath and completely fell in love.  The Water Colors palette is just beyond gorgeous.  Since last summer, I've been more and more into aqua/teal blues.  The Water Colors palette has that, plus awesome nudes to play with.  The price, again, is awesome.  $12 for this palette.  Plus now, if you go to the Avons website, it's under the special where you Buy 1 item at regular price, and you can get a second item on that page for $1.99.  So yes, you can get 2 palettes for $14.  Let's see.. for $14, you can get 1 lipgloss from MAC.

8-in-1! Eye Palette

$12.00 at Avon

Versatile shades from dark to light. Each palette includes both matte and shimmer shades, and a mirrored compact with 2 dual-ended applicators. .32 oz. total net wt. Mirrored compact includes see-through window on lid and 2 dual-ended applicators.

Another item I'm eyeing (that's also in the $1.99 page) is the Avon SuperShock mascara.  I got a sample of this last year to review for The Beauty Brains site, shortly before they stopped putting reviews up.  I really liked the mascara, but I had received it in brown, which doesn't work with my dark eyes.  The color was just too light, and my lashes looked washed out.  Other than that, it's a really fanastic mascara that curls and voluminizes without any clumps.  It has a big brush, similar to Lash Blast from CoverGirl, but I feel like it's easier to use and gets better results.

Supershock Mascara

$8.50 at Avon

Unique microfibers instantly expand and plump lashes to larger-than-life proportions...for head-turning drama in a flash. Up to 12x more volume...in a single step. Maximum amount of mascara in just one dip. Molded teal plastic fine combs separate lashes for a precise, bolder-than-ever look. .35 oz. net wt. SELF Healthy Beauty Award Winner 2008 All AVON mascaras are hypoallergenic and opthalmologist-tested.

This morning I decided to rock a gold and green eyeshadow look, and I needed a black eyeliner and super WOW false looking lashes to define my eyes in order to complete the look.  I went with Urban Decay's Liquid Liner in Oil Black, a really pretty shimmery black, and Benefit's BAD gal Lash Mascara, a super voluminizing and lengthening mascara in the blackest black.

But there's a huge problem.  My eyes get really dried from wearing contacts since I'm not used to it, so throughout the day I use eye drops to relieve the dryness.  I remembered UD's Liquid Liner to hold up pretty well to water, so that's why I opted to use it.  I remember Benefit's BAD gal Lash Mascara to smudge a little, so I applied a little bit of Clinique's Lash Power mascara on top to try to make it waterproof.

Was i wrong?

VERY!!!  It was awful!

Every time, about 2 minutes after I used eye drops, I would get the worst racoon eyes in history.  I didn't capture a picture of it, since I'd run to the bathroom immediately to wipe it off, but it was as if I had applied mascara to my skin directly.  That bad!  Somehow, either the liner or the mascara also smudged a bit onto my eyelid, right in my crease.  Luckily that's not noticeable when my eyes are opened.

So then I did a somewhat dumb thing.  After I wiped the black smudges under my eyes off, a small trace was still there.  I thought I'd camouflage it with some glitter liquid eyeliner, using Urban Decay's Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Spandex, a which contains dark rainbow glitters.  It worked for a little bit, but guess what happened?  Glitter got into my eye, underneath my contacts.  I should have known, but ugh!  It was just awful awful awful!  I tried to flush the glitter out with more eye drops, but it just made more glitter fall off my skin and migrate directly into my eye, and more smudging from my eyeliner and mascara.

It was just super uncomfortable, and I ran home immediately to get my contacts off.  So in the future, girls and maybe boys, avoid this eyeliner and mascara combo.  The picture below are to show how uneven the liquid liner has become.  You can also see how it's pretty black underneath my eyes.  It's the left over stuff that I couldn't get off with tissue and water.  Sorry for the low quality of the pix.  I just grabbed my iPhone to take the pictures.  It's really much worse in person!

I'm not saying that these are bad products.  They do their jobs great, but they are so water unfriendly.  It really sucks for contact lense wearers who use eye drops, or for people with allergies whose eyes tear up easily.  I'll try wearing this again tomorrow without wearing contacts and see if it's better.  I'll let you guys know.

Amongst the goodies my sister brought back from Taiwan was this little blue tube of Mascara, "Kiss Me Goodlash Power Beam Eyes."  The packaging tauted that it was waterproof AND smudgeproof.  Smudgeproof you claim?  We've heard that claim before countless times.

Now.. I really DO need smdugeproof mascara because well.. I have the really awful habit of rubbing my eyes.  So of course I was curious to see if this little blue tube was really smudgeproof.

The first time I put it on, I thought, wow.. OK, this lash offers pretty darn good lash separation and extension, but lacks a little in volume.  A whole day later, I was happy that black smudges were no where to be found.  Then, I tried to remove it.  Now, I'm no stranger to waterproof mascara, and from my previous experiences, it's best to remove mascara with an oil cleanser.  So I used my trusty DHC Olive Oil Cleanser, and guess what?  Kiss Me did not budge at all.  I splashed more water on it and tried to smudge it off, but it was truly smudgeproof!!!!  Oddly enough, Shu Uemera's High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil Fresh takes the mascara right off.

Anyhow..

• Drama - 9/10 - This baby offers seriously long and curled lashes.  It offers some volume, but it mainly separates and lenghtens.
• Stay Factor - 10/10 - like I've already raved above, this baby stays put.  NO smudging whatsoever.  I wear this to work, work in a heated uber humid room (my company decided that water baths are the best technology for PCR.. when infact, water baths have gone out of fashion since oh I don't know.. 1995?), then go to the gym where I sweat for an hour, and guess what?  NO SMUDGES!
• Ease of Application - 8/10 - the wand is curved, so it reaches all your lashes quite easily.  It does curl my lashes though, and my lashes always ends up hitting my eyelids.  But overall, it's really easy to achieve great lashes with this.
• Ease of Removal - 6/10 - this is SERIOUSLY hard to remove.  It will not budge with most cleansers or wipes.  BUT, it doesn't smudge off during the night either so...

Overall, I CAN KISS THIS BABY THOUSAND TIMES, KISS ME GOODLASH POWERBEAM EYES!!

So I tried to take some pix of it, but I don't think the camera captured how well it lenghtens my lashes.  So I tried again, this time pressing that flower button, and the pictures came out better.

No mascara

With make up and black eyeliner

This btw, is AFTER I went to the gym and had used a wipe to remove my eye makeup.  Look at the curl!  You can click on these to enlarge.

So now are you convinced to get it?  If so, it's available at Sasa.com for $9.70.  That's about the price of a L'oreal or Max Factor mascara, as well as Lash Blast from Covergirl.  But the results?  It's worth a lot more than $9.70.

I'm baking cookies prior to heading home, so this post shall be quick and simple.  In the prior post, I had used Majolica Majorca's Lash Gorgeous Wing Mascara in black, and I figured I should do a proper review.

Picture from Ichibankao

When it comes to mascaras, I look for

• Drama - does it voluminize and lengthen well?  Will it curl my lashes or hold the curl?
• Stay Factor - will I be sporting racoon eyes within an hour?  This includes flake/smudge factors
• Ease of Application - is it easy to apply?  Will I get it all over my eyelids?
• Ease of Removal - will I end up with racoon eyes the next morning even after using an oil based remover?

The Lash Gorgeous Wing Mascara is a decent mascara, but not one I'll be buying again (not that I bought it myself).

Drama - 6/10.  It does not give my eyes much drama.  It lengthens a tad, but it's barely noticeable, but the lack of volume was so noticeable that my syster made a comment about it.  My lashes are naturally curly, but some mascaras seem to weigh it down.  This one keeps the curl where it is.  The color however, is a glossy black, so it helps draw attention to my eyes.

Stay Factor - 9/10.  It doesn't flake or smudge until about say, 10 hours later.  When it smudges, it's barely noticeable.  You don't get a real racoon eye.  Then again, this is about 10 hours after applying the mascara and nothing else, so my lids were super duper oily, and I was rubbing my eyes to stay awake.

Ease of Application - 7/10.  The wand is average size, but somehow I still end up getting some mascara on my lids when I apply it.  But removing it is pretty simple.  Your lashes don't clump as your applying it, which makes life slightly easier.

Ease of Removal - 10/10 - Removes easily with an oil base remover.  No problems there!

Here's a close up sideway view of my eye so you can see my lashes.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.  My eyes are red from a lack of sleep (which is also why I don't post as much FOTDs as I'd like.. my eyes are always red and puffy from a lack of sleep).

Alrighty, my cookies should have cooled by now.  I have to remove it so I can bake another batch.  I don't have an actual cookie sheet, so I'm using my pizza tray, which only holds about 10 cookies at a time.  =D  Have a great Christmas!

Here's a picture of the haul my sister got from Taiwan for me.  As I've said before in another post, somewhat offhand, is that in Taiwan, you can find pretty much all Japanese brand cosmetics at a lower price due to the currency conversion rate.  The New Taiwan Dollar (NT) is weaker than the Yen, so you definitely get a steal if you're visiting Taiwan.  If you live in Taiwan and earn Taiwanese work wages, then it's a whole different story.

Here's a picture I took after I dumped everything on my mom's bed.  I wanted to take more pix before I open anything, but my camera died after this one shot.  I'm such a doofus, I know.

Click for full size picture

Some obvious items include Lavshuca eyeshadow palettes, MJ eyeshadow palettes, and mascara.  That blue package is from Kiss Me, which I'm thinkng is the same brand as those Heroine mascaras, but I can't find it online anywhere.  I've been searching and searching so when I review it, people outside Asia can actually get it, but my searches has been fruitless.

I think my sister spent about $100 USD for all these.  I've only opened the blue Kiss Me mascara, the Susie NY powder on the bottom, and the MJ mascara (which I have to figure out which one it is before I review).  I've also tried that small eyelash curler on the right top corner, but I'm the worst person to review eyelash curlers.  I've also taken that pink Lavshuca Color Select palette to be my X-mas 2008 palette.  It is so pretty!

Oh.. my sister went to various drugstores like Watson and Sasa to buy all of these.  She didn't bother going to department stores for any high end Japanese brands since she figured that this haul was more than enough.  Little does she know, I could have bought so so so much more.

Elke Von Freudenberg just posted super great tips on what to do with mascara that simply don't work for you.  Yet somehow, you find it wasteful to throw out an actual tube of mascara.  I know how that is.  I have so much mascara that I've really want to like, but just can't fall in love with, all over the place.  Anyhow, read on for Elke's great tips:

The Cinema Society & Dior Beauty Hosts A Screening Of "Sleepwalking"

Budget Trick #1:

Do my fav trick of all time. Take any two mascara’s and apply 1 coat of each to your lashes. I’ll betcha you’ll find a great lash look that way. Find two that rock? Rubber band them together so you know which ones they are. See? Two mascara’s that now work.

Budget Trick #2:

Have a wet, more liquid type of mascara? Use as a liquid eyeliner. Take your fav eye liner or short angle brush, and pick up from the wand itself. Then draw on for a 40’s look, or smudge with a dry q-tip for a edgier look. Best part is that it’s easier to apply than liquid liner, is darker than most liners and stays on all day. Won’t budget.

Budget Trick #3:

Have a light colored mascara that doesn’t color, cover or do much? Spritz lightly the mascara wand with water and lightly blot with a kleenex. Then lightly swipe through your brows. Note: this tends to work better on darker brows, as in if you have blonde brows? don’t attempt with a black mascara, no matter how sheer it looks…

Budget Trick #4:

Use as an eye shadow base. I can hear you gasping right now… but it works especially if you’re doing a dark smoky eye. Take a flat eye shadow brush and dampen. Brush over the wand and lightly brush over your eyelid. Let dry. Now apply your dark shadow on top. You’ll find that the shadow sticks and lasts longer. Even better? As the night wears on, when your shadow does too, the darkness of the mascara underneath keeps the look going strong.

I'm definitely going to try trick #1 and #3.  Especially #3 since I can't seem to find my brow powder from Smashbox!

But if you ARE looking for some awesome mascaras to try this season to get gorgeous lashes like Charlize, you should try these: